Actors
This study has allowed the characterization of both actors and links in the caprine and bovine value chains. It was found that milk collection is not well developed in the Fatick area for both value chains. For the cattle value chain, women sell both on the local market and at the dairy processor. However, only women producers in the Fatick department can deliver to the dairy, as women in Foundiounge and Gossas are too far away from the collection center. Women in the goat milk value chain do not sell a lot of fresh milk directly to traders partly due to the low productivity of local breeds. Thus, sales are essentially made of products derived from goat's milk. In the studied region, the farmers expect to be supported by the local government services (such as departmental livestock services), the private sector, various projects and programs (PDIF [Integrated Development Program of Fatick], PAFC [Improvement Program for the Caprine Sector], dairy processors, etc.), to intervene at different levels of the bovine and caprine value chain to ensure their access to alimentation, animal health, insemination services, access to production and transformation equipment, and markets. However, farmers still lack access to most of these services. There is a need of cooperation and collaboration between government services, the private sector, and other programs in the region, for information sharing, avoiding duplication of efforts, and resource use efficiency.
Socio-demographic characteristics of women involved in caprine and bovine milk value chains
The results of this study showed differences among women involved in caprine and bovine milk value chains in terms of their education/instruction level and their involvement in village groups. Similarly to our results, another study in this region of Senegal found that almost half of the surveyed women involved in the bovine milk value chain had no known type of education versus only 10% in the caprine milk value chain (Dieng et al. 2014). Other studies have noted the negative impact of low levels of education of individuals on the appropriation of technical innovations and, consequently, on the modernization of the dairy sector (Duteurtre 2006; Broutin 2004). Moreover, women in the bovine sector were found to be less engaged in village organizations than women in the caprine sector. This can be explained by the installation of the PAFC project and PDIF, which help women involved in the caprine sector to organize themselves and generally support village’s organizations. However, the “National Agency of Statistics and Demography” (NASD)’s work in 2018 highlighted that the creation of the “Groupement d’Intérêt Economique” (GIE [Economic Interest Group]) and the village associations supported by NGOs are increasingly promoting livestock farming development in the Fatick region. Indeed, women in the study who belonged to village groups and organizations (mostly in the caprine sector) reported having had the chance to be trained at least once in their lives in different aspects such as food security, entrepreneurship, income diversification, nutrition or production, which stimulated the diversification of their means of livelihood including milk production and processing. These observations were also confirmed by different studies in Sub-Saharan Africa rural communities (Bernard et al. 2008; Ferguson and Kepe 2011; Mhembwe and Dube 2017) which showed the positive correlation between belonging to village groups or cooperatives, and increased awareness, understanding, and access to information and training compared to producers who were not involved in village group activities. Participation in village associations thus seems to be an important point for the development of value chains. This paper is thus identifying a gap between successful strategies and women's access to them. More women need access to these associations which have been found to be beneficial in many ways. Moreover, the fact that more educated women were found in the goat value chain than the cattle’s one may be due to increased access to information that allowed for open-mindedness toward traditional social perceptions and beliefs (i.e., beliefs concerning the goat milk). It is therefore possible that increased access to education allows women to overcome these taboos surrounding the use of certain animals and thus develop profitable livestock income activities that were previously unexplored (or underdeveloped) by other individuals in their communities.
