11

FAO ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND HEALTH

livestock country reviews

POULTRY SECTOR
Ethiopia
 11

FAO ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND HEALTH

livestock country reviews

POULTRY SECTOR
Ethiopia

Author
Nigussie Dana
Director General
Southern Agricultural Research Institute
Hawassa, Ethiopia

Editors
Giacomo de’ Besi
Anne Mottet
John Maguire
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Rome, 2019
Required citation:
FAO. 2019. Poultry Sector Ethiopia. FAO Animal Production and Health Livestock Country Reviews.
No. 11. Rome.

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of
any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning
the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation
of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these
have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of
a similar nature that are not mentioned.

The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or
policies of FAO.

ISBN 978-92-5-131339-8
© FAO, 2019

Some rights reserved. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; [Link]

Under the terms of this licence, this work may be copied, redistributed and adapted for non-commercial purposes,
provided that the work is appropriately cited. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that FAO endorses
any specific organization, products or services. The use of the FAO logo is not permitted. If the work is adapted, then it
must be licensed under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If a translation of this work is created, it must
include the following disclaimer along with the required citation: “This translation was not created by the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this
translation. The original [Language] edition shall be the authoritative edition.”

Disputes arising under the licence that cannot be settled amicably will be resolved by mediation and arbitration as
described in Article 8 of the licence except as otherwise provided herein. The applicable mediation rules will be the
mediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization [Link] and any
arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Third-party materials. Users wishing to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables,
figures or images, are responsible for determining whether permission is needed for that reuse and for obtaining
permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned
component in the work rests solely with the user.

Sales, rights and licensing. FAO information products are available on the FAO website ([Link]/publications) and
can be purchased through publications-sales@[Link]. Requests for commercial use should be submitted via:
[Link]/contact-us/licence-request. Queries regarding rights and licensing should be submitted to:
copyright@[Link].
Contents
Foreword ................................................................................................................................... vi
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................vii
Acronyms and abbreviations ....................................................................................................viii
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................ix
1. Introduction........................................................................................................................ 1
1.1. Country profile............................................................................................................. 1
1.2. Agricultural sector ....................................................................................................... 2
2. Current status of poultry production and supply chains ................................................... 5
2.1. The poultry flock .......................................................................................................... 5
2.1.1. Geographical distribution of poultry flocks ......................................................... 6
2.1.2. Breeds ................................................................................................................... 6
2.2. Poultry production systems ......................................................................................... 8
2.2.1. Poultry production systems and their distribution .............................................. 8
2.2.2. Industrial and integrated/medium- and large-scale intensive systems ............ 10
2.2.3. Family poultry production systems .................................................................... 14
2.2.4. Feed resources ................................................................................................... 17
2.2.5. Poultry and public health ................................................................................... 20
2.2.6. Environment ....................................................................................................... 22
2.3. Poultry value chain analysis....................................................................................... 22
2.3.1. Chicken meat ...................................................................................................... 23
2.3.2. Table eggs ........................................................................................................... 24
3. Poultry and egg markets and regulations ........................................................................ 26
3.1. Poultry supply and demand ....................................................................................... 26
3.1.1. Production .......................................................................................................... 26
3.1.2. Consumption ...................................................................................................... 27
3.1.3. Prices .................................................................................................................. 28
3.2. Trade, marketing and markets .................................................................................. 29
3.2.1. Domestic market ................................................................................................ 29
3.2.2. Trade................................................................................................................... 30
3.3. Current governance, policies, and legal framework ................................................. 31
3.3.1. Policies ................................................................................................................ 31
3.3.2. Producer organizations ...................................................................................... 32
iii
4. Sustainable development of the poultry sector: Status and prospects........................... 33
4.1. Current economic, social and environmental strengths and weaknesses
of the poultry sector .................................................................................................. 33
4.1.1. Strengths and weaknesses in production, inputs, etc. ...................................... 33
4.1.2. Strengths and weaknesses in marketing and trade ........................................... 34
4.2. Poultry development ................................................................................................. 35
4.2.1. Past poultry development strategies ................................................................. 35
4.2.2. Major ongoing and recently closed projects...................................................... 36
4.3. Prospects of the poultry sector – opportunities and challenges .............................. 38
4.3.1. Prospects of the poultry sector .......................................................................... 38
4.3.2. Opportunities and challenges of the poultry sector .......................................... 40
4.3.3. The way forward ................................................................................................ 41
5. Appendix........................................................................................................................... 44
Appendix 1. Classification of poultry production systems ................................................... 44
Appendix 2. Key sector stakeholders ................................................................................... 45
6. Bibliography...................................................................................................................... 47

