Did you know that demand for meat in Ethiopia falls sharply during the 55 days before Easter festivities? The fasting seasons have an impact on how animals are produced and marketed as well as when and how animal-source foods are consumed.

Many relevant issues have been assembled within a 50-page white paper: Ethiopia’s Livestock Systems: Overview and Areas of Inquiry (download PDF). It includes sources from within Ethiopia that may be difficult to access.

The document is organized around three key domains:

1. Animal source food production and disease management

2. Human health, food safety and diets, and nutrition

3. Markets and innovation translation

Particular emphasis is given to describing the role of smallholders in livestock systems within the national and regional context.

This resource may be shared widely and used to contextualize your work in Ethiopia and elsewhere. Several tables and graphs provide succinct summaries of large amounts of data.

First published in 2021, this document will be updated when sufficient changes become available. You may share your reactions and comments by emailing [email protected].  

This white paper will be maintained on our webpage for Ethiopia. The preferred citation is:

Management Entity. 2021. Ethiopia’s Livestock Systems: Overview and Areas of Inquiry. Gainesville, FL, USA: Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems.