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Ethiopia has large livestock population in Africa that has been contributing considerable
portion to the economy of the country, and still promising potential for the economic
development of the country. An estimate indicated that the country is a home for about
55.35 million cattle, 27.35 million sheep 28.16 million goats, 9.27 million equine, 1.1
million camels, 51.35 million poultry and 5.05 million beehives (CSA, 2014).
In Ethiopia, both farming and pastoral households are largely dependent on livestock for
their livelihood systems. Livestock have diverse functions in the livelihood of Ethiopian
farmers in the various farming system (Ehui et al., 1998; Belete et al., 2010) and serves
as a source of food, traction, manure, raw materials, investment, cash income, foreign
exchange earnings and social and cultural identity. In terms of contribution to the
national economy, livestock contribute about 16.5% of the Gross Domestic product
(GDP) and 35.6% of the agricultural GDP and currently the subsector supports and
sustains livelihoods for 80% of rural population (Metaferia et al., 2011). In many cases,
livestock are a central component of smallholder risk management strategies (Demeke,
2007).
Although Ethiopia owns large numbers of cattle population, its potential has not been
fully utilized. This is associated with a number of complex and inter-related factors such
as inadequate feed and nutrition, widespread diseases, poor genetic potential of local
breeds, market problem, inefficiency of livestock development services with respect to
credit, extension, marketing, and infrastructure (Benin et al., 2003; Solomon et al.,
2003;Jabbar et al., 2007; Negassa et al., 2011).
Beef cattle are one of a few agricultural commodities in Ethiopia from which the country
earn foreign currency through both live and processed forms of the commodity export
and also most of rural poor are engaged in rearing it to fulfill their daily needs and
economic gaps (Halala, 2015). In Ethiopia meat consumption was about 8 kg per capita
per year (Sebisbe, 2008) of which about 4.3 kg comes from beef. The low level of meat
consumption in Ethiopia is due to low level of meat production which in turn is due to
low productivity of the livestock sub-sector. Only a small fraction of Ethiopian beef is
raised in feedlots.
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