iv
Tables
TABLE 1. Geographic location, land area, population and economy ................................................ 1
TABLE 2. Agricultural land (as percent of total land area) and contribution of agriculture
to national GDP and employment...................................................................................... 2
TABLE 3. Distribution of poultry, 2016.............................................................................................. 6
TABLE 4. Some of the major hatcheries in Ethiopia, 2015.............................................................. 11
TABLE 5. Number of chicken holders by size of chicken holding, 2017 .......................................... 15
TABLE 6. Estimated number (thousands) of poultry by type and breed classification in
Ethiopia, 2017 .................................................................................................................. 16
TABLE 7. Production capacities of some of the major feed mills ................................................... 18
TABLE 8. Quantity of major compound feeds produced (tonnes/year) by private feed
processing plants and farmers' unions from September 2015 to August 2016 .............. 19
TABLE 9. Number of chickens afflicted, treated and died of disease and other causes in
different parts of Ethiopia, 2016 ...................................................................................... 21
TABLE 10. Number of private and public formal animal health service centres in 40
sample weredas/districts ................................................................................................. 22
TABLE 11. Annual poultry meat production in Ethiopia as percentage share of African and
global production, 2016 ................................................................................................... 26
TABLE 12. Annual poultry egg production in Ethiopia as percentage share of African and
global production, 2016 ................................................................................................... 26
Figures
FIGURE 1. Gross national income (GNI) per capita, Atlas method (current USD) .............................. 1
FIGURE 2. Urban and rural population ............................................................................................... 2
FIGURE 3.A. Per capita consumption of major food items in Ethiopia, 1961–2013 .............................. 3
FIGURE 3.B. Production of animal-source foods in Ethiopia, 1961–2013.............................................. 3
FIGURE 3.C. Protein consumption.......................................................................................................... 4
FIGURE 4. National poultry population, 2005–2016........................................................................... 5
FIGURE 5. Map of the main typologies of livestock production zones by the major
administrative regions of Ethiopia ................................................................................... 10
FIGURE 6.A. Poultry meat consumption, 2003–2013 .......................................................................... 27
FIGURE 6.B. Per capita intake of energy derived from poultry meat, 2003–2013 .............................. 27
FIGURE 6.C. Per capita intake of protein derived from poultry meat, 2003–2013 ............................. 27
FIGURE 7.A. Poultry egg consumption, 2003–2013 ............................................................................. 28
FIGURE 7.B. Per capita intake of energy derived from poultry eggs, 2003–2013 ............................... 28
FIGURE 7.C. Per capita intake of protein derived from poultry eggs, 2003–2013............................... 28
FIGURE 8. Producer price (USD/tonne), 2006–2016 ........................................................................ 29
FIGURE 9.A. Live poultry imports, 2003–2016 ..................................................................................... 30
FIGURE 9.B. Poultry meat imports, 2003–2016 ................................................................................... 31
v
Foreword
The poultry sector continues to grow and industrialize in many parts of the world. An
increasing human population, greater purchasing power and urbanization have been strong
drivers of growth. A clear division is developing between industrialized production systems of
large and medium size feeding into integrated value chains, and extensive production systems
supporting livelihoods and supplying local or niche markets. The primary role of the former is
to supply cheap and safe food to populations often distant from the source of supply, while
the latter acts as a source of nutrition and livelihood safety net, often as part of a diverse
portfolio of income sources. Understanding how poultry production systems and value chains
work is essential in order to develop a country’s poultry sector sustainably.
This review for Ethiopia is part of a series of Country Reviews commissioned by the Animal
Production and Health Division (AGA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO). The reviews aim to support sustainable and effective development
interventions and policy recommendations and contribute to informed decision-making and
investments in the poultry sector by:
 providing information and data about national poultry supply chains (with a special
focus on poultry production);
 analysing strengths, weaknesses and prospects along the supply chain;
 identifying opportunities for poultry sector development.
This review is not intended to be exhaustive. Some topics are only partially covered or not
covered at all and the document will be supplemented and updated on a continuous basis.
Contributions and feedback are welcome by the author(s) and AGA1.

