Livestock and Livestock feed in Ethiopia

Livestock production plays important roles to the economy of smallholder farmers and  the national economy. In Ethiopia, both farming and pastoral households are largely dependent on livestock for their livelihood systems. Livestock also generate more than 85% of the farm cash income. In terms of contribution to the national economy, livestock contribute about 13– 16% of total GDP, and the share to total exports is about 16%. However, the level of contribution from the livestock sub-sector is generally low compared to other African countries. There are a multitude of constraints that influence the productivity of livestock. The availability of feed resources and the nutritional quality of the available feeds are the most important factors that determine the productivity of livestock. Livestock production throughout the world is dependent on a variety feed resources. Worldwide, there are more than 560 different types of feed resources derived from herbaceous forages, trees and shrubs, crop residues, food crop green feeds, food crop roots and tubers, concentrates and agro-industrial by-products, mineral supplements, and others. In Ethiopia, such feed resources support different livestock production systems that are part of the mixed subsistence farming.

Ethiopia’s dry lands account for 65% of the country, but support less than 20% of the nation’s population of 85 million. In contrast to the highlands, which are dominated by smallholder farming, extensive livestock keeping plays a central role in the livelihoods of people living in the dry lands. Livestock provide milk and are sold to exporters to raise cash for food and clothes, to cover health and school fees and for other general household purposes, while these resources hugely affected by recurrent drought repeatedly and affect the household’s economy of livestock dependent community. 

In Ethiopia, pastoralists graze their livestock in spatially extensive grazing systems characterized by large-scale seasonal movements among pastures as well as intra-seasonal grazing orbits in proximity to water sources. Livestock forage production is limited by rainfall, which is highly variable. Pastoral livestock movements are responsive to variable distributions of forage in space and time. Periodic droughts are intrinsic to the system, leading to shortages of forage for livestock and food insecurity for pastoralists. The spatially extensive and time-varying nature of the forage resource, coupled with constraints on livestock movements created by water distributions, topography and infrastructure, necessitates an approach that is very different from the approach to assessments of livestock feed. This assessment will broaden the options for ensuring supplies of feed resources are assessed base on local needs, practices and opportunities. Lack of adequate and consistent supply of feed is a major constraint adversely affecting the Emergency livestock feed Support intervention.