ABSTRACT
East Africa has many areas suited to dairying, especially in the better-watered zones at medium and high altitudes; it also has well-adapted and proven forages, many of local origin. The technologies are based on over seventy years of sound, well documented research and practical application. Although disease and parasite challenge can be strong, acclimatized stock of exotic dairy breeds are readily available for commercial dairying. Since the 1970s, with changes in farm size, emphasis has been on smallholder dairying, which has developed in the milk-catchment of the larger towns. The larger towns are mostly in upland areas, but two larges cities - Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam - are coastal. Smallholder dairying relies on stall feeding, using cultivated fodder and crop residues; scavenging on rough grazing is now less common. Forages for the various agro-ecological zones, based on altitude (sea level to about 3000 m) and rainfall are listed, and technology for their cultivation and use described. A study of three levels of intensification shows that exotic, stall-fed stock give the highest margin per litre and have the highest input costs. Dairying provides employment in the small-scale farming sector and improves household incomes. Marketing is largely informal, which may make assurance of standards of hygiene problematical. Farmers who adopt improved technology generally get higher yields and profit margins. Fragmentation of holdings is a serious problem, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for farmers to find enough land for both fodders and subsistence crops.