1 For more information please visit the FAO website at: [Link]/poultry-production-products or
contact Poultry-Gateway@[Link]

vi
Acknowledgements
The contribution of Mr Aman Getiso is appreciated for his resourceful engagement in
collecting and summarizing some of the statistical information used in drafting this report.
Mrs Elfinesh Balcha, a rural farmer involved in extensive scavenging poultry production, and
Mr Ghirmai Gebreselasie, manager of Adama Poultry, Poultry Products and Feed Processing
Farm PLC are highly appreciated for their kind cooperation in the case studies. Sincere
appreciations also go to the managers and technical personnel of many of the organizations
listed in the contact list.
We would like to thank the following FAO colleagues who reviewed the document and
provided valuable feedback and inputs: Francesca Castri, Francesca Distefano, Tadele Mirkena
and Felix Njeumi.

vii
Acronyms and abbreviations
AGP Agricultural Growth Program
ATA Agricultural Transformation Agency
CSA Central Statistical Authority
CRGE Climate-resilient green economy
DZARC Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Centre
DOCs Day-old chicks
EIAR Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FCR Feed conversion ratio
FDRE the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
GDP Gross domestic product
GNI Gross national income
GP Grandparent
GTP Growth and transformation plan
HPAI Highly pathogenic avian influenza
ILRI International Livestock Research Institute
LMP Livestock Master Plan
MoANR Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources
MoA Ministry of Agriculture
NAHDIC National Animal Health Diagnostic and Investigation Centre
ND Newcastle disease
NVI National Veterinary Institute
NGO Non-governmental organization
OIE World Organization for Animal Health
SMEs Small and micro enterprises
SNNPR Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region
USDA United States Department of Agriculture

viii
Executive summary
Poultry production is one of the key livestock subsectors of Ethiopia. It plays important roles
in terms of generating employment opportunities, improving family nutrition, and
empowering women. It is a suitable business for poor households due to the small quantity of
land needed and low investment costs required to start up and run the operation.
The current poultry population of Ethiopia is estimated to be around 60 million out of which
the majority (37.9 percent or 22.7 million) are chicks and only 33.6 percent (20.2 million) are
laying hens. About 56 percent (9.6 million) of Ethiopian households have poultry holdings with
varying range of flock size. However, about 80 percent of the households with poultry keep
from 1 to 9 chickens. The sector is indeed dominated by extensive scavenging and small-
extensive scavenging family poultry production systems (please see the classification system
available in Appendix 1) in rural areas.
Small-scale intensive and semi-intensive poultry production systems are found both in urban
and rural areas. However, the former are mainly concentrated in urban and peri-urban areas
in the central parts of the country. Such producers use different breeds of exotic and
indigenous chicken and obtain inputs (e.g. day-old chicks of broilers and layers, pullets, feed
and vaccines) from the medium- and large-scale intensive poultry producers in addition to a
very limited supply from government sources, particularly research centres.
Ethiopia has a small (but growing) number of medium- and large-scale intensive broiler and
layer farms (>1 000 broilers or >500 layers) located in and around Addis Ababa, Debre Zeit,
Modjo and Adama. Such poultry farms are also emerging in the growing urban areas of
Mekele, Bahir Dar, Gondar, Hawassa and Dire Dawa. Throughout the country, there are about
35 farms that are estimated to produce more than 1 000 broilers. The number of producers
operating with capacity of over 10 000 birds is very small.
The dominant proportion of the national poultry meat and eggs are produced under the
scavenging family poultry production systems using low producing indigenous breeds.
However, exotic breeds in intensive production systems are contributing to an increasing
share of production. In 2016, exotic breeds contributed to more than 27 percent of the total
number of eggs produced nationally, despite they constitute only 9 percent of the total
national flock.
Over the past several decades, the consumption of poultry meat and eggs was very low, and
remains today far below African and global averages. The average annual per capita poultry
meat consumption level in Ethiopia in 2013, estimated at 0.66 kg, was far below the East
African average of 1.64 kg. The annual per capita poultry meat consumption level of Africa,
estimated at about 6.73 kg, was more than ten times the consumption level in Ethiopia.
Likewise, the annual per capita poultry egg consumption of Ethiopia in 2013 was estimated to
be 0.36 kg, while the estimates for East Africa and Africa during the same year were about
1.03 and 2.65 kg, respectively.
The domestic market for poultry is constrained by seasonal fluctuations in demand and price.
Such fluctuations are mostly associated to the fasting tradition that prohibits consumption of
livestock products for up to 250 days of the year to Orthodox Christians, accounting for around
43 percent of the total population (CSA, 2007). However, these seasonal variations are
expected to smooth out because there are an increasing number of people of other religious

