UNDP is helping to unravel the bottlenecks in Ethiopia’s dairy agribusiness. In January 2020 UNDP handed to the Ministry of Agriculture four cold chain trucks, and six milk chillers and lacto-scan machines to help solve the problem of milk spoilage during transportation, facilitate storage of fresh milk and test the quality of milk before processing.  The trucks will be serving cooperatives in the 100 kilometer radius of the Agro-industrial Parks in the Amhara, Oromia, Tigray and Southern Nations Nationalities Peoples regions.

Speaking at the handover ceremony held at the Ministry of Agriculture, State Minister Dr. G/Egziabeher G/Yohannes acknowledged UNDP’s support to the livestock sector. The provision of the cold chain trucks is part of the capacity building support  provided by UNDP to the livestock sector and targets  the establishment of eight model milk collection centers at four agro-industrial parks with its support. These centers deliver agricultural extension services, share best practices and transfer recommended and approved technologies to farmers.

Ethiopia’s livestock sector is believed to have a big potential to contribute to the agricultural led growth of the country.  However, despite having one of the highest number of livestock in Africa, the country has not benefitted from the international livestock trade to the expected level due to challenges in the competitiveness of the livestock products and quality compliance standards. Some of the challenges of the sector faces include low production and productivity, low quality breeds, poor animal health systems, poor service delivery and low value addition are.

UNDP  has partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture since 2017 to support the country’s effort to transform the livestock sector. It also contributed towards meeting Ethiopia’s vision in achieving high value livestock production prioritized in the second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II).

UNDP’s intervention around livestock also works on helping to strengthen policy and regulatory frameworks as well as enhancing institutional capacity to help the sector increase meat, dairy and poultry production with the view to enhancing the supply for the country’s four  pilot Integrated Agro Industrial Parks.

Read previous articles about UNDP's support to the sector

Enhancing the productivity of Ethiopia's Livestock Sector

Transforming Ethiopia's livestock sector