Heading towards commercialization? The case of live animal marketing in Ethiopia

The current levels of contributions of the livestock subsector in Ethiopia, at either the macro or micro level, is below potential. Policy, technological, organizational and institutional interventions to improve the contributions of livestock to the national economy need to be based on an understanding of the constraints and opportunities available based on sound theoretical and empirical analysis. This rapid marketing appraisal study is aimed at assessing the supply chains of live cattle and live shoats in the four Ethiopian regional states of Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples region (SNNPR). Livestock production in Ethiopia is based on traditional technology and practices, and is subsistence oriented. Although efforts are being made to introduce and promote market oriented livestock production, with or without fattening, these efforts are miniscule compared with the size of the livestock population and the number of household who rear them. Hence, it is important to build on these efforts, evaluate them to learn lessons, and strengthen the extension service to promote the market orientation among the wider farming population. In most of the study areas, feed shortage was identifi ed as the most important constraint to livestock production. In some of the study areas, livestock diseases were identified as most important constraint, followed by feed shortage. Potential solutions to the feed problem vary depending on the resource bases of a particular intervention area. The relative bias of the extension service in favour of crop production has left the livestock extension service too limited. This calls for the need to invigorate the livestock extension service throughout the country. Especially, the development of market oriented livestock extension service deserves serious attention. Livestock credit supply falls short of demand in many of the study areas and some farmers complained about the periodic repayment schedule of the livestock credit. On average, there are four livestock market places per woreda. The primary markets in some of the Pilot Learning Woredas (PLWs) are fenced in which the respective municipalities charge buyers and sellers tax for sold animals upon exit. Farmers and traders in all of the study sites reported no or very little access to formal livestock marketing information. Farmers in all PLWs depend on actual market day information for prices and selling decisions. Livestock traders are almost exclusively male. Key informants indicated that there are no farmer associations or cooperatives involved in livestock marketing in the woredas, except in some areas where export abattoirs have established livestock marketing cooperatives and unions. The reasons for selling livestock, as reported by farmers, include the need to cover incidental cash expenses to fill household food defi cit gaps, buy clothing, cover school and medical fees, cover expenses for social events, down payment for credit and credit repayments, payment for labour for agricultural activities, buy other animals, and to purchase crop inputs. Forced sales due to shortage of feed and water during the dry period were also widely mentioned. The sale of male shoats dominates the sale of females. The age of shoats supplied to the markets in the eight PLWs ranges from 1 to 2 years. The most common weight of shoats offered for sale ranges between 15 to 25 kg live weight. In almost all PLWs livestock are transported mainly by trekking. Farmers and traders indicated a number of problems affecting marketing of shoats and cattle. The major ones include inadequate market places, lack of adequate supply of good condition animals, lack of holding (concentration) places, feed shortage, shortage of stock supply for fattening/reproduction, lack of market information and low price due to poor body conditions

The burden of neglected tropical diseases in Ethiopia, and opportunities for integrated control and elimination

Background: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of chronic parasitic diseases and related conditions that are the most common diseases among the 2·7 billion people globally living on less than US$2 per day. In response to the growing challenge of NTDs, Ethiopia is preparing to launch a NTD Master Plan. The purpose of this review is to underscore the burden of NTDs in Ethiopia, highlight the state of current interventions, and suggest ways forward. Results: This review indicates that NTDs are significant public health problems in Ethiopia. From the analysis reported here, Ethiopia stands out for having the largest number of NTD cases following Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ethiopia is estimated to have the highest burden of trachoma, podoconiosis and cutaneous leishmaniasis in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the second highest burden in terms of ascariasis, leprosy and visceral leishmaniasis, and the third highest burden of hookworm. Infections such as schistosomiasis, trichuriasis, lymphatic filariasis and rabies are also common. A third of Ethiopians are infected with ascariasis, one quarter is infected with trichuriasis and one in eight Ethiopians lives with hookworm or is infected with trachoma. However, despite these high burdens of infection, the control of most NTDs in Ethiopia is in its infancy. In terms of NTD control achievements, Ethiopia reached the leprosy elimination target of 1 case/10,000 population in 1999. No cases of human African trypanosomiasis have been reported since 1984. Guinea worm eradication is in its final phase. The Onchocerciasis Control Program has been making steady progress since 2001. A national blindness survey was conducted in 2006 and the trachoma program has kicked off in some regions. Lymphatic Filariasis, podoconiosis and rabies mapping are underway. Conclusion: Ethiopia bears a significant burden of NTDs compared to other SSA countries. To achieve success in integrated control of NTDs, integrated mapping, rapid scale up of interventions and operational research into co implementation of intervention packages will be crucial

Analysis of household specific transaction cost factors in livestock input markets in Ethiopia: Implications for private sector development

Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa. Yet, Livestock productivity is among the lowest in the region. Several factors contribute to the low productivity, including inefficient input and output markets, diseases and traditional management practices. Improving the efficiency of livestock input markets is essential to raise productivity. High transaction costs reduce market efficiency and thereby the volume of exchange. Transaction costs are conditioned by the institutional environment in which exchange takes place. This study is conducted on 1200 households in 10 districts in 4 regions of Ethiopia to analyse household specific transaction cost factors in livestock input markets (feed, veterinary service and drugs, and artificial insemination (AI)), and the determinants of household participation in the input markets. Highest input market participation is observed for veterinary services and drugs, followed by roughages and agro-byproducts. Household market participation in concentrates and AI is very low. Household wealth appears to be an important determinant of participation in livestock input markets. Households perceive high degree of cheating on quality and weight of inputs by traders. Similarly, households are concerned about information asymmetry when inputs are bought from traders, as opposed to farmers. Our results show that transaction costs are of high concern for farmers when inputs are bought from the private sector. The involvement of the private sector in livestock input markets must be encouraged in Ethiopia. However, our results imply that policies and strategies to promote the involvement of the private sector in livestock input markets need to be accompanied by appropriate regulatory system to mitigate the effect of transaction costs

Analyses of household specific transaction cost factors in livestock and livestock outputs markets in Ethiopia

A presentation prepared for the 5th All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture and the 18th Annual Meeting of the Ethiopian Society of Animal Production (ESAP), Addis Ababa, October 25-28, 2010