ix
backgrounds and faiths (more than 50 million today) who also consume poultry products
during these fasting periods. Moreover, rising incomes, rapidly growing population and
increasing urbanization of the country suggest that consumption and demand for poultry
products will rise in the future.
Exports and imports of poultry are limited. Export of poultry products is almost nil. The import
trade chiefly includes introduction of day-old chicks and parent stocks by large-scale intensive
poultry producers.
The value chains of both the medium and large-scale intensive and family poultry production
systems show that the sector is seriously challenged in terms of achieving optimum
production efficiency, feed availability and quality and marketing of products and inputs.
However, the prospects for the development of the poultry sector are high in both systems.
There is strong recognition and support for the sector by policy makers. The government has
set ambitious goals to transform the existing poultry system with a plan to produce a surplus
of eggs and poultry meat for export in year 2020 and to increase the contribution of poultry
meat to the total national meat consumption from the current 9 to 30 percent by 2030.
Industrial and integrated systems have already begun to grow substantially. The capacity of
local poultry integrators is rising. An increasing number of foreign companies are setting up
base in Ethiopia. Recent surveys of the sector indicate that there are many opportunities for
investment in the existing value chains. The country should exert further and sustained efforts
through investment interventions in better genetics, feed and animal health services and
marketing together with complementary policy support to attract competent new
investments to develop the sector.

x
1. Introduction
1.1. COUNTRY PROFILE
TABLE 1. Geographic location, land area, population and economy
Region Eastern Africa
Surface area (sq. Km) 1 104 300 (FAO estimate)
Land area (sq. Km) 1 000 000 (FAO estimate)
Population, total 104.9 (World Bank, 2017)
(millions, 2017)
Population, growth rate 2.5 (World Bank, 2018)
(annual %, 2017)
Economy group Low-income economy (World Bank, 2018)
GDP (current USD, 80.6 (World Bank, 2018)
billions, 2017)
GDP growth rate 10.2 (World Bank, 2018)
(annual %, 2017)
GDP per capita 767.6 (World Bank, 2018)
(Current USD, 2017)
Human development 0.448, rank 174 (UNDP, 2016)
index (HDI, 2015)

Ethiopia is located in Eastern Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya,
Somalia and Djibouti. It is the second most populous nation in Africa, after Nigeria, with a
population of about 104.9 million growing at a rate of about 2.5 percent annually (Table 1).
Although it is the fastest growing economy in the region, it is also one of the low-income
economies, with a per capita GNI of 740 USD in 2017 (Figure 1). Currently, about 20 percent
of the population lives in the cities. The urban population increased from 9.7 to 19.3 million
between 2000 and 2015. This number is expected to rise further to 30.2 million by 2025 and
70.5 million by 2050 (Figure 2).
FIGURE 1. Gross national income (GNI) per capita, Atlas method (current USD)

800
700
600
Current USD

500
400
300
200
100
0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Source: World Bank, 2018

1
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

FIGURE 2. Urban and rural population

200 000
180 000
160 000
Population (thousands)

140 000
120 000
100 000 Urban
80 000 Rural
60 000
40 000
20 000
0

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2017

1.2. AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

TABLE 2. Agricultural land (as percent of total land area) and contribution of agriculture to national
GDP and employment
Agricultural land 36.26 (FAOSTAT, 2018)
(% of land area, 2015)
Agriculture, value added (% GDP, 2016) 37.23 (World Bank, 2018)
Employment in agriculture (%, 2017) 68.2 (ILO, 2018)
Employment in agriculture, female 59.4 (ILO, 2018)
(%, 2017)

Agriculture is the dominant sector of the Ethiopian economy. In the 2013/14 Ethiopian fiscal
year, agriculture contributed 40 percent of the national GDP and the contribution of livestock
to the agricultural GDP was estimated to be 20.7 percent (MoFEC, 2018). In 2016, agriculture
contributed approximately 37.2 percent of the GDP. In 2017, it employed about 68.2 percent
of the population, the proportion of females employed in the sector being about 59.4 percent
(Table 2).

