CHAPTER FOUR

4. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1. Number and Regional Distribution of Livestock in Ethiopia

4.1.1. Number of livestock population in rural area

Table 2: Number of livestock in rural area of the country (2010-2020).

YEAR A L L L I V E S T O C K
Cattle S h e e p G o a t H o r s e s A s s e s Mule s C a m e l Poultry Beehives
2019/20 65,354,090 39,894,394 50,501,672 2,111,134 9,987,762 357,603 7,702,493 48,955,675 6,958,004
2018/19 61,510,258 33,020,392 38,963,879 1,930,808 9,655,441 370,552 1,760,870 59,420,266 7,075,188
2017/18 60,392,019 31,302,257 32,738,385 2,007,829 8,845,589 461,665 1,418,457 56,056,778 6,523,969
2016/17 59,486,667 30,697,942 30,200,226 2,158,176 8,439,220 409,877 1,209,321 59,495,026 6,189,329
2015/16 57,829,953 28,892,380 29,704,958 2,082,203 7,881,394 405,950 1,228,023 60,505,327 5,916,100
2014/15 56,706,389 29,332,382 29,112,963 2,033,115 7,428,037 400,329 1,164,106 56,866,719 5,885,263
,2013/14 55,027,280 27,347,933 28,163,332 1,963,010 6,953,077 356,087 1,098,312 51,350,738 5,052,297
2012/13 53,990,061 25,489,204 24,161,792 1,907,047 6,748,357 350,062 915,518 50,377,142 5,377,142
2011/12 52,129,017 24,221,384 22,613,105 1,961,949 6,438,435 368,781 979,318 44,893,009 4,993,815
2010/11 53,382,194 25,509,004 22,786,946 2,028233 6,209,665 385,374 1,102,112 49,286,932 5,130,322
Average 0.02296 0 . 0 5 3 0 6 6 0.096391 0.005599 0.054395 -0.0038 0.434585 0.003682 0.036448
Growth
Rate
Source: CSA, 2019/20

The pattern of growth of cattle population has been fluctuating over the period. The number of
cattle increased from 20017/18-2018/19 by 2% and it increased from 2018/19-2019/20 by 6%.
The number of sheep population is increasing over a time at about 17%. The number of goats is
also increasing over the time by about 23%. However, the number of horse population decreased
from 20017/18-2018/19 by 7.5% but after that, it is increasing by about 8.5%. The number of
assess is increasing over time by about 3.3%. The growth of other livestock number mules,
camels, poultry and beehives has been fluctuating over time.

The total poultry population at a country level is estimated to be 60,505,327, which include
cocks, cockers, pullets, laying hens, non-laying hens and chicks. Most of the poultry are chicks
(24,941,049) followed by laying hens (19,498,726). Pullets are estimated to be 5,932,298in the
country cocks and cockers are also estimated separately and are 5,426,302 and 3,173,736
respectively. The other is non-laying hens that make up about 2.53% (1,533,216) of the total
poultry population in the country. Rural areas constitute about 95.37% of the total poultry, urban
area also comprised of 4.63% (CACC ,2015/16).

4.1.2. Regional distribution of livestock

Geographic area A L L L L I V E S T O C K
Cattle S h e e p G o a t Horses Mules Donkeys Camel Poultry Beehives
Ethiopia 65,354,090 39,894,394 50,501,672 2,111,134 357,603 9,987,762 7,702,493 48,955,675 6,958,004
T i g r a y 4,908,964 2,097,619 4,838,969 2,558 8,078 901,002 46,436 6,317,518 343,243
A f a r 1,952,394 4,040,176 8,531,082 ------- - ---- 317,065 317,065 92,941 35,216
Amhara 16,318,446 10,386,223 6,883,316 461,620 184,657 3,435,729 49,467 16,827,119 1,353,537
O r o m i a 25,031,068 9,260,493 7,526,644 1,324,903 108,356 3,640,642 294,331 16,668,657 3,782,186
Somalia 3,646,940 9,188,394 17,001,67 ---- - 529 772,584 6,132,35 354,264 ------
Benshangul-Gumuz 626,537 72,284 404,015 ---- - 2,705 62,584 ----- - 884,660 153,781
S N N P 12,404,963 4,735,604 4,819,573 318,654 52,679 818,595 ----- - 7,347,205 1,155,017
Gambela region 327,801 43,903 134,206 ------- ------- ------- ----- 229,151 48,337
H a r a r i 69,615 4,236 103,567 ------- ---- 14,649 ----- 104,585 4,408
Dire Dawa 67,364 65,462 258,629 ------- ------- 24,702 16,862 129,575 -----

