General
Ethiopia is home of the largest livestock populations from Africa. The government of Ethiopia, as part of its Livestock Master Plan (LMP), intends to transform the livestock development sector and increase production and exports of meat and live animals in order to generate foreign exchange. Therefore, the LMP and the second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTPII) identified Ethiopian Livestock Identification & Traceability System (ETLITS) as one of the major intervention areas to enhance livestock and livestock products export.
Ethiopian livestock trade and export market (Live animal and meat)
Even though the country has large livestock population with diverse and adaptable genotypes and diverse agro-ecologies for production of different types of livestock, the volume and number that the country has been exporting to importing countries is not this much reasonable. On the other way it means that despite the large number of animals in the country, the off-take (i.e. animals marketed in the value chain as a percentage of the population) is very low. Ethiopia exports approximately about 200,000 livestock annually. Of the 200,000 livestock exported formally, approximately about 40,000 cattle are exported from Amhara to Sudan, while smaller volumes of livestock are exported formally to Somalia and Kenya. The majority, however, is exported to Djibouti. Black Head Somali and Afar sheep, as well as, the Somali and Afar Goat breeds are the most preferred Ethiopian breeds exported, especially to the Middle East market. The preferred cattle breeds that are exported and slaughtered are Borena breed. Camels are also one of the exported animals. The official export figure is insignificant when compared to the volume of informal export that take place through cross border trade to Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti. The following data show the recent annual export of live animals and meat in different years.
| Year (G.C.) | Number of Live Cattle Exported |
| 2010/11 | 230,605 |
| 2011/12 | 294,543 |
| 2012/13 | 183,285 |
| 2013/14 | 204,921 |
| 2014/15 | 142,788 |
| 2015/16 | 153,051 |
| 2016/17 | 80,847 |
| 2017/18 | 65,104 |
Even though there has been a considerable development in the private livestock export industry and a rise of modern livestock export firms established in the country as well as a growing demand and expanding export market for live animals and livestock products from Ethiopia, several factors have been challenging the livestock-marketing landscape and the share of live animal and meat exports in total livestock and livestock products export earnings has showed declining since last few years. Repeated bans imposed by importing countries due to disease outbreaks, sanitary problems, limited market access, absence of LITS and incompliance regarding with SPS requirement have been among the factors that can be impediment to the livestock marketing. Having considered these problems, the Ethiopian Government has started the implementation of LITS in the selected pilot areas of the country mostly low lands of Borena cluster (Oromia region) and mid high lands of Abergelle market shade of Tigray Region. In addition to this the country is on accession to be WTO member country. The future intention of the country on LITS implantation is to extend over the country wide so as to maximize the capacity of export of live animals and beef (as organic and wholesome) in regard with the livestock population. This contributes to the international livestock and livestock product trade competitiveness of the country to enhance the exporting capacity in addition to the export to MENA countries.
| Year (G.C.) | Meat export Volume in Ton |
| 2012/13 | 15,521 |
| 2013/14 | 15,704 |
| 2014/15 | 19,051 |
| 2015/16 | 19,038 |
| 2016/17 | 19,779 |
| 2017/18 | 20,547 |
| 2018/19 | 19,112.04 |
ETLITS in live animal and animal product marketing
- The implementation of LITS in Ethiopia is practically on market oriented; branded Ethiopian live animal and livestock products (meat) have been exported to limited importing countries. However, by implementing LITS system, the country should be able to stay in the existing markets and penetrate new markets to expand the potential of exporting quality and wholesome products so as to be competitive in the international trade of livestock and livestock products.
- Therefore, to secure the international export competitiveness and also achieve the domestic market largely, the traceability of livestock throughout the whole livestock market value chains in relation with disease outbreak is the targeted business to prevent and control diseases, particularly trade sensitive diseases. In collaboration with the epidemiology unit, the system functions on the effective animal health surveillance to notify the occurrence diseases (trade barriers diseases) those are impediment to the market.
- Livestock product (meat) can be traced through stages of production, processing, and distribution to final destination or for consumption. When products are getting traced at all stages of the production, foods can be safe and wholesome. Therefore, with regard to food safety, traceability can help disease free animal products to be produced and prevent food contamination and it helps to respond rapidly and effectively in the event of a problem. Thus, unjustified trade barriers can be eliminated through effective implementation of LITS on livestock and their products; so that the country can maintain the confidence of consumers, trade partners and importing countries at large.
Live animal and meat importing counties
Ethiopia has been exporting live animals and animal products to the Middle Eastern countries and some African countries. There is a large potential to export Ethiopian live animal and beef to the Middle East countries through applying LITS system to meet export market standards that those countries require. The official live animals export routes are Bole international Airport, Galafi – Djibouti and Jijiga – Berbara ports. The final destination countries of the Ethiopian live animal and beef export are Gulf state countries and some African countries. These countries have their own importing requirements on both live animals and beef; however, Ethiopia provides its commodities according the requirement of the importing countries.
Yemen
Sudan
Somalia
Egypt
Oman
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Bahrain
Djibouti
Angola
Comoros
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