A Path to Prosperity New Directions for African Livestock

Annex 5
Sahel and West Africa Club
Recommendations for Regional
Livestock Market Integration
120 125
> Intensify agropastoral systems – by addressing
factors that limit production, such as animal
feed. Member states were requested to:
• make inputs accessible through polices to
reduce taxes on technical and veterinary
inputs, and livestock equipment. UEMOA
has already started this in the animal health
sector 149 .
• Allow easier access to credit.
• Strengthen outreach and training
programmes for families and private
operators. e.g. encourage development
of the production of goats’ milk, a product
that is still not exploited in SWA countries
with large goat herds.
> Diversify animal production – to make the most
of comparative natural advantages of the Sahel
for meat and milk production and coastal
countries for short-cycle feedlot operations.
> Encourage the development of intra-regional
trade based on finished or processed products,
e.g. encouraging vertical integration of the value
chain from animal-rearing rural areas, to
collection and stocking for finishing, to
slaughter and meat-distribution chains in
regional markets.
> Improve systems for processing animal products
– by renovating and expanding existing
infrastructure. In most of the SWA countries,
the abattoirs are obsolete and/or have limited
capacity. They do not permit enough animals to
be slaughtered even to meet domestic demand.
Processing centres should be established in
countries with a comparative industrial
advantage such as Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana
and Nigeria.
> Improve internal distribution systems and
intra-regional trade. Member states were
requested to ensure trade policies focus
on better organisation of animal product
markets in order to:
• boost trade flows, eg install one-stop
windows for the payment of duties and
taxes;
• improve the competitiveness of products
through lower transaction costs and greater
tax effectiveness. This includes
harmonisation of relevant tax regimes;
• harmonise animal health policies across
the region;
• promote adequate means of transport
– including improving recognised stock
routes and reducing the number of barriers
on those routes, many of which are
traditional;
• Consider stronger policies for the protection
of local production, for example Côte d’Ivoire
used to impose countervailing duties on
poultry products. As a result, local
production performed quite well in
intra-regional and extra-regional exports;
> Support the organisation of agro-pastoralists,
livestock exporters, and food processors;
> Increase investment in livestock research and
development to remove obstacles to improved
production, effectively address emerging issues,
including the safety of animal products.
The Impetus Strategy Paper I Page 66