Table 3: regional distribution of livestock in the country (2019/20)

Source: CACC, 2019

NB: * means data is not available.

Out of the total cattle population the female cattle constitute about 55.67% (34,244,484) and the
remaining 44.33% (27,265,774) are male cattle the majority (97.9%) of the cattle population is
found in rural areas while a very small proportion is accounted for urban areas (2.1%) (CACC,
2019).

As to the original level cattle distribution, Oromia region took the major share (39.84%)
compared with the other regions in the country. Amhara and SNNP also contributed significant
portion 26.67% and 23.03% respectively. The region (Tigray, Afar, Somali, Gumuz, Gambella,
Harari, Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa) lies between 0.083% and 7.88% (see table 3). The number
goats in the country are about 38,963,879of which 72.09% are females and 27.91% are males
(calculated by CACC, 2019).

Regional wise, total population of sheep is concentrated in Amhara (29.81%) followed by

Oromia (28.05%) and Afar (15.09%). Regarding goat population Oromia and Amhara regions
are the major contributors to the country about 29.81% and 28.05% respectively (see table three).
Concerning to the regional distribution of asses Oromia and Amhara regions collectively make
up about 74.26% of the country. On the other hand, more than half of the horses’ population and
about 37.6% of the mule are found in Oromia region. Amhara region also contributed about
19.19% and 41.88% of the horses and mules’ population of the country respectively. Dire Dawa
took the last in horses and Addis Ababa in mule population (table 3). With reference to camel
population, Oromia and Afar regions jointly took the grater share about 80.24% of the total
camel in the sedentary of the country (table 3).

Regarding regional distribution of poultry Oromia and Amhara constituted 71.21% of the total.
SNNP and Tigray regions are also contributed about 23.87% jointly to the country’s poultry
population while the other regions (afar, Somali, B/gumuz, Gambella, Harari, Addis Ababa and
Dire Dawa) contributed between 0.14% and 2.88% (table 3).

With regard to regional distribution of beehives, Oromia region reported nearly half of the total
beehives. SNNP and Amhara regions also contribute significant portion to beehives population
of the country (table 3).

4.2. Livestock and its products role on the Ethiopian economy and problems

4.2.1. Performance of agriculture

Agriculture remains the main activity in Ethiopian economy. Indeed, the Ethiopian economy is
highly influenced by the performance of the agricultural sector. This is why Ethiopian economy
is characterized by agrarian economy (Samson, 2002).

Agriculture is known to supply the country with food grains, cash crops, milk, dairy products,
and meat products among other things. Besides, a productive agricultural sector provides
relatively abundant food and raw- materials to increasing industry based urban population.
Productivity in the agricultural sector improves the level of income received by the rural people.
This increased income is believed to generate increased demand for manufactured goods. This
creates a favorable opportunity to wider the domestic market for manufacturers.

They can produce at scale exploit economies of scale. This not only increases the demand for
manufactured goods but also the demand for agricultural inputs as industries expands even in
rural areas where those resources exist. This creates an opportunity for the generation of
additional of farm employment opportunities to rise the rural income (Samson, 2002).