Involvement of women in the dairy value chains of bovine and goats
The results of this study indicate that, for both value chains, women could be actors in several parts of their respective value chain at the same time: in the production, processing, and marketing of milk and its derived products. In the studied zone, caprine are often owned by women, which makes their involvement in all activities related to the caprine sector from production to commercialization, unsurprising. This idea is supported by Gillerot (2018) in her study about goat breeding and the goat milk sector in Fatick, which indicated that men are not interested in goat farming and thus the production and management of goats are taken over by women. This also explains the reason why women are the sole beneficiary of the goat development initiatives led by Caprine Farmers’ association in the Fatick region. For the bovine value chain, these results are congruent with findings of studies in other Senegalese regions (Kaolack, by Ndiaye 2017) and in West Africa (Chatellier 2018), who worked on similar aspects and found that even if there is less involvement of women in the actual milk production activities, women are strongly involved in the processing and marketing of cow’s milk. Nonetheless, it was found that female producers in the bovine sector were more active in fresh milk production and less active in transformation activities compared to the women in the caprine sector. This is likely due to the presence of the dairy processor in the region which buys large quantities of fresh cattle milk from producers in the vicinity of the dairy milk plant, while the rest of the milk is sold to individual consumers as well as in the parallel markets of the departmental town (Fatick city). The impact of the dairy processors, such as Kirène, in boosting the local cattle milk industry has also been established by researchers in Fatick (Habanabakize et al. 2022; Tournaire 2019) and in other regions across Senegal (Corniaux et al. 2014; Napoléone et al. 2015). Furthermore, fresh goat milk is less consumed, and its market value is still very low due to cultural biases, personal preferences, and other traditional beliefs, both in the studied region and in different parts of the globe, despite its nutritional benefits (Idamokoro et al. 2019; Phoya et al. 2003).
Soap was found to be the most processed product from goat milk followed by curdled milk. This may be explained by the fact that most of the women’s groups transforming the goat milk are located in remote areas where electricity and other conservation means are not available, and therefore soap, which is easily made and has an extended shelf life, is preferred and is a well-sold product by these women compared to cheese, yoghurt, and ice cream. The current results were different to the findings of Diouf (2004) who observed that producers in Niayes regions of Senegal were mostly processing cheese from goat milk, where there are small-scale transformation units in different towns of the region. Thus, there is a large body of evidence that shows that the choices of the primary products of processed goat milk differ in different regions depending on the availability of markets and equipment, as well as cultural aspects.
Income
This study has shown that the revenues generated from milk selling activities constitute an important share of the total perceived household income of the women interviewed. The study has also indicated that the bovine milk value chain provides more income to the household than the caprine milk value chain in the studied area. The money from both value chains comes directly from the processing and marketing of livestock products (milk, cheese, butter, manure, and meat) or from the direct sale of live animals (cattle, goats). Factors associated with the differences in income distribution and adoption of the bovine and caprine milk value chains include the availability of markets, individual preferences, and cultural differences (Guney and Ocak 2013; Idamokoro et al. 2019; Utami 2014). In addition to these factors, it is worth mentioning that for years women have exploited cow’s milk while the goat dairy sector is still evolving in the studied region.
Our findings indicate that the income generated from the sales of milk and its products is managed by women and the money is spent for daily household expenses. This is consistent with findings from multiple studies that have found that while the sale of animals (mostly small ruminants, but sometimes also cattle) provides an emergency source of cash for medical expenses or school fees, the sale of milk and its products provide a regular flow of income essential to a family’s well-being. It is also often used to purchase food, clothes, and other household items (Gillerot 2018; Schneider 2012; Distefano 2012).
Farmers have also reported other sources of income at the household level in addition to the milk revenues. This study showed that women farmers of both value chains in Fatick get extra income from agriculture, fattening and small commerce in addition to the milk production activities. In the context of smallholder rural farmers, even if livestock and agricultural activities top the list of other household income-generating activities, these sectors are prone to numerous challenges including effects of climate change, low access to inputs, liquidity issues, and market fragmentations (Asravor 2018). It is therefore very common across rural smallholder settings, especially for women, to look for alternative ways of generating income to overcome challenges and to respond to opportunities that improve their livelihoods (Ng’ong’ola et al. 2017; Ellis 2010; Minot 2006).
