Beef Cattle Production Systems, Marketing and Constraints in Ethiopia

This review studies the beef cattle production systems, marketing and constraints with the aim of delivering summarized and the most important information for the producers. The agricultural sector plays an important role in the overall development of the economy of Ethiopia. The sector plays a major role in the national economy and it is the source of income and employment for the rural population. The annual contribution of ruminants to meat production in Ethiopia is estimated at over 3.2 million tones, representing over 72% of the total meat production. Cattle meat accounts for over 70% of the total red meat production and over 50% of the total meat output in Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently in Ethiopia there are 409,869 beef cattle and last year 69,830 beef cattle were slaughtered for consumption and export purpose. There are different beef cattle production systems in Ethiopia. The most common ones are traditional, by-product based fatting and Hararghe fattening system. In Ethiopia, Farmers that live in rural area sell livestock and livestock products to cover household cash expenses and to purchase crop inputs to their families. Live animals are marketed through traditional marketing routes developed over the years which were based on visual assumption on body condition of animals. Livestock pass from primary markets (collection centers) to secondary and tertiary markets to reach the consumer. Cross-border exports are also common in the southeastern, southern and northwestern parts of the country. Marketing of livestock products such as milk, meat, butter, egg, hide and skin is also important to households. In Ethiopia the existing livestock and their products marketing system are generally under developed. The low level of facilities is not conducive to efficient marketing. Transportation is on-hoof, which leads to considerable weight loss of animals as well as physical injuries and health. Trucking is very limited and used only during holidays and festivals to move finished cattle and small stock to city centers and exportable animals to ports. The major bottleneck for beef cattle production in Ethiopian farmers was feed shortage, diseases and parasites, drought, shortage of grazing land, market access, veterinary services, extension services and other infrastructure. Depending on this review; producers improve beef production system through improved feeding and health management systems, producer connect their production system with market orientation and also farmer make their beef production by using young cattle to get high income from the customer. Keywords: beef cattle, marketing, production, constraints, Ethiopi