The sector is the most important contributor to the country’s GDP. In the early 1960s, it
constituted about 65% of the GDP, while industry and service sector accounted about 12% and
23% respectively. In 1980/81, it has contributed almost 58% while industry and service sectors
have contributed 11% and 31% respectively. The agricultural sector contributed 51.3% of the
GDP on the average between 1991and1997. This indicates that the agricultural sector alone
 contributes more than half of the total value of goods and service produced in the Ethiopian
economy (Samson, 2002).

Table 4: the performance of the value added of agriculture and allied activities (1991 to 1997) in
million birr.

Sub-sector 1991/92 1992/93 1993/94 1994/95 1995/96 1996/97 Average

growth
rate (%)

Crop production 3756.9 4773.8 3812.5 3968.5 4871.9 506.0 6.1

Livestock& 1401.5 1425.4 1460.1 1484.6 1496.0 1532.4 1.8

hunting

Total agriculture 5158.4 5499.2 5272.5 5457.9 6367.8 6593.3 5.0

Forestry 784.3 803.9 799.4 825.2 832.4 854.6 1.7

Fishing 4.9 5.2 5.6 5.9 5.9 6.1 4.5

Total 5957.8 6078.0 6078.0 5284.0 7206.0 7453.9 4.6

Source: MEDaC, 1997

As shown in table 4 the agricultures constitute more than half of the total value added in each
year. In addition, agricultural value-added growth on average about 5% between 1992 and 1997.
The value added of crop production has been fluctuating and finally increasing on the period of
about 6%. The value added of livestock and hunting has been increasing on the period ion the
country about average growth of 1.8% (table 4).

4.2.2 Livestock products

This section summarized livestock products at a country level. There are various animal products
include milk products, eggs, wool, meat, honey, hides and skins. Among these products, the
study tries to show milk, honey, and egg production in detail.

4.2.3. Milk production

Estimation of milk production entails three components namely number of milking animals’
number of milk months milking caws activity milked with in reference period (2019\20) and
average milk production per caw per day. In addition, the total milk production in the sedentary
area of the country is estimated by considering these three components. However, basic concept
about milk production should be mentioned here. “Gross production”, which includes the whole
fresh milk actually milked and milk sucked by young animals. Therefore, here milk production is
estimated based on the concept of net production and as indicated in the table below the
estimation of total caw production for the rural sedentary areas of the county during the reference
period is about 3.89billion liters. On the other hand, the estimate of camel milk for the same
sedentary areas of the county is about 1.82 million liters (CSA, 2020).

Table 5: milk production for the country 2019/20

Item Quantity produced

Milk production caw

1.48
Average daily production(liters)caw
7
Average location period(month)
3,895,323,355
Total milk production(liters)

Camel milk
5.16
Average daily milk production(liters)camel
9
Average location period(month)

1,820,317,985
Total milk production(liters)

Source: CSA, 2019/20

Table 5 indicates that the average daily milk production per liter is greater in camel than in caw.
The average location period for camel is also greater. But the total production of milk is greater
in caw. The average location period per caw during the reference period of at a country level is
estimated to be about seven month and average milk yield per caw per day is about 1.48 liters.
With regard to camel the average location period is about nine month whereas the average daily
milk yield is about 5.16 liters in the country (see table 5).

4.2.4. Honey production

To estimate honey production, number of hives, frequency of honey production and honey
production per harvest are required. As a result, the estimate of total honey production is about
150.258million kilograms of which the greater portion is harvested from traditional hives (see
table below).

