Review Article

Volume 14:5, 2023 Journal of Veterinary Science & Technology

ISSN: 2157-7579 Open Access

Review on Dairy Production System, Constraints and

Opportunities in Ethiopia
Abera Teshome Aleli*
Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, Ambo University Mamo Mezemir Campus, Ambo, Ethiopia

Abstract

This article has revised so many articles and summarized the existing dairy production systems, challenges and opportunities in Ethiopia.
Dairy production systems were divided into four main systems: Rural dairy smallholder, peri-urban and urban, commercial, and pastoral and
agro-pastoral by different scholastic authors. Seasonality of demand: Animal health problem, low quality and quantity of nutrient, low
productivity and genetics of the breeds, problem of milk collection centers, Institutional concern, lack of infrastructures, lack of technical
support, lack of access to land, extension and training service and lack of credit to the sector are the most bottleneck challenges in
Ethiopian dairy production. There are certain opportunities in dairy development like ever increasing sustaining demand by the community
for milk because of skyrocketing human population and milk products and encouragement price for these products. Farmers are currently
willing to accept new technologies to improve milk production like the adoption of improved forage and artificial insemination in highland
and midland agro-ecologies.

Keywords: Challenges • Dairy • Opportunity • Production • System

Introduction Literature Review

Ethiopia is supposed to have the huge livestock population in
Africa continent. According to Kedija et al., in spite of its largest
population, the contribution of the sector to the country’s national
economy is inadequate. Subsequently, milk production and milk
consumption in Ethiopia are exactly very small. The dairy sector
holds nearly 13.7% of agricultural manufacture and 39.4% of the
overall livestock production. Still dairy has an imperative function in
the country’s livestock subsector and the national economy. CSA
showed that 2.8 billion liters of milk produced in 2012-13. The
Ethiopian economy is vastly reliant on agriculture. The sector offers
employment for 80% of the rural people. The livestock subsector
earns food, income, services and foreign exchange and donates
twelve and thirty-three percent of the national and agricultural GDP
respectively. Dairy production is a naturally efficient scheme that
converts huge amounts of fiber to milk. Where market is accessible,
dairying is ideal as it marks more efficient use of feed resources
and offers a consistent profit to the producer. Different
categorizations have been used to describe the system of dairy
production in Ethiopia. Based on their locations it is classified into
three comprehensive classes; viz., urban, peri-urban and rural dairy
production system [1-5].
In other way, Ethiopia has a vast prospective for dairy
improvement in Africa. The huge and diverse livestock genetic
resources, presence of various agro-ecologies appropriate for dairy
production, rising domestic claim for milk and milk products, better
market opportunity, and closeness to global markets specify the
potential and opportunities for dairy development in Ethiopia.
Nevertheless, dairy development has been hindered by multi-
faceted, production system-specific constraints related to genotype,
feed resources and feeding systems, access to services and inputs,
low adoption of improved technologies, marketing and absence of
clear policy support to the sector [6-10].
Dairy production systems in Ethiopia
Different classifications have been used to characterize the dairy
production system in the country. Ahmed classified Dairy production
system based on their locations classified into three broad categories;
namely, urban, per urban and rural dairy production system. Among
the existing production systems, the traditional dairy production
system is the one involving from smallholder dairy farms. The
traditional (smallholder) milk production system, which is dominated

