socio-technological factors determining the failure of cooperative

SOCIO‐TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS DETERMINING THE FAILURE OF COOPERATIVE MINI‐DAIRIES WITHIN SUB‐SAHARAN AFRICAN PASTORAL SOCIETIES: CASE STUDY FROM BENIN Georges Djohy (Georg‐August Universität Göttingen & University of Parakou) (Paper in preparation) ABSTRACT The cooperative mini‐dairies spread across West Africa in the recent decades. These are generally initiatives endowed with national and international funds promoting food security and market access from milk locally produced. Benin Republic also implemented various pilot projects that led to the creation of SOCOLAIG mini‐dairy which worked successfully from 2006, before closing early in 2010. This research, using a case study approach, presents the factors that explain the failure of this technology among Fulani pastoralists in Gogounou district (Northern Benin). The translation process was followed as it appears in actor‐network theory. During eight months of fieldwork, ethnographic interviews and participant observation were used to trace the points at which the translation process had failed. The results showed that the failure of Socolaig involved complex interactions between technological, environmental, socio‐economic and cultural factors. This demonstrates that technological translation took place and was shaped by the sociocultural and political environment. These findings could be instructive to ongoing dairy and other agricultural technological initiatives currently underway in the era of the ‘new green revolution’ in sub‐Saharan Africa. Keywords: Cooperative mini‐dairy, Technology, Fulani pastoralist, Food security, Benin RÉSUMÉ Les mini‐laiteries coopératives se sont répandues dans toute l'Afrique de l'Ouest au cours des dernières décennies. Ce sont généralement des initiatives dotées de fonds nationaux et internationaux promouvant la sécurité alimentaire et l'accès au marché à partir du lait localement produit. La République du Bénin a également mis en œuvre divers projets pilotes qui ont conduit à la création de la mini‐laiterie SOCOLAIG qui a fonctionné avec succès à partir de 2006, avant de fermer très tôt en 2010. Cette recherche, en utilisant une approche d'étude de cas, présente les facteurs qui expliquent l’échec de cette technologie au sein des pasteurs peuls de la commune de Gogounou (Nord‐Bénin). Le processus de traduction a été suivi tel qu'il apparaît dans théorie de l'acteur‐réseau. Pendant huit mois de terrain, des entretiens ethnographiques et l'observation participante ont été utilisés pour rechercher les points sur lesquels le processus de traduction avait échoué. Les résultats ont montré que l'échec de Socolaig a impliqué des interactions complexes entre des facteurs technologiques, environnementaux, socio‐économiques et culturels. Cela démontre que la traduction technologique a eu lieu et fut façonnée par l’environnement socioculturel et politique. Ces résultats pourraient être instructifs pour les initiatives laitières et autres technologiques agricoles actuellement en cours à l'ère de la « nouvelle révolution verte » en Afrique sub‐saharienne. Mots‐clefs: Mini laiterie coopérative, Technologie, Pasteurs peuls, Sécurité alimentaire, Bénin INTRODUCTION The last decades have seen a renewed interest for dairy technologies in West African countries. This is the result of the governments’ involvement in dairy industry from the 2000s. Different individual and cooperative small businesses emerged within capitals and secondary cities using exported milk powder and/or local milk collected from the milk‐sheds.1. These units were described as “mini‐
dairies”, “processing units”, “collection centers” or “cheese dairies”.2 The Republic of Benin, although it is not a great pastoral country like the Sahelian ones, did not remain on the sidelines of this dynamic, virtually sub‐regional.3 The interest of the state for dairy sector revealed through various agricultural policy documents is fairly recent.4 With funding from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), two dairy pilot projects were implemented in Gogounou district where Fulani pastoralists were well organized constituting ground and umbrella associations. The Société Coopérative Laitière de Gogounou (SOCOLAIG) was created and placed under the management of the Union Communale des Organisations Professionnelles des Eleveurs de Ruminants (UCOPER). The initial goal was to provide the country with a processing model duplicable in landlocked milk‐sheds through a suitable collection system minimizing milk loss and ensuring better supply for urban centers. The mini‐dairy was supposed to continuously satisfy rural and urban demands for nourishing, healthy and quality dairy products from local cow’s milk. It worked with success from 2006, but astonishingly closed down in the early 2010. This research investigated the factors that explain the failure of SOCOLAIG, in order to contribute to improving mini‐dairy technologies among pastoralist communities across sub‐Saharan Africa. First, an insight will be given of the theoretical pillar which supported the research. Second, details will be provided on Socolaig model and finally, a short analysis will be made on its failure before a concluding remark. 