Livestock is an integral component of the agricultural sector. Ethiopia has the largest cattle
population in Africa, with around 59.5 million cattle. The country has 30.7 million sheep and
about similar number of goats, 1.2 million camels and 59.5 million chickens (CSA, 2017).
Livestock play a significant role as source of food and income in addition to several other
important economic and sociocultural functions.

Between 1961 and 1993, the per capita consumption of milk, meat and eggs has been
declining slightly (Figure 3.a.). Since 1993, however, the per capita consumption of milk has
been increasing while the consumption of eggs and meat has remained almost unchanged.
The trend in the production of eggs and milk followed an almost similar pattern to that of
consumption (Figure 3.b.). Meat production tended to grow slightly from 1993 to 2013.
2
Introduction

However, the contribution of poultry meat to the total meat production in 2013 was only
around 9 percent (FAOSTAT, 2018). Figure 3.c. shows the contribution of different food items
to the daily per capita protein consumption in Ethiopia. The data across the time periods
considered (i.e. 1993–1995, 2003–2005, 2011–2013) showed that most of the daily per capita
protein consumption was derived from vegetal products; milk and meat from cattle, goats and
other non-poultry species. The average per capita protein consumption from eggs (0.11–
0.13 g/capita/day) and poultry meat (around 0.22 g/capita/day) over the periods considered
was very low (Figure 3.c.).
FIGURE 3.A. Per capita consumption of major food items in Ethiopia, 1961–2013

250
Index 1961 = 100

200

150

100

50

0
1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013

Eggs Meat Milk Cereals Roots and tubers

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

FIGURE 3.B. Production of animal-source foods in Ethiopia, 1961–2013

800
Index 1961 = 100
700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013

Eggs Meat Milk

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

3
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

FIGURE 3.C. Protein consumption

70

60

50 Other
Eggs
g/capita/day

40 Freshwater fish
Meat, others
30
Poultry meat

20 Milk
Vegetal
10

0
1993-1995 2003-2005 2011-2013

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

4
2. Current status of poultry production and supply
chains
In Ethiopia, the term poultry is almost synonymous to chicken. Other poultry species such as
guinea fowl, geese, turkeys and ducks are not common in the country. Poultry production
offers considerable opportunities in terms of generating employment opportunities,
improving family nutrition, empowering women (especially in rural areas) and ultimately
ensuring household food security. Extensive scavenging poultry production is often the
domain of poor women. Reasons include that it requires little initial investment and that it
does not usually conflict with women’s other household duties.
Section 2 provides statistical information on the national poultry population (Figure 4) and on
its geographic area of distribution (Table 3). It presents the different poultry systems operating
in Ethiopia at different scales along commercial lines and the predominant systems in the
country, the extensive scavenging and small-extensive scavenging family poultry production
systems (see the classification system available in Appendix 1). Two case studies are also
presented. The first case study is on a medium-scale intensive poultry producer and includes
information on animals and management, housing, health, service availability, inputs, sales,
overall farm facilities and waste management. The second case study is on an extensive
poultry producer and includes production and household information (e.g. age, sex and family
size of owner, ownership, key uses of poultry, and percentage of income from poultry). The
information in the case studies was collected at the farm level through a questionnaire.

2.1. THE POULTRY FLOCK

The total poultry population from 2005 to 2016 is presented in Figure 4. The figure shows that
the increase in poultry population over the years has been slow and that the poultry
population in 2016 was estimated at 59.5 million. The major reason for the stagnation of the
poultry population growth is the high poultry mortality due to diseases and predators
prevalent in the scavenging production systems. For instance, about 32 million birds died due
to disease and close to 30 million birds were lost due to causes other than disease, e.g. mainly
predators in 2016 (CSA, 2017). The other reason is the limited expansion of commercial
poultry production, both in terms of number of operators and volume of operation.
FIGURE 4. National poultry population, 2005–2016
70 000

60 000
Number (thousands)

50 000

40 000

30 000

20 000

10 000

0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018 (for data from 2005 to 2013); CSA, 2015a, 2016, 2017
5
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