Table 6: honey production of the country 2019/20

Item Quantity produced & frequency

Honey production
6,958,004
All type of beehives (numbers)
150,257,615
Production (kilograms)
1.73
Average frequency (harvest per year)
6,680,885
Traditional beehives (numbers)
145,327,500
Production (kilograms)
1.73
Average frequency (harvest per year)
94,159
Intermediate beehives (numbers)
1,453,942
Production (kilograms)
1.82
Average frequency (harvest per year)
182,960
Modern beehives (numbers)
3,476,172
Production (kilograms)
1.67
Average frequency (harvest per year)

Source: CSA, 2019/20

As we observed from table 6-honey production kilogram for traditional beehives do modern
beehives, which are (3,476,172kg), follow the largest (150,257,615 kg) and the last is
intermediate beehives (1,453,942 kg). But harvested honey production on average per year is the
largest intermediate beehives (1.82) per year followed by traditional beehives which is 1.73 a
year and the last is modern beehives (1.67) a year.
 4.2.5. Egg production

To estimate egg production the average number of egg laying periods per hen per annual, length
of a single egg laying period per hen and average number of eggs laid per hen per egg laying
period are required. As a result, the estimate of total number of eggs produced during the year is
about 317 million (see table 7).

Table 7: egg production for the country 2019/20

Item Quantity produced

Indigenous Hybrid Exotic

Egg production
5 10
Average number of laying period 1 year -
23 62 143
Average length of period (in a day)
13 51 120
Average number of eggs (hen/period)
110,569,380 176,443,288 29,808,501
Total egg production (number)

Source: CSA, 2017

The average number of eggs lying per period per hen per year is about 5 and- for local and exotic
breads, respectively. The average length of a single egg lying period per hen is estimated to be
about 23 and 143 eggs for local and exotic breads respectively. The average number of eggs laid
per hen per egg lying period in the country is about 13 and 120 eggs for local and exotic
respectively. Total egg production is the higher in indigenous than in exotic (see table 7).

4.3. LIVESTOCK EXPORT

Livestock and livestock products are the major foreign exchange earners, only second to
Coffee, with hides and skins contributing the most. For example, in 1995/1996 livestock
Exports accounted for close to 14% of the value of agricultural exports, of which 96% came
From hides and skins. Exports dropped from 5% of the total value of exports in 1987/88 to
0.02% in 1995/96 due to decreased live animal exports, and an overall increase in the value
Of all exports (Zewdu 1995; MEDaC 1998). The share of live animal exports in total livestock
And livestock products export earnings have declined in recent years (Figure 5). Skins and
Hides exports increased during this period while meat exports remained relatively constant.
Source: Assegid (2000).
Figure 5.Export of animals and animal products.
Increased domestic demand due to population growth and stagnant or declining production in
the early 1990s might led to major decrease in exports. It was predicted that because of a
2.9% population growth rate, official exports were absorbed by domestic consumption, and an
increase in productivity was recommended to prevent the decline in export levels (FAO 1993).
This was based on the premise that increased population growth coupled with increased
urbanization and income would significantly increase demand for meat while, in the absence
of productivity growth, increased domestic demand would be met by reducing export.
However, the main reason for recent decline in export was not increased domestic demand
but an import ban by some importing countries.
The Middle Eastern countries have been a traditional export market for countries in the Horn of
Africa including Ethiopia. A study in the early 1970s (Assefa et al. 1972) highlighted the export

Ethiopian Meat and Live Animal Export Trends

The history of live animal export in Ethiopia is about two decades back. The export performance
was increasing until 2011/12 EFY and became decline after. The most exportable animal in live
was sheep (4.5 million Kg) per year. It was decreasing by 24.5% or 8,000 Kg per year, indicates
that there are some challenges to be solved to sustain the currency earnings from the sector.
(ERCA, annual report).
Table 8. Live animal export performance trends

Source: ERCA, export data

Table 9. Revenue gained from live animal export in Million USD

Ethiopian Meat Export Trends (2008/9 to 2018/19 EFY)