2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND From Science and Technology Study (STS) background, this research did not consider technology and society as two distinct and autonomous realities. They are rather the result of a co‐construction involving various ingredients. We used actor‐network perspective5 seeking to provide a conceptual and methodological framework for understanding the processes through which a technological innovation succeed or fail. We hypothesized that the closure of Socolaig would have resulted from an unbalance between the involved technological and social forces. The concept of ‘translation’ was therefore used to scrutinize these forces at work. ‘Translation’ in the sense implies that the success of a technology is linked to the construction of a network comprising a heterogeneous set of human and non‐human factors which agree and collaborate to achieve the objective intended by the technology promoters. It involves four major steps: problematization, interessement, enrollment and representation.6 By using a case study approach, the translation process of Socolaig mini‐dairy was followed considering the designing, the implementation and the daily management practices up to the closure. 3. STUDY AREA AND RESEARCH METHOD 1
C. Corniaux, G. Duteurtre, C. Broutin, Filières laitières et développement de l’élevage en Afrique de l’Ouest: L’essor des minilaiteries, (Paris: Karthala, 2014), 5‐36. 2
G. Duteurtre, C. Corniaux, Etude relative à la formulation du programme d’actions détaillé de développement de la filière lait en zone UEMOA, Rapport définitif, UEMOA/CIRAD, 2013. 3
Aimé Gnimadi. Etude pour l’identification des filières agroindustrielles prioritaires (Bénin). Rapport mission TE/RAF/07/A01‐1751‐2008, (Cotonou: ONUDI/UEMOA), 2008. 4
MAEP, Plan Stratégique de Relance du Secteur Agricole, (Cotonou: Ministère de l’Agriculture, de l’Elevage et de la Pêche, 2011), 55. 5
Bruno Latour, Technology is society made durable, The Sociological Review, 38, S1 (1990): 103‐131. 6
Michel Callon, "Some elements of a sociology of translation: Domestication of the scallops and the fishermen of St. Brieuc Bay" in Power, action, and belief: a new sociology of knowledge, ed. John Law (London: Routledge), 196‐223. The study was conducted in Gogounou district in northern Benin (Figure 1). An exploratory visit was conducted for two months (July 15 to September 15, 2013). This enabled to collect broad information and different narratives on the mini‐dairy. Field investigations were then intensively made for eight months (February 14 to October 25, 2014). During this period, ethnographic interviews were carried out with different stakeholders. One‐day participant observation was also performed in Nikki district within COLABest mini‐dairy (Coopérative Laitière du Borgou Est) built later on the model of Socolaig, and where the former laboratory assistant of Socolaig was enrolled. This approach enabled access qualitative data recorded, transcribed and thematically analyzed. Figure 1: Location of Gogounou district 4. RESULTS 4.1. Socolaig mini‐dairy model Table 1 shows the general data on the case study. Twelve Fulani female ground associations (Groupement Professionnel des Femmes Éleveuses de Ruminants – GPFER) established dating back to 2000 and mobilizing about 250 members were empowered in September 3rd, 2005 into a cooperative “Kossam Nafoo Jam ‐ KNJ” to be driver and promoter of the mini‐dairy. These women leaders had the responsibilities of building the milk collection centers and motivating women to daily supply milk. Six milk collectors recruited on kinship and friendship basis collected milk after quality checks and carried it to the city center to be processed. Once in Gogounou city center, the milk was received by a managing team consisting of a laboratory assistant, a responsible of processing and a chief‐
manager responsible for material and financial management. When the milk is delivered by the collectors, the lab assistant performed quality checks and made the decision of accepting or rejecting it. The manager took necessary notes and the good quality milk was sent to processing. All the workers were trained on the job and none of them does hold a professional qualification for her work. They did have neither a working official contract nor a fixed salary. They had only periodic rewards granted to them by Fulani leaders without regular term. The milk collectors were only given an incentive of 5,000 CFA francs to whip up their whole‐hearted devotion. They were also granted with bicycles (and then motorcycle for some of them) enabling covering the distances from the village milk profit centers to the city center. The Fulani women were enrolled with Fulfulde and “ristourne”. The Fulfulde is this sense of belonging that leads to act collectively to make succeed the decisions and the initiatives supported by the Fulbe community.7 Make Fulfulde simply means achieving unity, deciding unanimously or making a gesture of solidarity.8 