This week, the annual large livestock fair “African Livestock Exhibition and Congress” (ALEC) is being held in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. It is one of the largest agricultural fairs in East Africa. The fair attracts regional and international visitors and exhibitors, including from the Dutch dairy industry.
This continues from a milk seminar held last month by the agricultural counselor of the Dutch embassy in Ethiopia, in collaboration with the new TRAIDE Foundation. More than 60 participants joined to be informed about developments, opportunities, and challenges in the Ethiopian dairy chain.
The results and conclusions of a Dairy Business Opportunity Report (BOR) on future possibilities in the Ethiopian dairy sector were also presented. The sector has been designated as strategic by the Ethiopian government.
In 2020, the Ethiopian government launched its new national strategy for the period up to 2030. The goal is to increase milk production in 10 years from 4.7 million to over 10 million tons by 2030.
Ethiopia has over 15 million dairy cows, and about 98% of the production is supplied by small farmers. The activities of the Embassy’s Agriculture Department focus on the 2% specialized commercial dairy farmers. Furthermore, the country has around 40 dairy processors.
Consumption of dairy products is expected to rise in the coming years to an average of 28 liters per capita. With a population of over 115 million people, this means that demand for milk and dairy products will increase significantly. Moreover, more attention needs to be paid to better animal health of the livestock and related services.
In Ethiopia, a multi-year 'Bridge' program financed by the Dutch government is underway, aiming to support the Ethiopian dairy sector. Besides efforts focused on smallholders within the framework of food security, additional efforts are made toward more specialized and commercial dairy farmers. It should be noted, however, that the shortage of hard currency in Ethiopia is a limiting factor for importing products or purchasing services.