Before ten years, there were only four export abattoirs having production capacity of 30,380
(23,180 tonnes sheep and Goats meat, and 7,200 tonnes beef meat) generated 15.43 million USD
per a year. Then after, government paid attention for the sector's investment to increase the
number of export abattoirs as well as their production capacity; the number of export abattoirs
increased from Four (2007/8 EFY) to Eleven (2018/19 E.C). The abattoir's production capacity
per year also increased to (56,556 tonnes sheep and Goats ,and 40,411 tonnes beef meat); the
foreign currency earnings from meat export also dramatically increasing from 15.72 million
USD (2007/8) to 92.65 million USD (2018/19). Starting from 2013/14 to 2017/18, Ethiopian
meat export was increasing by an average of 5 % per year, whereas live animal export was
decreasing by 24% at the same time. See Figure 1 below.
 Fig
ure 1. Meat and live animal export trends
Source: Ethiopian revenue and customs authority export data

As we understand from the above figure, the Ethiopian live animal export was increasing
2009/10 to 2013/14 EFY, and became decline after. The major reasons for live animal export
declination were disease, illegal trade, market destination, lack of quarantine services, and
payment with liability/credit, which may cause for risk on exporters (data collected).

4.4. Livestock contribution to foreign trade

The contribution of the livestock to the foreign exchange earnings is shown in table below.

Table 10: contribution of livestock production to the export trade (000 birr)

Product 1990 1995 2000 2001 Average Average

growth
rate

Live 9,989.1 5,626.4 10,958.3 10,958.3 7,727.28 -0.03

animals

Meat 814.6 7,685.9 19,419.3 12,972.4 10,223.05 3.18

Fish & 39.8 211.7 104.8 708.0 266.08 0.01

other
aquatic

Other 2,986.2 2,054.1 1,473.1 6,255.2 2,445.6 0.18

produce
Total 10,869.2 15,591.6 32,018.9 24,448 20,742.85 0.49
livestock

Total 613,815.3 2,602,305.2 3,958,959.6 3,658,632 2,708,210.85 0.95

export
trade

% of the 1.77 0.60 0.81 0.67 0.77

total trade

Source: CSA, statistical abstract, 2002

The pattern of growth of contribution of livestock to the foreign trade has been fluctuating over
the period. As can be observed from the table contribution of livestock to the foreign trade is less
than 1% a year, except in 1990 during which it was 1.77% (see table 10).

Table 11: value of export of livestock and its products 2000/01-2004/05 (in thousands of birr)

The value of export of hides and skin in the country has decreased over the years except in
2003/04 and 2004/05. The value of export of hides and skin decreased by 82,376 thousand birr
from 2000/01-2004/05. The value of export meat and meat products has decreased from 2000/01
2001/02.but after that it increased over the period. The value of export increased from 2000/01-
2004/05 by 111,888 thousand birr (see figure 1.2.

700,000

600,000

500,000

400,000

300,000

200,000

100,000

0
2000/01 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 Source: CSA,
2005

Item Hides & skin Item Meat & meat product Item Live animals

Figure 1.2. The value of export of hides and skin and meat, meat product and live animals.
 4.5. Other contribution of livestock

The following are some of the other important functions of livestock in Ethiopia.

Transport function: - livestock as pack animals are used to transport people and commodities.
Among the equines, that means horses, assess and mules 73%, 78%, 94% respectively have been
used for the purpose of transportation (CACC, 2001/02). Cattle and camels are multi-purpose
animals. They can used to provide food (milk, meat/beat and butter). They are also used as
drought (traction) animals for replacement/breading. As drought/traction animals, they are used
in arable farming, to supply water for plowing. The uses of livestock as a source of clothing and
household implement is important but often UN recorded (Bekure, 2005).

4.6. Problems of livestock

Even though the livestock sub-sector contributes much to the Ethiopian, its development is
hampered by different constraints. These include rampant animals’ diseases, poor nutrition, poor
husbandry (lack of awareness of the farmers and nomads), poor infrastructure and shortage of
trained work force, lack of variety of genetics (Getachew, 2003).