The profit generated by the factory was also said to be shared later in terms of reward “ristourne”. This concept was borrowed from cotton sector where the weight excess between the first cotton weighing at village level and the second weighing carried out in the ginning plant was returned back to cotton farmers in a form of reward.9 This money made available to the leaders of cotton farmers represented an important issue within cotton areas. The ristourne was feeding a crucial power play at the ground.10 The Fulani women believed in this enterprise assumed to generate great profit to be redistributed. The issue of ristourne within dairy cooperatives was not specific to Socolaig. Such measure existed, for example, in the dairy of Koumantou in southern Mali. This factory after having made a large fund reserve over time, granted its milk farmers in 2006 a ristourne of about 10 CFA francs per liter of milk delivered.11 The meaning given by Fulani women to the ristourne in Gogounou had rather to do with its history in the cotton sector. Both Fulfulde and ristourne had the merit of enrolling Fulani women for milk supply during the very first days of Socolaig. Table 1: Technical notes on Socolaig Name Société Coopérative Laitière de Gogounou (SOCOLAIG) Type of management « Kossam Nafoo Jam » Fulani women cooperative empowered by
UCOPER Gogounou Date of creation 2006 Date of closure February 2010 Collect 75l/day (average) Total capacity 300l/day
Milk suppliers 250 Fulani women (from 12 Fulbe female groups: GPFER) Collectors 6 Fulani/Gando men Average milk price 250 CFA francs/l (min: 200 CFA francs/l, max: 500 CFA francs/l) Range of products Pasteurized milk, curdled milk, butter, yogurt and wagashi cheese
Number of employees 3 women (manager, laboratory assistant, processor) Potential markets Local (Gogounou), regional (mainly Kandi, Banikoara and Parakou) Place of sale Directly in the mini‐dairy (no point of sale) Range of prices of the Yogurt: pot of 250 CFA francs
products Pasteurized milk: box of 500 CFA francs Cheese: package of two at 2000 CFA francs Source: Fieldwork, 2014 4.2. “Made in Gogounou” as great achievement An average of seventy five liters of milk were supplied and processed every day except Saturday and Sunday. Five main dairy products were manufactured and marketed (pasteurized milk, curdled milk, 7
D.J. Stenning, Savanna nomads, (London: Oxford University Press), 1959, 55. Elisabeth Boesen, "Pulaaku, Sur la foulanité" in Figures peules ed. R. Botte, J.Y. Boutrais and J. Schmitz (Paris: Karthala, 1999), 92. 9
Pierre‐Yve Le Meur, Thomas Bierschenk, Anne Floquet, L’État est‑il soluble dans la Société Civile? Le Bénin Rural avant la Décentralisation, Bulletin de l'APAD, 1998, 16. 10
Thomas Bierschenk, Jean‐Pierre Olivier de Sardan, "Les arènes locales face à la décentralisation et à la démocratisation. Analyses comparatives en milieu rural béninois" in Les pouvoirs au village: Le Bénin rural entre démocratisation et décentralisation ed. Thomas Bierschenk and Jean‐Pierre Olivier de Sardan (Paris: Karthala, 1998), 11‐51. 11
Denis Ripoche, Yacouba Sangare, "Laiterie de Koumantou (Mali)" in Filières laitières et développement de l’élevage en Afrique de l’Ouest: L’essor des minilaiteries, ed. C. Corniaux, G. Duteurtre and C. Broutin, (Paris: Karthala, 2014), 129‐137. 8
butter, yogurt and wagashi cheese). These products were termed competitive when referring to their quality and their price.12 The mini‐dairy of Gogounou successfully participated in the 5th ECOWAS trade fair, held in Ouagadougou from March 7th to 15th, 2008.13 This success of Socolaig was mostly due to its uniqueness. It was the first initiative in its kind in the whole country. This met the need of the local populations in a context of urbanization and the development of the cities. The “Made in Gogounou” was different from all the dairy products sold on the market. In fact, the dairy products available across the country were mainly from large dairy companies (Comtesse, Fan Milk Bénin, Sotracom Sa,...). These industrials based most of their production on imported milk powder. Only a few have local milk collection policy based on exotic breeds in the outskirts of big cities like Cotonou (Sotracom Sa) and Parakou (“L'Etoile Notre‐Dame” monastery). There had never been a dairy company valuing bush cow’s milk. Socolaig was indeed the pioneer, and the media sufficiently contributed to share this label among the consumers. As shown in different poster of the dairy, the most relayed slogan in advertising was: “Toutes les vertus du lait frais…NATURELLEMENT”14, “SOCOLAIG, Si Bon, Si Nature, Si Frais!!!”