As the continent’s leading importer of milk powder, West Africa is seeing a surge in dairy demand that far outpaces local production. While store shelves are increasingly dominated by filled milk powders re-fattened with vegetable oils and low-cost imports, domestic dairy industries are struggling to gain traction despite their significant potential. In this interview with Ecofin Agency, Bio Goura Soulé, a researcher and technical adviser on livestock and pastoralism at ECOWAS, outlines the urgent need for public policy support and examines the initiatives currently under way across the sub-region.

Ecofin Agency: In West Africa, milk is among the most widely consumed and heavily imported commodities. For several years, governments have expressed a strong desire to revive the sector. How would you assess their commitment so far?

Bio Goura Soulé: This is a critical issue that goes beyond the dairy industry alone. In most West African countries, there is a clear disconnect. On the one hand, political discourse promotes self-sufficiency, the development of strategic industries, and food sovereignty. On the other, the level of funding mobilized to translate those ambitions into reality remains insufficient.

On paper, these countries have signed up to two major commitments. The first is the Malabo Declaration, which reaffirms the objective of allocating at least 10% of national budgets to agriculture. The second is the African Union recommendation to channel around 30% of agricultural investment toward the livestock sector, given its importance for rural incomes and food security. In practice, very few countries meet these targets.

Across the continent, only a handful of states have reached the 10% threshold for agriculture. Most fall well short, with spending typically ranging between 3% and 5%. Allocations to livestock are even more limited. The sector generally receives barely 10% of agricultural budgets, often less, to cover animal health, veterinary services, genetics, or market infrastructure. While ambitious strategies exist for milk, meat, and pastoralism, they lack the funding and long-term structural programs needed to succeed.

EA: Speaking of initiatives, the Support Project for the West African Milk Offensive, or PAOLAO, which you coordinate, was launched last December. What are the objectives of this program, and how does it aim to change the game?

BGS: First, it is important to note that PAOLAO is an €11 million project. It covers all West African and Sahelian countries, as well as Chad and Mauritania. Its purpose is to support ECOWAS in implementing the Milk Offensive adopted in 2020, the regional strategy to promote local milk production.

The strategy sets a clear objective: to double the volume of fresh milk produced in the region’s pastoral and agro-pastoral systems by 2030, increasing output from around 5 to 6 billion liters today to nearly 10 billion liters per year.

The second objective is to significantly expand the collection of local milk. Collection remains one of the weakest links in the dairy value chain. Supply is highly fragmented, herds are mobile, and dairies of all sizes struggle to secure stable volumes.

The second objective is to significantly expand the collection of local milk. Collection remains one of the weakest links in the dairy value chain. Supply is highly fragmented, herds are mobile, and dairies of all sizes struggle to secure stable volumes.

The aim is for processing companies to source at least 20% to 25% of their capacity from local producers, compared with just 5% to 7% today. At the same time, the program seeks to encourage consumption of dairy products that are genuinely made in ECOWAS, meaning products processed directly from local milk.

The goal is to gradually shift consumer preferences by promoting products from West Africa’s dairy hubs. Finally, PAOLAO seeks to improve the overall business environment for the sector. This includes reforming customs duties and domestic taxes, as well as establishing quality standards and promoting certification systems for local dairy products.

EA: Taxation is often described as the sinews of war when it comes to protecting local industries. Currently, powdered milk imports are taxed at 5%. What does the new program propose in concrete terms? 

BGS: The regional agricultural policy, ECOWAP, was adopted in 2005 and identified milk as a strategic product for food security and sovereignty in West Africa. Today, powdered milk accounts for more than 90% of the region’s dairy imports.

At present, powdered milk, including fat-filled powders containing palm oil, is classified under the first bracket of the Common External Tariff, with a duty of around 5%. This makes it extremely cheap and gives it an unfair competitive advantage over locally produced milk.

Some countries in the region oppose raising these tariffs, and multinationals have lobbied intensively, arguing that higher taxes would worsen malnutrition and health challenges already facing West Africa. However, maintaining the current system only reinforces dependence on imports and represents a major obstacle to the development of national dairy sectors.