1. Animal diseases
One of the major constraints that hampered the development of sub-sector is the wide spread
prevalence of highly contagious animal disease (Silash, 2003). These diseases have impacts that
include-
 Loss of livestock and farm productivity
 Reduction of market opportunity
 Disturbance of human health
 Impairment of human welfare
During 2018/19fiscal year, the number of cattle, sheep, goats, horses, assess, mules and camels is
61.51million, 33.02million, 38.96million, 1.93million, 9.66million, 0.37million and 1.76million
respectively. Of these, 3,250,603(5.28%), 5,361,391(16.23%), 5,741,207(14.73%) of cattle,
sheep and goats died from diseases respectively. Horse, assess and mules together 640,259died
from disease. Of the total camel population62, 579(3.55%) died from disease (CSA, 2019).
Table 11: number of livestock died, vaccinated, affected and treated in the country 2018/

Item Number Percent

Total died from disease 15,056,039 100

Cattle 3,250,60 3 21.59

Sheep 5,361,391 35.60

Goats 5,741,207 38.13

Horses, asses & mules 640,259 4.25

Camels 62, 579 0.41

4,837,577
Total died from other 100
reasons
1,017,144
Cattle 21.02

Sheep 1,580,362 32.66

Goats 1,988,236 41.09

Horses, asses & mules 171,921 3.55

Camels 79, 974 1.65

Total vaccinated 48,857,508 100

Cattle 31,550,052 64.57

Sheep 8,560,86 9 17.52

Goats 8,654,64 7 17.71

Camels 91,94 0 0.18

Total affected 29,393,242 100

Cattle 11,117,997 37.82

Sheep 8,122,059 27.63

Goats 8,474,242 28.83

Horses, asses & mules 1,549,286 5.27

Camels 129,658 0.44

Total treated 14,143,547 100

Cattle 7,393,611 52.27

Sheep 3,410,066 24.11

Goats 2,402, 822 16.98

Horses, asses & mules 914,627 6.46

Camels 22,421 0.15

Source: CSA, 2019

Table 11 indicates that the total died from disease the largest is goat (38.13%). It also show that
cattle is the largest in vaccinated, affected and treated in the country 64.57%, 37.82%, 52.27%
respectively. The number of animals died from other reasons is greater is goats (41.09%)
followed by sheep (32.66%) of the total died, disease took the first than other reasons.

2. Nutrition and water supply

Food supply is the major input to most livestock system. In developing countries, over 85% of
ruminant livestock and pigs are produced in farming system where the food supply is verifying
mixture of natural or special grown forages, high energy feeds, and crop residues. Half of
developing countries poultry is produced in land less system with bought in fee, while the
remaining subsists mainly as scavengers.
The broad technical challenges: -
 Low digestibility of much forage
 Shortage of available protein which exacerbates the energy deficiency
 Strategies to balance energy/protein in diets
 Identification of critical nutrients deficiencies in feeds and their correction with locally
available supplement
 Production of high-density feeds for non-ruminants in a way which is non-competitive
with grains for direct human consumption
 The presence of anti-nutrition factors in some tropical feeds
 Detection and targeted correction of mineral and vitamin deficiencies (ILRI, 1992/3).
Drought (shortage of water supply) is the major constraint to livestock husbandry in pastoral
area. Large number of animals dies due to drought and the recovery from this loss takes much
longer time in pastoral economy. For instance, in the drought years between 1983 and 1985
many of Borena pastoralists lost 30-35%of their livestock (Samson, 2002).
 3. Lack of awareness
Through the community animal health program, it is possible to create awareness and common
understanding among the stockholders on the roles and contribution of community-based health
service in those remote parts of the country, where it remained the sole source of basic veterinary
service to herders (silesh, 2003).

4. Genetics
The experiences of improving livestock production in many countries have clearly demonstrated
the enormous gains that are possible by improving the genetic capacity of livestock involved.
Such genetics are disease or drought tolerance. Thus, while in adequate genetic capacity is
constraint where the environment condition for production are good, equally environmental
constraints often put limit on the ability of superior genotype to perform. The potential for
genetic improvement also differs with species, with the potential rate of genetic change often
being related to the reproductive potential (ILRI,1992/3).