In Louga, a region in north-western Senegal, over sixteen percent of babies suffer from malnutrition, according to the country’s Ministry of Health and Social Action.

Malnutrition is generally due to an unbalanced diet with a low protein or mineral intake, leading to chronic diseases. Limited access to vitamin-rich foods or basic social services can also lead to undernutrition among infants.

This situation, which has harmful consequences for infant development, can be resolved by using goat's milk processed into yogurt.

A livestock breeding program in Senegal led by Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) has produced a study of milk production from crossbreeding Saneen goats with local breeds.

The study also considered the use of goat yogurt as a treatment for malnourished children in Louga region of Senegal, which serves as a cattle market centre.

Embedding more sustainable practices across milk and meat value chains in a changing climate

AICCRA’s work on livestock is demonstrating how feed intake formulas can be adapted to maintain or even increase goat milk production.

To this end, improved breeds of Majorera Billy and Saanen female goats have been made available to several farmers in Louga.

Mamadou Korka Diallo is a student of agronomy at the National School of Agriculture (École Nationale Supérieure d'Agriculture - ENSA) in Thiès, where he is undertaking an internship that is supported by AICCRA.

For his final dissertation under the supervision of Fafa Sow, a veterinary researcher at the Senegal Institute for Agricultural Research (Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles - ISRA), Mamadou worked in collaboration with the Sérigne Mbacké Ndiaye goat farm and the Congrégation des Filles du Saint-Cœur de Marie health center in Louga, a town in northwestern Senegal.

They carried out a scientific study on the contribution of a daily intake of 250 grams of yogurt to the growth of moderately malnourished children. The study lasted six months, including data collection on nutrition and zootechnical performance - meaning the scientific management of domestic or captive animals.

Mamadou observed a significant increase in the weight of the children participating in the study compared to malnourished children treated in hospital with a food ration consisting of porridge and flour made from various locally available foods.

"This enabled us to observe an average increase in baby weight of around 200 grams per week for those less than a year old. We can therefore conclude from this study that goat's milk could be a good remedy for child malnutrition." - Mamadou Diallo

A product better suited to infants under the age of one

To carry out this study, research focused on a sample of 20 children aged between 6 and 36 months. At the end of the experiment, children under one year of age showed the best results.

Djeynaba Ba was born with moderate malnutrition and is an example of the benefits of the diet. After each week of experiment, she gained 200 grams in weight thanks to her regular consumption of our yogurt.

“After a month's experiment, we noticed that children under twelve months had gained most weight. Based on this experiment, we decided to select children in this age group to improve the results. If we were to repeat the experiment, I would advise giving priority to this category of children." said Léonie Diagne, a Chief Medical Officer at a health center in Louga.

Diagne established two treatment groups for research purposes: one for children in hospital, and the other for those in their families. Speaking on results from the first phase of monitoring, Fafa Sow shared these observations, suggesting:

“We should compare the results of the two groups after a year's experience. But after 45 days consumption of the goat's milk yogurt, I have received follow-up results from the doctor showing that over 50 percent of the children monitored have come out of the malnutrition criterion and are now at the normal criterion. These are the same results that were observed in Uganda.”

How the benefits of adopting climate-smart agriculture also extend to infant nutrition

Climate change is driving longer and drier seasons in Senegal. This is causing the levels of available fodder resources—plant material eaten by grazing livestock—to fluctuate considerably from one year to the next.

Such changes have gradually led to the marginalization of livestock farming. Pastoral farmers must find new climate adaptation strategies if the sector is to be productive (and support livelihoods) in a changing climate.

“The question of the relationship between our approach [on nutrition] and climate-smart indicators comes up very often,” said Aliou Faye, Director of the Regional Study Centre for the Improvement of Adaptation to Drought (Centre d'Etude Régionale pour l'Amélioration de l'Adaptation à la Sécheresse - CERAAS), a research centre affiliated to ISRA. “Before doing anything, we always consider the agroecological approach."

AICCRA partnerships—such as those with CERAAS and ISRA—promote ‘climate-smart’ livestock practices to help pastoralists become more resilient.

Such agroecological approaches involve the integration of agriculture and livestock farming through the establishment of family farms to connect livestock farming (dairy cows and goats, sheep, etc.) with fodder production plots.

This system provides livestock farmers with quality animal products based on crop production without chemical inputs and will also boost cereal and agricultural yields through fertilization with composted manure.

“To make yoghurt, the pilot farmers use calf rennet [a mixture of milk clotting enzymes extracted from the abomasum, or 4th stomach, of baby calves]. This gives them a 99% natural product. All this considers the indicators that AICCRA is seeking to promote with its climate-smart approach,” added Aliou Faye.

To ensure the sustainability of climate-smart and agroecological practices, AICCRA has set up a capacity-building and monitoring program for women's dairy processing groups.

To date, 65 women in the town of Linguère have already benefited from this program, and 40 other producers have been supported in the production of fodder crops.

Authors

Nadine Worou, Scientific Coordinator, AICCRA Senegal and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

Anthony Whitbread, AICCRA Senegal Country Lead and Principal Scientist, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

Fafa Sow, Livestock Programme Manager for AICCRA Senegal, ISRA

Lamine Diedhiou, Communication Officer, AICCRA Senegal and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)