*Address for Correspondence: Abera Teshome Aleli, Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Science, Ambo
University Mamo Mezemir Campus, Ambo, Ethiopia, Tel: +251946379170; E-mail: abera0989@gmail.com
Copyright: © 2023 Aleli AT. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license which permits unrestricted
use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Received: 09 May, 2023, Manuscript No. JVST-23-112744; Editor assigned: 12 May, 2023, PreQC No. JVST-23-112744 (PQ); Reviewed: 26 May, 2023, QC No.
JVST-23-112744; Revised: 26 July, 2023, Manuscript No. JVST-23-112744 (R); Published:: 02 August, 2023, DOI: 10.37421/2157-7579.2023.14.198
Aleli AT
by indigenous breeds, accounts for about 97%-98% of the total
annual milk production in the country [11-13].
According to land o’lakes the dairy production systems can be
divided into four main systems: Rural dairy smallholder, peri-urban
and urban, commercial, and pastoral and agro-pastoral. The largest
cattle population, 75% of the total is found in rural dairy
smallholders where they are used mainly for traction followed by
milk and meat production. The result obtained from the finding of
Sara showed that majority (70.9%) of sampled smallholder dairy
farmers practiced mixed crop-livestock farming, and most farmers
(70.9%) produce milk primarily for income generation under a mixed
crop-livestock production system. The herds mean of the local and
cross breeds cattle in the study area were 5.23 and 2.41,
respectively. Belay et al., reported similar result research which was
conducted at Horo Guduru Wollega. Beriso et al. concluded that the
major purposes of cattle rearing in the Aleta Chukko district was for
milk production (72%), income generation (17%), fertilizer, social
value and saving purposes (11%). in rare cases there was the
condition in which only two or three of either of the dairy production
systems practiced for example the finding of Mengsitie reflected that
two types of livestock production systems were identified in the
district, namely crop-livestock mixed farming, which is exercised by
resident farmers, and transhumance production system practiced by
seasonally in fluxing farmers from neighboring highlands. According
to Tsehay, milk production system can be broadly categorized in to
three systems, based on marketing situations, such as urban, per
urban and rural milk production system [14-17].
Rural household dairy production system: Ketema and Dereje
summarized that rural dairy production system is part of the
subsistence farming system that contributes up to 98%of the total
milk production of in Ethiopia, and includes pastoralists, agro-
pastoralists, and mixed crop-livestock producers. The system is not
market oriented and most of the milk produced in this system is only
for home consumption [18].
Urban and peri urban dairy production system: According to
Tsehay, Urban dairy production systems are located near or
proximity to Addis Ababa and regional towns and take the
advantages of the urban market. These sector controls most of the
countries improved dairy stock. Urban and per-urban milk
production system involves the production, processing and
marketing of milk and milk products into urban centers. Urban milk
production system is settled in major cities and regional towns,
which have a high demand for milk and they are a largest source of
milk producer. Most of the time the highest percentage of milk
obtained from this type of production system was sold and used as
a means of income generation while the remaining lowest
percentages processed and used for home consumption. Producers
deliver milk to consumer or consumers may collect it at the
producer’s gate. Farmers in general and private stakeholders in
particular under this system have small size of grazing land; and
practices under stall feeding conditions for improved animals [19].
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The main sources of feed resources are agro processing
industrial by-products. The most dominant breeds found under such
production system were crossbred dairy cows. Generally, the
primary of the production system is to sale milk as a means of
additional cash income. According to Misgana, et al. there were two
main dairy production systems exist in the study area: Market
oriented urban and peri urban smallholder dairy and rural mixed
crop-livestock production systems. The urban and peri urban
production system is characterized by keeping mainly cross bred
animals of unknown blood level and constrained by land shortage,
feed scarcity, inefficient breeding practice and unimproved milk
marketing system. The rural mixed crop livestock production system
is characterized by keeping of local cattle primarily for the purpose
of crop production and secondary milk production [20].
Mixed crop/livestock dairy production system: Crop/livestock
production system was observed to be the typical dairy production
system in the rural parts of the Ethiopian country and the periphery
of the town. Within this type of production, both components (crop
cultivation and livestock production) are undertaken in integrate or
in segregated form. Livestock provides power for land preparation
and crop transportation after harvest and manure as fertilizer, while
crop by-products represent an important source of animal feed. In
such production system, especially in some parts of Southern
Ethiopia, diverse cereal crops predominantly produced include:
maize (Zea mays), teff (Eragrostis tef), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor),
wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare). Tuber
crops such as sweet potatoe (Ipomoea batatas), potatoes (Solanum
tuberosum), enset/false banana (Ensete ventricosum), yam
(Dioscorea) and Cassava (Manihot cassave) are also commonly
used. Residues of these crops are commonly used as animal feeds.
Similar farm inputs are reported in different parts of the country
where crop/livestock production system is a typical feature: Tolera
and Said in Wolaita; Zewdu, et al. in the mid highlands of Ethiopia;
Chewaka in Yirgachefe area and Funte, et al. in Umbulo Wacho
watershed in Southern Ethiopia. Crop farming in this area is mainly
practiced using oxen/draught power and oxen are given due
attention next to lactating cows particularly with regard to better
feeding. In general, traditional grazing on natural pasture is used as
the main source of feed for the livestock followed by crop residues
such as maize stover, wheat, barley and teff straw, respectively
which are also reported by Tolera in Wolaita and Funte, et al. in
Umbulo Wacho watershed in Southern Ethiopia [21].
Intensive dairy farming: Sintayehu, et al. summarized that this
