
- Main question/s addressed
What are the impacts of EU policies on local dairy value chains in West African countries with a high potential of production?
How can EU agricultural, trade and investment, development cooperation, and external action policies support the regional ECOWAS dairy strategy ‘Offensive Lait’?
- Short description
- Key governance / legal / institutional frameworks that play a role
- EU trade and sustainable development policy
- EU policy coherence for development
- AU-EU partnerships
- Key policy frameworks that play a role
- Offensive Lait from ECOWAS
- EU Common Agricultural Policy
- Issues related to competitiveness in markets that will be explored
Issues of competitiveness include unfair trading practices including dumping of EU exports (exporting below costs of production), external costs competition (with the cheaper, less sustainable production of fat filled milk powders). The study will also look at addressing bottlenecks to improve dairy productivity in West Africa. Relevant policy measures to be taken to address questions of development of sustainable local value chains, price volatility, unequal power relations in the value chain will be identified. Relevant experiences from other countries or regions where relevant (e.g., Kenya and South Asia) will be considered.
- Planned methodological approach
- Value chain analysis
- Sustainable development impacts
- Qualitative desk research and participatory (group) interviews
- Planned data collection
- Expected impact
Case Study Leader
Oxfam Solidarité - Oxfam Solidariteit

SDG's Addressed






Geographical Focus and Scale



Product and market focus
Dairy products (fresh, processed, dairy powders, fat filled milk powders). EU exports to West Africa, as well as local and regional markets in West Africa.
Key stakeholders
The case will involve stakeholders active in the development of local dairy value chain in West Africa, including milk producers, farmers organisations, dairy processors and retailers as well as local authorities, NGOs and researchers. It will also involve relevant European stakeholders (dairy producers, processors, exporters, public authorities).Stakeholders will include actors active at local, national, regional and international levels. Discussions will focus on three different countries in West Africa (tbc), the ECOWAS region, as well as the European dairy trade perspective.
Research design: national coordination of the ECOWAS “Offensive Lait” Research data gathering: farmers, dairy cooperatives, local authorities, dairy companies (traders, investors), research institutions involved in complementary research.Sharing outputs: 1) national and regional coordination ‘Offensive Lait’; 2) different value chain actors in West Africa and Europe, 3) national and regional authorities in West Africa and Europe; 4) consumers and the wider audience.