🐄 Section 1 — Animal Setup
🌾 Section 2 — Feed Ingredients
Locally available Cameroonian feeds are pre-checked. Uncheck feeds you cannot source, or add others.
💰 Section 3 — Budget (Optional)
Formulate balanced feed rations for Gudali & Zebu cattle, West African Dwarf goats, Fulani sheep using cottonseed cake, palm kernel cake, maize bran and locally available Cameroonian feeds. Prices in FCFA (XAF).
Locally available Cameroonian feeds are pre-checked. Uncheck feeds you cannot source, or add others.
Cameroon has one of Central Africa's most diverse livestock sectors, spanning the pastoral Sahelian north (where Fulani herders raise Zebu cattle, sheep, and goats), the Guinea savanna (mixed crop-livestock systems), and the humid south and west (intensive poultry and pig production). The country has approximately 6 million cattle, over 7 million goats, 4 million sheep, and a rapidly growing poultry sector. The commercial feed industry is centered in Douala and Yaounde, with several feed mills (including Sanders Cameroun, SPC, and local operators) producing compound feeds primarily for the booming poultry sector. The northern pastoral zone relies almost entirely on natural rangelands managed through transhumance systems. Cameroon's agricultural diversity provides a wide range of potential feed ingredients, though the feed industry competes with human food demand for key commodities like maize and soybean.
Cameroon benefits from a diverse range of locally available feed ingredients across its varied agroecological zones. Maize is the primary energy source in commercial poultry and pig feeds, grown extensively in the North-West, West, and Adamawa regions. Cottonseed cake from SODECOTON's ginneries in the Far North and North regions is a major protein source, widely used in ruminant and pig feeding. Soybean meal from expanding soybean production in the Adamawa and North-West regions is increasingly available for poultry feeds. Groundnut cake and sesame cake provide additional protein options. Palm kernel cake from the oil palm industry in the Littoral and South-West regions is an economical energy and fiber source for ruminants. Brewers' dried grain (BDG) from the beer industry (SABC/Guinness) in Douala and Yaounde is a sought-after ingredient for dairy cattle. For ruminants, Brachiaria ruziziensis, Pennisetum purpureum (Napier grass), and natural savanna grasses provide the forage base. Leucaena leucocephala and Calliandra calothyrsus fodder trees are promoted in the Western Highlands for dairy goat and cattle feeding. Fish meal from artisanal fisheries on the coast and Lake Chad provides essential amino acids for poultry diets.
Feed represents 60 to 70% of production costs in Cameroon's commercial poultry and pig sectors, making cost management critical for profitability. Maize prices fluctuate significantly between the post-harvest period (October to December, when prices are lowest) and the lean season (July to September, when prices peak at up to 50% above harvest-time levels). Farmers can reduce costs by purchasing and storing maize immediately after harvest, establishing on-farm feed mixing operations to avoid commercial feed mill margins, and maximizing the inclusion of cheaper local ingredients like cassava meal, palm kernel cake, and cottonseed cake. The northern pastoral zone offers some of the most affordable ruminant feeding, with natural pastures providing the bulk of nutrition during the rainy season, supplemented by cotton seed and groundnut haulm purchased cheaply at local markets during the dry season. For dairy farmers in the North-West and Western Highlands, establishing improved Brachiaria and Napier grass pastures can dramatically reduce purchased feed costs. Feed ingredient traders operate at the major markets in Douala, Yaounde, Bafoussam, and Garoua, and farmers benefit from buying through cooperatives that can negotiate bulk discounts and arrange transport from producing regions.