Small Ruminant Value Chain Development
in Ethiopia: Initial problem analysis and
related interventions
Barbara Rischkowsky
Impact pathways for Ethiopian small ruminant value chains
workshop
Addis Ababa, 23rd April 2013

Initial results
 Emerging from the rapid value chain
analyses carreid out December 2012 –
February 2013
 See:
 http://livestockfish.cgiar.org/2013/04/09/
ethiopia-best-bets/

Constraints in Input supplies
 Inadequate veterinary services: 1) transport, 2) facilities &
equipment, 3) drug supplies, 4) budget/procurement process, 5)
staff
 Shortage of effective vaccines: 1) quantity, 2) wrong strains, 3) cold chain
 Private sellers of drugs not reliable (regulations not enforced)
 Shortage of private vet services and drug shops in the woreda
 Lack of flexibility in the credit system (inconvenience of having
group collateral, insufficient amount of credit; High interest rate;
only DESCI, no local saving and credit association)
 Shortage of male breeding animals: 1) early sales, 2) no selection,
3) inbreeding
 Shortage of (planting material and) forage seeds
 Lack of feed supply

Constraints in production
 High prevalence of disease (CCPP, PPR, Goat Pox, Coenurosis,
Trypanosomiasis) and parasites (ticks, lice, mange mites,
Haemonchus, etc.)
 Feed shortage (droughts, seasonality, quality,
supplementation) – site specific
 Lack of awareness on improved goat production (traditional
feeding) and management practices and marketing
 Low performance of local breed/Unimproved breeding and
reproduction
 Poor housing

Constraints in production
 High prevalence of disease (CCPP, PPR, Goat Pox, Coenurosis,
Trypanosomiasis) and parasites (ticks, lice, mange mites,
Haemonchus, etc.)
 Feed shortage (droughts, seasonality, quality,
supplementation) – site specific
 Lack of awareness on improved goat production (traditional
feeding) and management practices and marketing
 Low performance of local breed/Unimproved breeding and
reproduction
 Poor housing

Constraints in marketing
 Lack of livestock market information
 Lack of vertical linkage of goat producers to the other market actors
 Weak horizontal linkage among goat producers
 No market infrastructure and transparent prices; poorly constructed
marketing yards, lack of facilities (vet, water, feeding, loading, etc)
 Long distance between production areas and livestock markets
 Seasonality of (inconsistent) supply and demand
 Lack of market regulations encouraging unlicensed traders and brokers
 Double taxation when crossing regional borders
 Transportation problem (adequate trucks, trekking)
 Flow of animals to informal cross border trade limiting no ofanimals
coming to the formal market
 Frequent clan conflict on feed and water that destabilize the market
 Lack of working capital for traders

Constraints in processing
 Low quality of animals supplied to the local and export market
 Low carcass percentage
 Red offals are often condemned due to disease and parasites
 Poor slaughtering skills that spoils the quality of meat and skin
 Back yard slaughtering of animals (threat for public health)
 Marketing of pregnant ewes
 Low level of food preparation skills in the hotels and restaurants of
the area
 No facility to process by-products from sheep/goat slaughtering
 Short shelf life of milk due to poor handling and management, lack
of milk containers and equipment

High meat price
Poor quality meat
Constraints in consumption

THE CORE PROBLEM
THE
CAUSES
Insufficient feed
resources (climate
and land availability)
Poorly
developed
markets
Lack of effective
agric. policies
and institutions
Shortage of
feed
Lack of research
and technology
transfer
WHOLE VALUE CHAIN
INPUTS & SERVICES PRODUCTION MARKETINGPROCESSING CONSUMPTION
High livestock
mortality
High market pricesLow income of VC actors Food insecurity
Malnutrition Hidden hungerPovertyTHE IMPACT Migration
Degradation
of resource
base
Lack of proper
SR management
Poor performance of sheep and goat value chains
ASF quality and safety
Inadequate
input supplies
Weak linkages between
producers and markets
Disease
pressure
Problem tree

Suggested interventions related to inputs
Vet services
• Allocating more funds for procurement of vet equipment/reopening
of health posts
• Provision of transportation facilities for animal health workers
• Revolving funds for procuring drugs
• Recruit CAHWs and develop business models
• Refresher courses for CAHWsa and vet technicians
• Rules and regulations on vet drug import and distribution
Credits
• Discuss with Credit and Saving Institutions on issues related to
flexibility, (group collateral , loan size and interest rate)
• Strengthen credit and saving associations in terms of finance and
management

Suggested interventions related to inputs
Feed supplies
 Encourage suppliers of small scale feed suppliers (e.g.by-
products, concentrate feeds)
 Formation of feed producer cooperatives
 Timely delivery of forage seeds
 Improved forage seed production

Suggested interventions related to production
• Need based training of extension agents and producers in goat and sheep
production and management with special focus on feeding using the
locally available feed resources
• Expansion of health posts and training of vet technicians
• Training extension agents, CAHWs and farmers in goat disease prevention
and control
• Awareness raising of pastoralists/producers for health care
• Provision of regular vaccination and treatment
• Monitor efficacy of anthelmintic drugs
• Epidemiological studies on prevalent diseases
• Genetic improvement program (controlled mating, fertility management
and selection)

Suggested interventions related to marketing
 Institutionalizing data collection and transmission from livestock markets in
the woreda
 Linking the woreda with national livestock market information system and
develop delivery system
 Strengthening/Establishing producer marketing cooperatives
 Capacity building in terms of management capacity and market linkages and
finance
 Multi stakeholders platform to discuss major marketing problems, find
common solutions and create market linkage between producers and other
actors
 Organizational capacity building
 Facilitate experience sharing through tours/visits for improved market
linkages
 Encourage and support meat processing and export to create non seasonal
demand encouraging producers to supply animals regardless of seasons
 Training of farmers and extension on fattening
 Market regulations

Suggested interventions related to processing
 Improve nutrition and health of animals
 Training producers in feeding to condition animals for marketing
 Support livestock marketing cooperatives to enter into goat
fattening/conditioning business
 Banning backyard slaughter of any animal
 Organizing the unemployed youth in groups and train them in
slaughtering techniques, linking them to municipal abattoirs
 Supporting the town administrations so that they will create
awareness of hotels and restaurants in using qualified chefs
 Training in milk handling and quality assurance -

CGIAR is a global partnership that unites organizations engaged in research for a food secure future. The CGIAR
Research Program on Livestock and Fish aims to increase the productivity of small-scale livestock and fish systems
in sustainable ways, making meat, milk and fish more available and affordable across the developing world.
CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish
livestockfish.cgiar.org