the absence of a country-wide system of delineating graz-ing reserves, the encroachmentby communities on land origin-ally gazetted as grazing routes, thearmed gangs who specialise instealing cattle, the absence of arapid-response conflict resolutionmechanism in communities thatattract large numbers of herders,and the lack of rural development.

FIX THE SCHOOLSHadiza Abubakar, the head ofKautal Hore Sippirdemen DeKosam De Fulbe milkmaid asso-ciation, is clear about what Fulanimilkmaids want. Before the pas-teurisation machine broke down,they used to process their milkand wholesalers came to the re-serve to buy their production. “Butsince the machine broke down,”she says, “we have reverted to go-ing all the way to town to hawkthe unprocessed milk. We do notlike moving from one place to an-other. We do not like hawking. Wewant the machine fixed so that wecan rest from all the stress.” Shecontinues: “And the [nomadic]schools. Let them fix that too. Wewant our children to go to school.”The primary school that has 120students enrolled is one open tentand a cluster of five leaking hutsoriginally meant to store grain.The school is not connected to anelectricity supply.

In its PowerPoint presentationsto attract investment to the beefproduction sector, the agricultureministry touts cattle rearing as a“traditional Fulani livelihood”, butthe inability of the government andprivate sector to put infrastructurein place means that those usingold methods are being marginal-ised and new improvements arenot being implemented. As na-tional production already doesnot meet national demand, thereis tremendous room for growth inprocessing, storage and other fa-cilities. But money alone will notbring Fulani pastoralists more fullyinto the value chain. Governmentsand community leaders have theirrole to play in changing percep-tions and encouraging people towork together. ●

Elnathan John in Gwagwalada

BAROMETER

With anestimated55m cattle,

27m sheep, 28mgoats, 1m camels,2m horses and 7mdonkeys, Ethiopiais Africa’s largestlivestock producer.It has a numberof value-chainopportunities that,if seized, will powerthe growth of theindustry as well asthe overall economy.

Live animal salesin the country reflectsignificant seasonalvariations. Demandand sales are heavilyinfluenced bythe consumer habitsconnected toreligious practicesand festivitiesin both the lowlandand highland areas.

In the periodbetween Augustand mid-September2014, cattle pricesshowed an upwardtrend. This can

be attributed toincreased demandfrom both the localand export markets.There was anaverage increaseof 5% in prices of alllivestock at the endof December 2014due to domesticdemand duringthe festive season.During the month ofJanuary 2015, cattleprices recordedmixed trends but

generally droppedin comparisonto the precedingmonth. Cattle pricesdeclined by 7%in major markets.This drop in pricesis expected tocontinue untilthe end of March2015 and throughoutthe duration ofthe fasting season.The internal Ethiopianmarkets areexpected to bounceback in April giventhe usual seasonalpatterns and trendsin the country, whilethe export of meatand live animals isexpected to increase,given the highdemand forEthiopian liveanimals from Sudan,Somalia, Egypt,Djibouti, SaudiArabia, Yemen andthe United ArabEmirates, the world’slargest importerof meat.” ●

LivestockMaking moo-lah in Ethiopia

SintayehuAlemayehu

Deputy livestock andlivestock productsmarketing adviser,

Mercy Corps Ethiopia

Cattle price trends in EthiopiaPrice (Ethiopian birr)

ALL

RIG

HTS

RES

ERVE

D

● ● ●

20,000

18,000

16,000

14,000

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0

Aug.2014

Sept.2014

Oct.2014

Nov.2014

Dec.2014

Jan.2015

Feb.2015

Fat gradeModerate gradeThin grade

SOUR

CE:L

INKS

THE AFRICA REPORT • N° 69 • APRIL 2015

70 BUSINESS | COMPANIES & MARKETS