2.1.1. Geographical distribution of poultry flocks

Table 3 shows the distribution of the total poultry population among the different regions of
Ethiopia in 2016. The figures indicate that Oromia region has the largest number of chickens,
followed by Amhara. The SNNPR, Oromia, Tigray and Amhara regions together represent
96 percent of the total national chicken population. The remaining 4 percent are mainly
distributed among Afar, Somali, Benshangul Gumuz and Gambela regions. Almost all of the
exotic and hybrid chickens are found in the SNNPR, Oromia, Tigray and Amhara regions.
TABLE 3. Distribution of poultry, 2016

Chickens (thousands)
Geographic area (region)
Total Indigenous Exotic Hybrid
SNNPR 11 197 9 997 485 715
Oromia 20 408 19 604 291 513
Tigray 5 746 4 288 892 566
Amhara 19 962 18 020 930 1 012
Subtotal 57 313 51 909 2 598 2 806
% of the country's total 96 96 99.7 99
Benshangul Gumuz 1 249 1 225 4 20
Gambela 386 378 4 4
Afar 198 198 - -
Somali 161 161 - -
Harari 91 91 - -
Dire Dawa 101 98 - 3
Subtotal 2 186 2 151 8 27
% of the country's total 4 4 0.3 1
Country's total 59 499 54 060 2 606 2 833
Source: CSA, 2017

2.1.2. Breeds
Use of improved genetics is one of the key elements to improving productivity in the poultry
sector. Lack of access to productive and adaptable chicken breeds still remain one of the most
critical challenges to increasing the economic contribution of the sector. Most of the chickens
kept by smallholder farmers are unimproved indigenous flocks, well-adapted to the local
environments but having slow growth rates and very poor egg productivity. Attempts to
increase productivity are mainly focused on the introduction of high yielding exotic chickens
to replace indigenous stocks. However, the success achieved in terms of improving
productivity in villages through the introduction of exotic breeds is still limited due to the
failure of imported breeds to adapt to local conditions. Other reasons include poor
management; lack of input and output markets; and shortage of quality feeds, vaccines and
veterinary inputs. Efforts to develop high yielding indigenous chicken breeds are still
insufficient.

6
Current status of poultry production and supply chains

Exotic breeds
Currently there are about 5.4 million exotic and hybrid chickens, representing 9 percent of the
total national poultry population (Table 3). Exotic chickens were first introduced into Ethiopia
in 1953 and 1956 by Jimma Agricultural and Technical School and Alemaya College of
Agriculture, respectively (Wondmeneh et al., 2016). Four breeds of chickens (Rhode Island
Red, Australorp, New Hampshire and White Leghorns) were imported from Kenya, Denmark
and the United States during this time. Later, the Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Centre
(DZARC) was also involved in evaluating the performance of these breeds including additional
introductions such as the Brown Leghorn, Light Sussex and Barred Rock. Egg production,
hatchability and mortality rates of the breeds were evaluated over several years. The White
Leghorn was rated the best in terms of egg production, adaptability, disease tolerance and
feed efficiency (DZARC, 1984). In 1996, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock introduced
the Fayoumi chicken from Egypt. These chickens were directly distributed to rural households
throughout the country to improve the extensive scavenging and small-extensive scavenging
family poultry production systems.
In the mid 2000s, DZARC introduced the Lohman Silver and Koekoek breeds. The Lohman
Silver did not adapt to the village production system while Koekoek performed well in several
villages (Wondmeneh et al., 2016). In 2010, a layer grandparent (GP) generation was imported
and tested at the Debre Zeit poultry research farm for the first time. Two broiler parent stocks
from Hubbard breeders (Hubbard classic and Hubbard JV) were tested. The parents and
broilers of the classic line outperformed their JV counterparts. The GP was generally found to
be adaptive and suitable under on station conditions at Debre Zeit. In addition to ensuring
sustained supply of improved genetics to producers, the establishment of the GP stock
enabled the national poultry research program to develop the skill required to manage larger
breeder flocks and demonstrated the capacity of the research farm as a future source of
parent stock.
In 2015, additional introductions of exotic breeds known for their wider adaptation and high
performance were tested. Three dual purpose (Red barred, Lohman Dual and Novo color) and
three layer (Lohman brown, dominant Sussex and Novo brown) breeds are being kept at
Debre Zeit research centre. These six breeds are still under evaluation at the research centre
(Wondmeneh et al., 2016).
The Rohde Island Red (RIR), Fayoumi and Koekoek were among the chicken breeds widely
distributed to village producers, although the supply of the RIR and Fayoumi has almost
ceased. Instead, several medium- and large-scale intensive producers are involved in the
distribution of exotic breeds to producers in the different family poultry production systems.
At present Ethiochicken is the largest supplier of exotic breeds mainly to the extensive
scavenging and semi-intensive family poultry producers, operating in the four largest poultry
producing regions (the SNNPR, Oromia, Tigray and Amhara). Currently, the broiler and layer
breeds kept by most of the intensive poultry farms in the country include Cobb broilers, and
ISA, Lohman and Ross layers with parents imported mainly from the European Union (EU).