.15 Moreover, the technical and financial supports from TCP/BEN (FAO) projects filled several managerial gaps that later will be detrimental to the company. These supports covered governance shortcomings and helped overcome some difficulties related to energy constraint, contracts and salaries to workers, etc. 4.3. Factors leading to Socolaig closure The anti‐programs that grafted to each other and resulted in closing Socolaig down, had to do with energy shortage, seasonal transhumance, Fulani permanent emigration, competition for milk harvest. The lack of contract and salary for workers and other cultural and gender issues also played an important role. Electricity constraint: The processing was more based on a low‐capacity generator that did not enable using any modern power‐demanding equipment. Some important activities such as pasteurization were traditionally performed with wood fire. Only one refrigerator was used to store the commodities. The power outages that regularly occurred were causing damages to the mini‐dairy which was recording sometimes spoiled products. The lack of energy autonomy was one of the major handicaps for Socolaig hindering to cover the amount of milk considered for a semi‐industrial unit of its kind, 300 liters per day. Fulani mobility and emigration: During dry season animals are far away making milk collect difficult. This situation was worsened by the mass emigration of Fulani with their flocks to Togo and Ghana, to escape from the widespread use of herbicides and browse species cutting. Fulani women between hammer and anvil: Facing scarcity, Fulani women try to reduce the amount of milk requested by the household in order to realize their own economic ambition or to fulfill their commitment to Socolaig. This led sometimes to conflicts within the household. When they develop other strategies (milking night long or diluting the small amount of milk produced in the morning), they are disallowed by collectors who use quality check tools to downgrade the quality of the milk. This was also a source of conflicts between women and collectors in the collection centers. Fulani women started asking for milk price increase. Some of them sometimes brought their own tools to measure milk rejecting those proposed by Socolaig. Socolaig was not able to indefinitely increase the price and was sometimes forced to buy milk on credit. No ristourne was granted to Fulani women. 12
GEDES‐COTER IC, Identification et formulation d’un nouveau programme dans le secteur des infrastructures économiques et marchandes dans les communes du Borgou et de l’Alibori en République du Bénin, (Cotonou: Coopération Suisse), 2013. 13
B. Bani Yero, Potal men woni semme men kan acci leyde deedo (Bene‐Nijere‐Burkina‐Mali‐Togo‐Kodiwar, Naajeeria, Sunugal) nannantiriresi waalde wi'aane CEDEAO.Waalde nun dartoore no wadata ko nannantiral tawee hakkune leyde de der laawol tenkura e laawol ceede. Maroowo, 4, 2008. 14
“All the virtues of fresh milk ... NATURALLY” 15
“SOCOLAIG, So good, So Nature, So fresh!!!” Fulbe women also were particularly tired of taking care for milking (washing calabashes, washing hands, wearing special clothes, etc.) without any tangible advantages. Their willingness to sell their milk to traditional wagashi ladies increased, for the latter were less demanding in term of hygiene and quality standards. Collectors between voluntary service and job: The harmony existing within the milk collection body was broken down since wages and motivation issues raised whispers among collectors. The seasonal transhumance and the geographical remoteness of local herds require collectors to travel greater distances to harvest milk. They started charging fuel fees and salaries. Some of them resigned early. With the increase of the distance for milk collection, collectors found were finally granted 25 CFA francs per liter of milk. But this was not enough to cover the collection expenses. Those who had not access motorbike from Socolaig were also claiming for it. Fuel and moving expenses were systematically charged to the mini‐dairy which was not able to pay them. The collectors were also in conflict with each other. Those who had not benefited motorcycle gathered into a group opposite to those who received motorcycle from the promoters of the mini‐dairy. Conflict relationships between collectors and managers: The remoteness of milk from collection centers was also the basis of a crisis between collectors and managers. After several hours of gleaning, the milk was often late delivered to the mini‐dairy with poor quality causing sometimes partial or total rejection. In such circumstances, the collectors were forced to retail milk in the local markets to recover the money of the suppliers. They had therefore developed closer relationship with the local wagashi ladies who were normally competing actors of Socolaig. This partnership was structured around mutual milk supply. When the collectors did not access enough milk, they were supplied sometimes by wagashi ladies. And when the milk of collectors was of poor quality and therefore rejected by the mini‐dairy, it was often delivered to local wagashi ladies. Selling milk to local wagashi ladies became more beneficial to both Fulani women and collectors with regard to the price arrangements, the uncertainties about milk quality and the purchases on credit. Competition for milk access and redeployment of collectors: In a context of difficult raw material access, the local wagashi ladies do not intend to sacrifice their occupational activity in favor of Socolaig. Conflicts were regularly recorded between some collectors and those women around milk. Some collectors facing difficulty in enjoying good working conditions with Socolaig entered into win‐