Challenges
In echo to the constraints faced by Senegalese livestock producers in general, such as extreme weather events, feed and water resource scarcity for example, the women in this study reported multiple constraints that farmers face. Women in the caprine milk value chain noted the lack of equipment as the biggest challenge for production activities. Indeed, while most of the women in the caprine sector are involved in milk transformation activities, they do not have access to the proper conservation and transformation equipment needed to properly carry out these tasks. The inaccessibility of electricity, roads, and market infrastructures are also big obstacles to their production activities due to their remote locations in rural areas. In most cases, smallholder producers are located in rural areas, and different studies in Senegal (Bernard et al. 2008; Van den Broeck et al. 2017), and in the West African region (Sarr et al. 2015; Bernard et al. 2008), have reported remoteness to have a negative impact on production and transformation activities. The lack of basic resources and infrastructure, such as conservation equipment, may also contribute to why these groups of women are mainly producing soap. This differs from producers in different regions (such as Canada vs. Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, or France; Hosri and Khoury 2004; ANICAP 2016; Alqudah 2016), who have access to resources to conserve derived products for relatively longer periods of time and produce a wide range of products from goat and cow’s milk.
Women involved in cattle and goat farming have also pointed out the lack of training and innovation/modernization as a problem. For example, 25–30% of the women surveyed from both value chains had never received training in raw milk processing. Thus, milk processing is generally done in a traditional manner, mostly without pasteurization. Insufficient and poor-quality milk also remains a problem for the processing of both bovine and caprine milk, though more seriously for the goat sector. Indeed, some products, such as cheese, require a large quantity of milk during processing, while local goats have relatively low productivity. The lack of quality faced by both sectors could be due to some malpractice, such as adding excess water into raw milk, as indicated by some of the interviewees. Finally, milk price fluctuations were reported to be amongst the largest challenges faced by interviewees in the bovine milk value chain. Even if the dairy processor, along with the collection center, offers a package of extension services and a consistent market opportunity for rural and urban livestock producers, interviewees reported price dissatisfaction that the dairy’s buying price was half of the parallel markets price ($350 vs. $600, CFA).
In addition to these challenges faced by both men and women, there are also challenges specific to women. Whether in the bovine or goat value chain, the lack of access to land is a major problem noted by the women interviewed. Women in Senegal have been known to have weaker land rights as the land is mostly controlled by men and thus, some women do not have access to land at all while others tend to farm more marginal and smaller fields, with less healthy soils that poorly support production activities (Diop 2010; Evans 2016; Tine and Sy 2003). The lack of holding pens, i.e., pens to confined animals for calving or for livestock generally, more precisely the lack of access to the holding pens because they are managed by and for men, remains a constraint for both sectors, but especially for goat farming. In fact, even if women are involved in the production, processing, and marketing of milk, the cattle are generally owned by men. As a result, the lack of holding pens is not often mentioned as a problem for bovine farming.
The management of domestic time was also reported to be a challenge faced by many women. In most cases, taking care of children, cooking, collecting fuel wood and water for domestic use, etc., are the women’s responsibilities. Hence, household chores take up most of their time, to the detriment of the care of animals and the development of their production, processing, and marketing activities. The same challenge was also reported by other studies conducted in Senegal (Marshall 2017; Lindsey 2015) and in other sub-Saharan African countries (Mupawaenda et al. 2009) which found that women would not have enough time to efficiently invest their efforts in production activities because of time conflict with other primary household activities.
The women interviewed also revealed that they experience discrimination between men and women, for example in terms of government subsidies. Small ruminant breeders, who are mainly women, are not concerned by state subsidies directed toward heads of households. Even if recent years have seen an increase in advocacy and policy reforms for gender equity, the exclusion of women in intervention and policy design across value chains, still remains a global problem (Armbruster et al. 2019; Colverson et al. 2020; Njuki and Sanginga 2013; Ogunlela and Mukhtar 2009).
Our study has shown the important role that women have in the bovine and goat value chains in Fatick, as well as the role of milk in households. Milk allows women to improve their living conditions by enabling them to contribute to family expenses and to the security and well-being of the family. Nevertheless, women face many constraints that can limit their income. This study therefore highlights the importance of considering women and their perceptions so that they can also benefit from goat and cattle value chain improvement projects and policies.