One of PAOLAO’s strategic objectives is to realign regional agricultural policy with the trade and tax regimes applied to dairy products. In practical terms, this means supporting ECOWAS in reclassifying milk powders within the Common External Tariff, moving them into the fifth bracket with a duty of 35%. We are also examining adjustments to value-added tax to create fairer competition between local milk and imported powder.

Our first concrete step is to provide governments with robust evidence. We are assessing how current low tariffs affect consumer prices, farmers’ incomes, and rural employment. In parallel, we are modeling the impact of several scenarios, including higher duties or linking import permits to specific conditions, such as requiring companies to source a minimum share of their milk locally.

Based on this work, our aim is to build a solid technical case and persuade a group of countries to submit a reform proposal to the ECOWAS Council of Ministers. The ultimate objective is a regional decision that raises tariffs on milk powders and progressively requires large industrial players to integrate local milk into their supply chains, with targets of 20% and eventually 50% local sourcing by 2030.

That said, the timeline is challenging. Significant institutional changes are underway within ECOWAS, making it difficult to secure agreement on new regional regulations by June. A more realistic horizon is December 2026 or June 2027, once the political environment has stabilized.

We are under no illusions. In a fragmented West African context marked by political tensions, coordination among states is far from straightforward. Even so, we remain confident that, step by step, it is possible to build areas of convergence, policy coherence, and a durable framework for dialogue on these critical issues.

EA: Even if a 35% effective tax rate were introduced, West Africa would still be far from the standards seen in East Africa…

BGS: That is correct. East Africa, and Kenya in particular, goes well beyond the 35% tariff proposed for ECOWAS. Under the East African Community’s common external tariff, milk and milk powder are classified as sensitive products and can be taxed at up to 60% on import. This approach is designed to protect and structure national dairy industries.

Built over several decades, this policy has enabled Kenya to develop both large-scale modern farms and a dense network of well-organized smallholders, supported by structured collection systems and a dynamic local dairy industry.

In West Africa, the situation is very different. The system remains largely pastoral. More than 80% of livestock is migratory, supply is highly fragmented, and collection capacity is limited. We have no illusions. We will not replicate in a few years what took Kenya 50 or 60 years to build.

Importing livestock can introduce new diseases. Ticks are now widespread across West Africa, and we currently lack effective control mechanisms. There is also the issue of economic efficiency

That is why PAOLAO’s ambition is deliberately pragmatic. The first step is to secure the reclassification of milk powders into the 35% tariff bracket. This would then be followed by gradual reforms in areas such as animal feed, animal health, and producer organization. The objective is to establish, step by step, a sustainable system for local milk collection and processing.

EA: Beyond customs duties, local milk collection remains a major challenge. How does the program plan to address this issue?

BGS: Today, it is estimated that barely 7% of the milk produced in West Africa is collected and processed by dairies. Through the Milk Offensive and PAOLAO, our objective is to raise that share to around 25% over the coming years. Achieving this will require more than additional trucks or storage tanks. The priority is to develop technical and economic collection and processing models that are viable and adapted to the region’s pastoral realities.

Concretely, we are working around a three-pillar approach involving producers, multi-service collection centers, and mini-dairies. The model is based on contractual arrangements between producer groups and local collection centers, where milk is delivered daily. In return, these centers provide essential services, including access to animal feed, veterinary inputs, water for livestock, and fodder, supported by basic water and electricity infrastructure.

These collection centers are then connected to mini-dairies located within a maximum radius of 50 kilometers to limit transport time and reduce spoilage. By scaling up these hubs, combining collection centers, mini-dairies, and support for irrigated fodder production where feasible, the aim is to create reproducible models. These can then be rolled out by governments, private operators, and youth or farmer organizations across the region’s main dairy basins.

EA: In recent years, several governments in the region have opted to import improved cattle breeds from Europe. What is your assessment of this strategy?

