Livestock Chain Case Study

ASSESSMENT OF THE POTENTIAL UPGRADING STRATEGIES FOR THE SENDAFA DAIRY VALUE CHAIN , CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF ETHIOPIA Master Thesis

A research Project submitted to the Van Hall Larenstein University of applied Science in Partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master Degree in Agricultural Production Chain Management with Specialization in

Livestock Chain

Submitted BY:

Ahmed Mussie Ahmed

September 2015

Wageningen,

The Netherlands

© Copyright Ahmed M. Ahmed, June 2015. All rights reserved

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES ii

LIST OF TABLES iii

ACRONYMS iii

1. INTRODUCTION 1

1.1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1

1.2. Research Problem 2

1.3. Problem Owner: Abdi Boru Community

The major species used for milk production in Ethiopia are cattle, camel and goats. About 98.95% of the total cattle are local breeds while the remaining are hybrid and exotic breeds (CSA, 2013). The total annual national milk production in Ethiopia comes from about 10 million milking cows and is estimated by 3.8 billion liters and 165 million liters from camel (CSA, 2013) that is, 1.54 L/cow on average per day, well below international benchmarks (CSA, 2012). Ethiopia has huge dairy production potential with numerous opportunities along the chain, however, the impact of the sector on farm income and food security still remains dismal due to poor market and extension services. Despite the number of private agro-industries being on the rise and the demand for processed milk increasing, supply from producers is constrained by a number of factors, including low levels of production, limited access to inputs, technical knowledge and reliable market information. The high transportation costs and poor cold storage facilities limit the quality and quantity of supply to the available markets. Poor hygienic conditions, result in rejection by unscrupulous collectors while at the same time offering low prices at a time of high production and fasting seasons. Information on requirement of quality and hygienic milk for the market is rarely

What are the main challenges in marketing of milk?

2. What are the constraints and opportunities for upgrading the dairy chain in Sendafa?

2.1. What skills do dairy farmers need to sustainably manage the opportunities along the dairy chain?

2.2. What management mechanisms are necessary to improve access to the market?

2.3. What are the possibilities for upgrading the dairy value chain in Sendafa?

1.6. Scope of the Study

The study was geographically focused only on Girar Berek kebele of Sendafa district Taabo kebele of ------------------ in terms of coverage and depth to generate useful information on assessment of potential upgrading strategies for Sendafa dairy value chain with the view of designing new value chain and coming up with knowledge that will contribute to implementation applied research (experiment) of promising interventions in order to collect relevant data and information on milk value chain and associated problems in the Sendafa area. most of the data was collected from Girar Berek kebelee and this was most of the potential dairy farmers was in this kebeles of the district, while only 6 HHs was only interviewed using pre-structured questionnaires of the