win relationship with the wagashi ladies. They purchased from collectors the low quality milk disqualified by the mini‐dairy. In the case the collectors did not access enough milk they also complemented with women processors through price arrangements. The collectors then became dealers competing somehow with Socolaig through their relationship with wagashi ladies. Gender/ethno‐cultural influence and stereotyping: The former slave‐master relations between Fulani and Gando seemed to prevail in the milk collection centers. In the collection centers where collectors were Gando, they were often influenced by Fulani women seeking to use slave‐master links to dominate them and to wrongly measure the milk. Conversely, Fulani collectors tried to influence Gando women seeking margins from wrongly measuring or asking for more gift “dehunsu” from them. The managing body of Socolaig predominated by Bariba women managing the mini‐dairy always attempted to measure milk beyond the normal, trying to take as much as possible advantage of Fulbe/Gando collectors they stereotyped as bush‐men and uneducated people. This practice sometimes led to misunderstandings during milk measuring. The other crisis during the delivery of milk to the mini‐dairy was related to the cleaning of milk collection equipment, especially the containers. The Fulani and Gando men did not agree to receive orders from Bariba women to wash dishes. Within the Fulani ethno‐cultural context supported by the Islamic faith, a woman asking a man to wash his milk container is frowned upon. Disagreement between managers and promoters: Since nothing went well with Socolaig, the members of the managing team started to think otherwise. There was no more milk, the stock of raw materials provided by the TCP/BEN projects depleted and moreover they were not paid regular salaries. The selective and clientelist distribution of motorcycles to collectors also added to these poor working conditions. The managing team started striking with a low‐key approach consisting of delaying at work or going back home earlier. Their daily dedication completely changed. The pressure became stronger in order to mobilize twelve months overdue. But Fulani leaders were only able to pay three months. Within this context, the end assessment of TCP/BEN projects revealed some governance problems with a prospect of money misappropriation by the head of Socolaig managing team. This conclusion taken as suspicion and accusation by the members of managing team completely degraded the relationships between them and Fulbe leaders they accused of looking for scapegoats for not paying their outstanding dues. This hurried their resignation and on February 10th 2010, the factory was closed, and the workers went away each of them looking for better. 5. ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION This brief analysis is based on the translation framework of Callon (1986) including problematization, interessement, enrollment and representation. The problematization: The Beninese government in its agricultural development policy inspired by regional and international trends attempted to value the local cow milk and therefore promote market access and food security. The decision to build a mini‐dairy is taken without really knowing what model was replicable in the local context. What is clear is that the government knew the precarious land situation of Fulani herders. The cow species in Benin were less milk producers and the milk also had more socio‐cultural anchor than economic. Although local “wagashi” cheese production has grown over time for economic reasons, the sector was controlled by other equally important actors. The zoo‐technical and health constraints of local herds were somewhat disregarded or underestimated. Although it was possible to value milk on an industrial scale, several questions remained: Was milk available throughout the year? Who owned milk and who will supply the factory? Was it possible to collect enough milk to feed a small dairy with raw material? How the milk will be collected? Who will own the mini‐dairy and who will manage it? The government tried somehow to answer these questions. Various actors were identified and their identity was also defined. This double movement that made the public actor indispensable in this network is simply a kind of problematization. It was proved that the interests of these actors were in the acceptance of the establishment of such a mini‐dairy. If milk was to be valued (regardless of seasonality and perishability), if Fulani association leaders want to improve their economic and political power, if Fulani women want to better enjoy economic benefit of their milk production (regardless of conditions within their household) and if the collectors want to enjoy this dairy initiative (regardless of their working conditions), they must: (1) produce quality milk every morning; and (2) supply the dairy. In the process of problematization, milk, Fulani leaders, Fulani women and collectors cannot do what they want. They are all linked. The path is blocked by