farming system is a more specialized dairy farming practiced by
sector and very few individual on commercial basis. These are
concentrated in and around Addis Ababa and are basically based
on exotic pure-breed stock. Including urban and per-urban,
intensive farming produces 2% of the total milk production in
Ethiopia. In this system, the animals are confined in feedlots or
pens and provided feed in the trough completely balanced ration of
forage, concentrate or divers agro-industrial by products. These
techniques should experience considerable development in all the
regions where agricultural activities [22].
Aleli AT
Discussion
Challenges of dairy production in Ethiopia
Haile, et al. reported that scarcity of animal feeds is the most vital
limiting factor of dairy production followed by inadequate space for
suitable housing, milking, surplus management, and extension, and
animal health incidence in Hawassa town. Not only these profiling
problems but also the availability and prices of feeds, land use and
problems related to liquid and dry waste disposal are the main
challenges in Boditti town. Wondewsen et al 2019 concluded that that
the primary constraints for dairy owners were shortage of land (17.3,
14.6%); followed by feed shortage (13.4, 11.4%) in Ada’a and Adama
Zuria districts, respectively. Similarly, Beriso, et al. summarized that
Major constraints affecting milk production potential of dairy cattle in
the Aleta Chukko districts were shortage of grazing land, disease and
parasites, shortage of land for cultivation of improved forage,
inadequate veterinary service, low milk production potential of local
zebu cattle, inadequate AI service and labor shortage [23].
Major constraints affecting milk production potential of dairy
cattle in most parts of Ethiopia are shortage of grazing land,
Infectious and parasitic diseases, shortage of land for cultivation of
improved forage, inadequate veterinary service, low milk production
potential of local zebu cattle, inadequate Artificial Insemination (AI)
service and labor shortage. According to Gatwech, finding majority
of farmers reported that shortage of grazing land was main problem
of milk production followed by disease and parasites in Ethiopia.
Inadequate veterinary service to handle outbreak of diseases was
also prevailing constraints of milk production in the country. Land
shortage, feed shortage, milk price, labor and artificial services
were considered as the most important constraints limiting dairy
production in the study area. There was a variation in index
intensity in priority constraints among the production systems. Land
shortage, feed shortage, and labor were the first three constraints in
large scale dairy production with an index value of 0.43, 0.35 and
0.19 respectively. Interrelated constraints with mixed crop livestock
production systems were prevalence of diseases, unimproved
breeding practice and shortage grazing land especially during dry
season. In rural smallholder production system, natural pasture and
crop residues are the major feed resources during wet and dry
seasons, respectively. In urban and peri urban production system,
grass hay, concentrate feed and nonconventional feed and
improved forage are the feed resources with irregular availability
[24].
Generally speaking, In general speaking, the constraints and
opportunities of dairy cattle is not equivalent across country (Ethiopia)
due to effect of agro-ecology, climate type, rainfall type; for instance,
in humid lowland areas(like gambella, benshangul-gumuz regions,
benchi maji zone) prevalence of diseases are more serious
constraints while forage availability is good opportunity. On the other
hand, in highland areas, land shortage is serious problem, but it has
potential of labour and marketing of dairy product. In other words, in
drier low land areas like Borena, afar and Somali regions water
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shortage is more problem than others problems however, they have
large land size for grazing. So in order to plan and implement dairy
cattle development strategies in specific areas; assess of
opportunities and constraints of dairy cattle production is relevant
[25-28].
Opportunities of dairy productions
Even though there were many problems in the Ethiopian dairy
production, there was also suitable condition to improve and
continue dairy production and productivity for the future. These
favorable conditions were marketing accessibility, currently
improving veterinary and artificial insemination services, and large
family size per house hold particularly and existence of huge
educated young generations start dairy production. These were
warranted to the dairy producers to remain with their dairy
production activity [29].
In most parts of the rural farmers they are willing to continue
expansion and/or involve in dairying in the future as dairy farming
supports livelihoods of society under low input production system,
generates income and creates employment opportunity under
market oriented production system. Other opportunities are
increasing ever sustaining demand by the community for milk
because of skyrocketing human population and milk products and
encouraging price for these products. Farmers are currently willing
to accept new technologies to improve milk production like the
adoption of improved forage and artificial insemination in highland
and midland agro-ecologies [30].
Conclusion
Dairy production system based is classified on their locations
into three broad categories; namely, urban, per urban and rural
dairy production system. Among the existing production systems,
the traditional dairy production system is the one involving from
smallholder dairy farms. The traditional (smallholder) milk
production system, which is dominated by indigenous breeds,
accounts for about 97%-98% of the total annual milk production in
the country. Scarcity of animal feeds is the most vital limiting factor
of dairy production followed by inadequate space for suitable
housing, milking, surplus management, and extension, and animal
health incidence in Ethiopia. generally speaking, In general
speaking, the constraints and opportunities of dairy cattle is not
equivalent across country (Ethiopia) due to effect of agro-ecology,
climate type, rainfall type; for instance, in humid lowland areas (like
Gambella, Benshangul-Gumuz regions, Benchi Maji zone)
prevalence of diseases are more serious constraints while forage
availability is good opportunity.
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How to cite this article: Aleli, Abera Teshome. "Review on Dairy Production
System, Constraints and Opportunities in Ethiopia." J Vet Sci Techno 14
(2023): 198.