Plant Archives Volume 20 No. 2, 2020 pp. 6181-6186 e-ISSN:2581-6063 (online), ISSN:0972-5210 *Author for correspondence : E-mail: jarialsapna@gmail.com CROP RESIDUES COMPARATIVE PRICE AND QUALITYANALYSIS IN WEST AFRICA - A CASE FROM NIGER Sapna Jarial 1 *, Michael Blummel 2 , Prasad K.V.S.V. 3 and Ravi D. 3 1* Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar-Delhi G.T. Road, NH-1, Phagwara-1444111 (Punjab), India. 2 International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 3 International Livestock Research Institute, Patancheru (Telangana), India. Abstract A survey was conducted in rural and urban fodder markets in Niger to understand better trading pricing and quality of crop residues. On fortnightly basis prices and feed, samples were collected o from July 2014 to June 2015 from two rural (Gazaoua and Kollo) and two urban (Niamey, Maradi) markets. The sample analyzed for nitrogen, neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid (ADF) detergent fibre, acid detergent lignin (ADL), in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) and metabolizable energy content. Data were analyzed using SAS GLM procedures for variance and correlation. Results indicated a total of 635 samples collected from the market. Faidherbia was the most expensive feed. Cowpea haulms (average 160 CFA/kg) were sold consistently at higher prices than groundnut haulms (120 CFA/kg). Fodder quality traits of cowpea haulm were always superior to those of groundnut haulms. Correlation between prices and between qualities (p<0.05) for N, NDF, AFD, ME and IVMOD. Significant (p<0.05) difference in prices in different markets. Among the analyzed legume residues cowpea haulms reported having better in N, NDF, ADF, ADL, IVMOD and ME traits than groundnut haulms. The high price premium of cowpea relative to groundnut haulm emphasizes attention to haulm fodder quality. Key words : cowpea, haulm groundnut haulm, market. Introduction Food is the basic need for human, animal alike. It is spoke in the wheel driving crop-livestock farmers to the consumers through the food- feed, fodder value links for sustainable intensification in the West African region. Furthermore, traditionally farmers are growing crops and raising animals without better access to technologies and improved practices are unable to tackle the issues of insufficient quantity, quality and seasonality in the food- feed resources. Problems range from unsuitable cultivars, inefficient utilisation of resources, farmers malpractices and selective animal feeding of leaves, rejecting hard stalks, leading to extreme consequences, such as feed scarcity in the dry season when stems are plentiful, yet not utilised optimally. Burnt crop residues put pressure on biomass. Besides, urbanisation, population pressure, decreasing lands, the decline in crop-livestock productivity, inadequate rainfall, disease, climate change, and other deterrence such as terrorism affect the region of Sahel. Notwithstanding such challenges, in West Africa like elsewhere, the market pulls and pushes crops and livestock for sustainable intensification. Farmers grow and market crops for food (grain) and fodder with anecdotal evidence suggesting that the latter becoming more important. Often in case of dry arid lands, availability of feeds and fodder is limited. Quality, quantity and seasonality of the feeds pose important constraint in livestock feeding. Crop residues are waste products which are tradable commodity linking collection from the field, transport by intermediaries and trading by wholesaler and retailers, is remarkable (Samireddypalle et al., 2017). Concurrently small scale crop-livestock farmers are unable to feed quality finding quality forage for their animals during the dry season.