A study was carried out to evaluate the impact of interventions to solve constraints in smallholder dairy farms of the Western
Highlands of Cameroon. The interventions consisted of improved breeding through introduction of artificial insemination, better
feed supplementation, farmers training in milk processing and better veterinary services. Results show that there was a decrease
in average monthly expenditures of 18% relative to the month before interventions started. Much of the expenditures were related
to feed (38% of all costs). There was an overall increase in farm income. Close to 2/3 of the income were derived from milk
products from home processed milk and culled animals. Only 7% income came from milk sold to the processing plant. The partial
budget shows that before interventions, farmers lost
4.5/cow/month but gained4.5/cow/month but gained 38/cow/month because of the interventions.
The return was 2.32 and included opportunity income for milk home consumed and shared. When this opportunity income was ignored,
the return stood at 1.93. The positive impact of interventions led to poverty alleviation and some farmers acquired more cows.
A spill over effect is that more crop farmers are willing to be engaged at least partially in dairy farming. It will be good
if many more farmers could benefit from these interventions.
Keywords Cameroon - Interventions - Partial budget - Smallholder dairy