Assessment of the direct economic value of cattle herding in northern Benin[Evaluation de la valeur économique directe de l'élevage bovin au nord-Bénin]

In the West African area, demand for animal products is growing in line with population growth, urbanization and rising incomes. This situation offers a potential market of meat and milk for livestock. But the paradox remains the growing importation rate of animal products from extra-African. The economy of pastoral activities is facing real difficulties in coping with the increasing demand for meat and milk in West African countries. This is why one of the major challenges in meat and milk sector is to ensure that people have a sufficient level of consumption of meat and milk while developing exportation. However, the World Economic Review of Pastoralism illustrated in this work the state of poverty of knowledge about pastoral economies, the lack of data collection in some countries and the lack of disaggregation of national data in other countries. It is to help fill the knowledge gap on pastoral economies that this study has been devoted to assessing the economic value of cattle farming in Benin from a production base. It will provide figures capable of generating better criteria for public investment and political decision-making in favor of cattle breeding. This study was based on surveys conducted at 52 cattle farms of two main systems, carefully selected in 12 localities representative of the diversity of the Donga district. The methodological approach followed to evaluate the economic value of cattle production, is divided into three stages: literature review, the estimation of the productions and their conversion into monetary value. At the end of the appraisal, the total economic value of beef production in the Donga Basin, represented by the production of live animals, meat and milk, is one billion nine million four hundred thousand (1,009,400,000) CFA francs. Relative to the population of the area, this economic value of the cattle production is 4143 FCFA / inhabitant. Compared with the total value of food production in Benin in 2012, which is 99,000 FCFA / inhabitant, the value of cattle production represents 4%. This result highlights the low participation of cattle breeding in the production of food in Benin.