The Impact of Milk Powder Imports on West African Dairy Sectors: Challenges and Solutions

2023-11-16 23:05:00

Milk powders, the scourge of dairy producers in West Africa. Imports of these mixtures from Europe have been increasing in recent years. As a result of insufficient local production, these cheaper and more competitive milk powders represent an obstacle to the development of West African dairy sectors.

Competition is tough and even distorted as the different players do not play on equal terms. Mixtures of skimmed milk and vegetable fats known as MGV continue to flood the West African market. Little taxed, coming mainly from Ireland, the Netherlands, or France, they represent more than half of dairy product imports.

Stéven Le Faou is a consultant at the Jokoo design office – specialist in commercial interdependence between Africa and Europe: “ In Europe, the first constraint is that we basically consume more fat than milk protein, we have surpluses. Our fear today is that these MGV powders are the way to recycle these surpluses. Many sectors are driven by cost, and this results in this type of product that can assemble the cheapest ingredients to arrive at an equivalent of whole milk, which is half the price of whole milk. »

A vague difference with local milk

In Burkina, a liter of milk reconstituted from this powder costs around 300 CFA francs. Half as much as a liter of local milk. All the more penalizing as the labeling remains vague and faulty, explains Ibrahim Diallo, president of the National Union of Minidairies and Local Milk Producers in the country: “ This competition has dragged down local production. We share the same market. There are even industries in Burkina that use this milk powder, which are assimilated to industries that make local milk. The consumer does not differentiate between the MGV powdered milk product and local milk. »

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States have been committed through the Milk Offensive led by ECOWAS since 2017. Ivory Coast wants a quarter of milk needs to be met by local production by 2030.

Promote local milk production

Major investments are also being made in Nigeria. According to Benoit Rouyer, French economist at the National Interprofessional Center for Dairy Economics. The whole world has an interest in the success of the development of African dairy sectors: “ We’re going to need everyone to feed the world in the years to come. In fact, the projections of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), it is a consumption growth of 1.8 % per year of milk. We are not going to produce this milk, particularly in Europe, because we have limiting factors with human resources that are not there, so it is important that milk production develops in a certain number of areas. traditionally importers like West Africa. »

African milk must gain competitiveness. This can involve a reduction in production costs, collection of local milk and an increase in import taxes on fattened milk powders. “ Policies to regulate », call the different actors.

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