1. Livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa is unevenly distributed in relation to the effective demand for meat. The bulk of the slaughter stock is produced in the arid and semi-arid zones which contain about 60% of the ruminant biomass (Jahnke, 1982). These zones are far from major population centres which have a high effective demand for meat. Consequently, slaughter stock have to be moved over great distances to centres of consumption or ports of export (e.g. over 2000 km from northern Mali to Abidjan in Ivory Coast). Figure 1 shows the flow of livestock-from areas of production to areas of consumption and/or export.
2. The livestock marketing system plays an important role in enabling livestock to move from areas of surplus to those of deficit. Its efficiency determines (a) the income of livestock producers and hence the level of offtake, and (b) the consumer price of meat and hence the level of consumption. The more efficient the marketing system is in minimising the costs of moving animals, the better it can stimulate both consumption and production.
3. This paper examines a number of areas where appropriate government policies * would increase the efficiency of livestock marketing systems in Africa.
