A survey to establish baseline data for future intervention in milk and dairy production in the peri‐urban areas of Garoua, Maroua and Bamenda was carried out. Dairy products are still produced in a traditional way in areas around Maroua and Garoua with milk from native zebu cattle (Red and White Fulani breeds). The important dairy products are pendidam and kindirmu, both of which are fermented milks. Naturally sour milk was found occasionally. Around Bamenda, milk is produced by herds comprising pure Holsteins, Jerseys and their crosses with local zebu cows; cross‐breeding is being intensified to increase rapidly the size of the dairy herds. Appreciable volumes of milk are produced daily, so allowing the industrial processing of fresh milk into pasteurized milk, yogurt and cheese. The potential for expansion of the dairy industry, and the possible constraints, were identified and solutions proposed.
Data from production and financial records from the Wakwa Centre for Animal and Veterinary Research were used to find out whether or not genetic improvement for dairy production is a profitable investment. The herd projection computer program was used to herd-project the performance of 100 Holstein x Gudali crossbred and 100 Gudali heifers over a 10-year period. Despite the high mortality rate of the crosses, their overall improvement over the local Gudali led to a benefit-cost ratio of 4.21. This suggests that genetic improvement of local cattle through crossbreeding for dairy production can be a profitable venture. Crossbred dairy farming is therefore recommended for the dairy industry in Cameroon.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.