Daily Monitor. Aiming to increase the contribution of livestock sub-sector through generating more revenue, the government designed new Livestock Development Master Plan (LMP) covering the period 2014–2020.
The upcoming LMP which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has three key sector analysis areas, dairy cows, red meat and milk from cattle and camels and poultry.
The master plan has a result of contribution from International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) towards national livestock development through capacity building and implementation of joint programs. Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen said while making ILRI’s 40 years of establishment in Addis Ababa on Thursday.
Having the largest livestock population in Africa, Ethiopia has not yet benefitted from the sector due to various challenges.
Due to lack of modern infrastructural facilities and market system problems most of the animals are traded informally to neighboring countries failing to generate the expected foreign currency from the specific sector.
Lack of knowledge and problems related to health and infrastructural facilities are other challenges to the development of the sector mentioned at the occasion by Wondirad Mandefro, State Minister of Agriculture.
Despite all these challenges, Demeke stressed that, direct export revenue of live animal and meat was only 262 million US$ while potentially it could easily be quadrupled.
“Animal health, traceability and quarantine services are the key components that need to be put in place in order to change the scenario,” he says.
The ILRI strategy states that livestock often represent as much as 40 percent of agricultural GDP in many developing countries, but frequently receives much smaller proportions of funding and barley features in key policies.
The government also plans to make a value add on livestock products in an integrated intervention approach, according to the State Minister.
The key value chain includes live animals and meat; dairy; hides, skins and leather.
It was also recommended in the consultation that developing and implementing appropriate strategies and support system that allow small farmers – specialized livestock keepers and crop livestock mix to adopt technologies at the scale necessary to make a major difference.
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Other ILRI@40 Addis event news coverage:
- አለምአቀፍ የእንሰሳት ምርምር ኢንስቲትዩት 40ኛ አመቱን በማክበር ላይ ነው
- Livestock production crucial to improve smallholder farmers livelihood
- ኢትዮጵያ ከቁም እንስሳት ሀብት ማግኘት ያለባትን ጥቅም አላገኘችም
- ኢልሪ (ILRI) 40ኛ ዓመቱን እያከበረ ነው: የቁም እንስሳት ዘርፍን ኢኮኖሚያዊ ድርሻ ለማሳደግ እየተሠራ ነው
- መካከለኛ ገቢ ያላቸው ዜጎች መጨመርን ተከትሎ የሚያድገውን የምግብ ፍላጎት ለማሟላት የቁም እንስሳት ምርታማነት ማረጋገጥ ያስፈልጋል
ILRI Clippings 