ECOWAS unveils US$12.8M five-year dairy program funded by AFD to cut imports

WEST AFRICA – The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has launched a five-year project to support its regional “Offensive Lait” initiative to strengthen local dairy value chains. The 11-million-euro ($12.8 million) project is funded by the French Development Agency (AFD).

PAOLAO will focus on four areas: harmonising trade and tax policies to support local milk, strengthening sector organisation and business models, promoting local consumption, and mobilising technical and financial partners to improve the long-term competitiveness of West Africa’s dairy industry.

“The project aims to tap the region’s potential to double milk production by 2030 and to increase processing and consumption, raising the share of locally sourced milk to between 20% and 25% by 2035,” ECOWAS said in a statement.

West Africa produced an average of 4.83 million tons of fresh milk annually between 2019 and 2023, according to U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data. Over the same period, the region imported an average of 1.98 million tons a year of dairy products in milk-equivalent terms, the FAO said.

The launch of PAOLAO also aligns with policies already adopted by several countries to boost agriculture and livestock production through subsidies, public investment and industrialisation initiatives.

In June, Nigeria announced measures to double national milk output to 1.4 million tons a year by 2030, including the National Livestock Growth Acceleration Scheme (NL-GAS) and partnerships with dairy companies such as Arla Foods, Promasidor, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Zaidi Farms and Integrated Dairies.

Senegal has also subsidised imports of high-potential cattle breeds for meat and dairy production since 2017 as part of its genetic-improvement policy aimed at increasing herd productivity.

West Africa’s food economy accounts for 35% of the region’s GDP, the OECD and the African Union Commission (AUC) said in the 2025 edition of the “Africa’s Development Dynamics” report.

The authors state that agricultural production has expanded sharply over the past two decades. However, they emphasize that regional food systems still require stronger efficiency to meet rising needs.

The report says that insufficient transport and energy infrastructure remains a major barrier to agro-industrial development in West Africa.

Population growth continues to push food demand higher, yet unstable power supply and the lack of transport facilities sustain heavy food-import flows across several countries.

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