BGS: Many countries are eager to achieve self-sufficiency, and even sovereignty, in the dairy sector. That ambition is understandable. However, I do not believe this particular approach is sustainable. Importing foreign breeds leads to a loss of local genetic diversity and risks eroding breeds that are well adapted to local climates and deeply rooted in regional production systems. At present, there is no regional gene bank, which means this genetic heritage is vulnerable.

A second concern is animal health. Importing livestock can introduce new diseases. Ticks are now widespread across West Africa, and we currently lack effective control mechanisms. There is also the issue of economic efficiency. These animals are costly to maintain, and so far there has been no serious, country-by-country assessment of what these imports have actually contributed to milk production.

West Africa and the Sahel together are home to around 600 million head of cattle. Yet there is no sustained, long-term effort to improve productivity through structured crossbreeding of local species.

Despite these uncertainties, more countries pursue this strategy each year. This includes coastal economies such as Nigeria and Senegal, but also Sahelian countries like Burkina Faso, where the priority might have been expected to focus on upgrading local breeds.

West Africa and the Sahel together are home to around 600 million head of cattle. Yet there is no sustained, long-term effort to improve productivity through structured crossbreeding of local species. Several indigenous breeds have the potential to deliver significant yield gains over the medium term if supported by credible genetic improvement programs.

EA: That said, what are the concrete levers for success? A common argument is that introducing improved breeds could quickly accelerate growth in milk production.

BGS: There is no doubt that productivity needs to improve, but not at any cost. Today, most pastoral and agro-pastoral systems in West Africa produce an average of 1.5 to 2 liters of milk per cow per day. This is very low compared with the potential of local breeds when they are properly fed and receive adequate veterinary care. We are convinced that by focusing seriously on two key levers, nutrition and animal health, it is possible to double these yields within five years. In the best-supported systems, output could reach 4 to 5 liters per cow per day. That alone would be enough to double regional milk production without increasing herd size.

For this to happen, however, policies must be far more consistent and funding must match the scale of the challenge. I view imports as a short-term solution, and not a sustainable one. Vaccination rates remain very low in several countries, and coordination between national veterinary services is weak. The absence of harmonized vaccination campaigns, combined with limited annual coverage, represents a major constraint on improving livestock productivity in general, and dairy production in particular.

In some countries, such as Sierra Leone or Liberia, there may be only one, two, or three veterinarians or technical experts for the entire country. That is clearly insufficient. The need for training and capacity building is enormous.

Even where qualified professionals exist, the challenge is to deploy them in the field, at the core of production systems and dairy projects, rather than keeping them concentrated in urban offices. Adopting strategies on paper is not enough. Governments need to finance animal health programs, expand access to livestock feed and fodder, and train and deploy technicians directly to farms. Countries such as Senegal, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso have begun to adopt more ambitious dairy policies, but implementation continues to lag because of limited budgetary commitments and the absence of large-scale structural programs.

EA: The FAO has designated this year as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. How do you view this renewed focus on pastoralism, and what concrete implications do you see for the region?

BGS : From our perspective, this spotlight represents a strategic opportunity to better explain the structural role pastoralism plays in West African economies.

In a context where resources to develop modern ranching systems remain limited, it is important to recognize that pastoral systems already supply the majority of the region’s meat and milk. They make a significant contribution to household resilience and generate substantial employment along the value chain. By way of illustration, it is estimated that a single head of cattle moving from the Sahel to coastal markets involves dozens of stakeholders, directly or indirectly, including herders, traders, transporters, and butchers.

As part of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralism, ECOWAS and its regional partners, including APESS, ROPPA, and CORET, plan to carry out a series of awareness-raising and advocacy initiatives. These will include policy briefings, the promotion of successful models led by pastoral organizations, and participation in a major regional meeting in Saly, Senegal. We will also take part in two major global events, the World Dairy Summit and the official activities linked to the International Year.

The objective is to rely on concrete examples, particularly in milk collection and high-quality dairy processing, to demonstrate that supporting pastoralism is not about clinging to the past. It is about investing in a central pillar of food security, rural employment, and economic development in West Africa.

Interview by Espoir Olodo