Ethiopia is said to be a blessed nation in a substantial number of its livestock population which places it in the first line in Africa. Among the resources; cattle, goats, sheep, camels and chickens can be incorporated in the country’s livestock resource. But due to the less utilization of technology, financial deficit, shortage of water and forage along with insufficient medicines, it is still in its primordial level.
The situation in the lowland parts of the country is adding insult to the injury. Among the reasons for this is in time of drought animals are hit by natural calamities and the pastoral communities suffer a great deal in this regard, Demis Chanyalew (PhD), an independent consultant and researcher in agriculture sub-sectors said.
While he made an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald recently, he said that though the number of the animals’ population is the highest in Africa, the role they play in the agribusiness such as in milk and meat production and by products is insignificant.
In order to circumvent the problem and promote the sector, the role of cattle owners should clearly be defined aiming to make them more advantageous in raising production and productivity. However, the sector is managed unprofessionally yet. This is not because of absence of experienced experts rich in the sector to provide applicable advice; rather, it is because of the entities holding the position give deaf ear to the advice. Therefore, entertaining the experts’ recommendations, addressing the problem by crafting projects which benefit small scale cattle raisers is essential.
Though there are efforts witnessed by cattle raisers in promoting milk and meat production, they fail to improve neither their own nor their animals’ situation due to the absence of access to financial capital. Sharing experience from crop farmers the way they enhanced their financial capacity, cattle raisers can also establish their own cooperative associations to get financial strength.
Being the members of the associations would fundamentally benefit farmers to obtain inputs such as fodder (hay or straw), medicine and other services in the form of credit. In addition, they can develop a culture of saving. According to the recent Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency report, at the house hold level, livestock plays critical economic and social role in the lives of pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and small holder farmers in the central highlands. It plays tremendous role in helping people cop up with shocks and accumulate wealth. It also serves as a store of value in the absence of formal function of institutions or when market failure occurs.
On the other hand, in the small holder agriculture, mixing farming systems with livestock breeding provides farmers’ livelihoods with nutritional food, additional emergency and cash income; farm out puts and inputs and fuel for cocking food. In this regard, raising livestock is a central means to support and sustain the livelihood of pastoralists.
Furthermore, research suggests that with the acceleration of economic growth and consumption patterns, high value protein food is derived from livestock. This implies that given the economic growth in Ethiopia as a nation and the regions, the market demand for livestock and its products will continue to increase.
Birhan Taye is a Director in the Department of Forage in the Ministry of Agriculture. As to him, livestock production in Ethiopia is organized in two broad ways; the sedentary mixed crop livestock production system and the pastoral system in the low land parts of the country. However, as to him, there are variations and in some areas the mixture of the two systems is practiced.
There is also a cattle raising in semi-urban and urban areas. The total cattle population of the high land accounts about 80 percent or 50 million heads. According to statistics, high land house hold owns on average two or four cattle and four to five goats or sheep.
The rural population in the high land is around 80 million or about 17 million house hold and mostly use the oxen for plowing not for other purpose. As to Birhan, 98 percent of the cattle population is local type of specious and hence, it is very unproductive. Similarly, both 95 percent of local goats and sheep are indigenous with low quality and less in their productivity. Their mutton, hide and skin are less competent in the global market.
Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture planned a project which is going to be implemented in the coming 10 years. The plan targeted to improve the local specious of cows which serve from abroad for milk production. In addition, it improves goats and sheep indigenous specious. Improved and exogenous animals are imported for this purpose. When the specious of livestock population is improved through time, importation of exogenous animals for reproduction will be halted.
According to Demis, there are various factors for the low productivity of livestock and among others the none availability of high yielding breeds and adoption, lack of access to veterinary services, cultural and social practices of livestock rearing, grazing and food supply constraints. Many of the factors which posed low productivity related with their specious and market failure need policy improvement.
Poor availability of fodder and land for grazing which is often communally administered and exhibited a strong seasonality due to weather condition constrained the adoption of improved breeds. A recent study suggests that grazing land and green fodder is the predominant sources of livestock fodder which is dominant in Afar and Somali regions.
On the other hand, the ever growing shrink of grazing land because of the expansion of sedentary farming and population pressure resulted in sharp increase of the livestock fodder prices in recent years.
As mentioned above, regardless of the availability of excessive number of cattle population, the nation is unable to benefit economically from the sector due to poor quality, lack of access to the market and shortage of fodder. Hence, the ongoing improvement and disseminating the improved specious to farmers should continue.
As to Demis, for more than fifty years, the three successive governments tried their level best to enhance the quality of cattle and their productivity and to that end huge amount of money was injected but when its impact is assessed, it showed very little progress. Hence, converging efforts from various stake holders for its betterment is essential.
BY ABEBE WOLDEGIORGIS
The Ethiopian Herald May 4/2021