a series of obstacles. The radiant future for local cow milk depends on its availability and its quality, and the willingness of all these actors. "Accessing quality cow milk" became the obligatory passage point (OPP) in the model. If this is done, all the stakeholders will win their interests. The interessement: This is the group of actions by which the initiators of Socolaig tried to impose or stabilize the identity of the other players in the model they defined in the problematization process. It is in other way the means by which they brought each actor to give up his own program and go through the OPP. In the case of Socolaig, milk, Fulani leaders, Fulani women and collectors were all interested. Interessement of milk: Instead of being transported in calabashes, milk is proposed to be transported in 25 liter containers with chemicals. Instead of being measured by "greedy" tools used by traditional wagashi ladies or "frugal" tools dear to Fulani women, some so‐called "fair" tools were proposed by Socolaig to buy the milk from Fulani women. Interessement of Fulani women: The Fulani women were met about the dairy project. They were doped with discourses on the importance of its success. Fulfulde was the first factor mentioned begging for participation. The second factor is the ristourne. To ensure the full and complete adherence women Fulani leaders have promised a redistribution of profit generated by the company over a period of time. To go further and show that the dairy belongs to Fulani women, a female cooperative was created "KNJ." Fulani women were well trained on milking practices and several awareness sessions were performed with perdiems payment to them. Interessement of collectors: The milk collectors were chosen and bicycles were awarded to them. A monthly incentive of 5000 CFA was proposed to them. Several meetings were held with them in order to educate them to work with dedication and selflessness. At each of these meetings the word Fulfulde was used to show that no one has interest in the business fails. Everyone is cemented by Fulfulde and each must play its part for all the Fulani community to be honored through the success of Socolaig. The Fulani herders did not have to give reason to the competing social groups who think and distill the incapability of bush‐men. The different incentives mentioned, created a balance of power. For milk, the containers and different measurement and checking tools available allowed it to maintain good quality. For Fulani women, there are ristourne, perdiems and different discourses on Fulfulde sloganeered by Fulani leaders and KNJ women leaders. For collectors, they were netted by monthly incentive, transportation means and honeyed discourses shared here and there by Fulani leaders. All these elements shaped the various stakeholders and facilitated their enrollment in the network. The enrollment: Enrolling the actors is related to the definition of the role of each of them in the network. As the interessement was well performed, all the targeted actors were totally enlisted for the cause of Socolaig. This is what facilitated the success of the early years of the company. We argue that a successful enrollment is a key determinant of mini‐dairy projects. The representation: Some people spoke in the name of the mass. Fulani leaders for reasons of interest represented all the pastoral community. Some women of KNJ or, at large, about 250 Fulani women spoke for the whole community of milk farmers. The collectors were representing the owners of cows. However, some actors had no representatives or were so under‐represented. The milk which was the central element of the model was silent; or in another way, everybody spoke on its behalf. Its seasonality and its perishability were not sufficiently considered and led to several conflict hotbeds. This also gave sense to the need for an electric autonomy. The traditional wagashi ladies did have no interest that Socolaig succeed. Its success might rather impinge on their economic pursuits. They had traditional relations with milk suppliers and had an essential place in the local market. They can even accept milk in forms that Socolaig can not admit. They can easily speculate on the price as Socolaig could not do. The facilities the Fulani women and collectors had with these wagashi women predisposed to cooperate with them. It was then that several other socio‐cultural and managerial factors came in to make the issue more complex. The neglect of two actors (milk and wagashi women) played a lot against Socolaig. We assume that a lack of representation can affect the translation process and mitigate the success of mini‐dairy projects. In conclusion, a good enrollment is not a guarantee for the sustainability of mini‐dairy initiatives in Africa. It is true; some success can be recorded in short or medium term. But the lack of representation can still destabilize the system and reduce the chances of sustainability. For the sustainability of dairy projects in sub‐Saharan Africa, particular emphasis must be focused on the actors and their representation. 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