Abstract:
Ethiopia has large potential for dairy production development. Dairy production is a critical issue in Ethiopia-a livestock-based society-where livestock and its products are important sources of food and income, and dairying has not been fully exploited and promoted. Currently the country manages the largest livestock population in Africa. The country’s favorable climate supports use of improved, high-yielding animal breeds and offers a relatively disease-free environment for livestock development. Given the considerable potential for smallholder income and employment generation from high-value dairy products, development of the dairy sector in Ethiopia can contribute significantly to poverty alleviation and nutrition of the country. However, expansion of the dairy sector was constrained by inadequate nutrition, disease, the lack of support services such as extension services, insufficient data with which to plan improved services, and inadequate information on how to improve animal breeding, marketing, and processing. The high concentration of animals in the highlands, together with the fact that cattle are often kept for status, reduces the economic potential of Ethiopian livestock.
After several decades of dairy development in Ethiopia, average milk yields per cow per day is 1.38 liters for all breeds with average lactation length of 6 months. In addition, calving intervals of dairy cows on Ethiopian smallholder farms is commonly as long as 25 months showing low levels of farm productivity in most dairy farms of the country. The annual milk production is estimated about 3.8 billion liters from cattle and 165 million liters from camel.
There is no a well developed dairy marketing system in Ethiopia. This is particularly reflected in rural areas where only 5% of milk produced is marketed as liquid milk. This is due to the presence of limited marketing infrastructures such as transport. Therefore, market channels have not been developed in most parts of the country.