Indigenous breeds
In 2016, indigenous chickens represented about 91 percent of the total national poultry
population (Table 3). As in many other parts of Africa, the indigenous chicken of Ethiopia
actually comprise chickens with a wide range of morphologic or genetic diversity. Currently,
7
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

eight indigenous chicken ‘types’ of Ethiopia, named after either their plumage colour or
geographic origin of sampling, were reported in DAD-IS (DAD-IS, 2017). The small number of
breeds included in the database indicates the shortage of data on the chicken genetic
resources of Ethiopia. It also suggests that much of the diversity that exists in the locally
adapted populations still remains undocumented. A number of morphologic, phenotypic and
genetic characterizations (Tadelle, 2003; Halima, 2007; Nigussie, 2011; Emebet, 2015) showed
that very little variations exist among ecotypes (or the chicken 'types') and that most of the
variations in the indigenous chickens are given to variations within individual populations.
Indigenous flocks are slow in growth rates and very poor in egg productivity. Mean body
weights at 8 and 16 weeks of age could be as low as 242 and 621 g, respectively (Nigussie,
2011). The mean annual egg production does not exceed 60 eggs/hen. Despite their lower
productivity, indigenous birds are still the major suppliers of poultry products in Ethiopia. They
are well adapted to their environments, resistant to diseases, can scavenge for food, and are
able to avoid predators as they are agile and fast, with the colour and patterns of their feathers
providing natural camouflage. This suggests that improving the productive attributes of
indigenous poultry could have a significant impact on the poultry sector. The opportunities
arising from the existing huge genetic variation within indigenous populations should be
exploited. For instance, selective breeding of the indigenous Horro chicken at the DZARC
carried out since 2008 increased egg production by 123 percent and body weight by 95
percent during the first 8 generations (Wondmeneh et al., 2016).

2.2. POULTRY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

In this review, the poultry production systems of Ethiopia are classified into the industrial and
integrated/medium- and large-scale intensive systems and the different categories of family
poultry production systems (i.e. the small-scale intensive, semi-intensive, extensive
scavenging and small-extensive scavenging systems) (Appendix 1). Producers keeping over
1 000 broilers or 500 layers are considered in the section presenting the medium- and large-
scale intensive systems. Within such systems, there are large variations among producers in
terms of technology use, management level and scale of operation. Although not exhaustive,
information is provided on some of the larger companies, with around 10 000 birds or more.
In the section regarding family poultry production systems (Section 2.2.3.), small-scale
intensive and semi-intensive production systems are treated together. The extensive
scavenging and small-extensive scavenging systems are also presented together due to the
lack of clear statistics identifying these sub systems.

2.2.1. Poultry production systems and their distribution

Medium- and large-scale intensive poultry producers are mainly located in and around cities
and major towns. They are largely concentrated between Addis Ababa, Debre Zeit and Adama.
Broiler production is concentrated in Adama, Modjo and Debre Zeit; pullet rearing is heavily
concentrated in Debre Zeit; while egg production is mainly in Addis Ababa (Vernooij et al.,
2012).
The total number of small-scale intensive poultry producers and their specific contribution to
the national poultry production is not known. However, they provide the largest share of
poultry eggs and meat to the growing urban population (Boere et al., 2015). Their distribution
is similar to that of medium- and large-scale intensive poultry producers. The semi-intensive

8
Current status of poultry production and supply chains

family poultry producers, instead, are also common in rural areas connected to urban markets.
The distribution of the extensive scavenging and small-extensive family poultry production
systems is not limited to any specific location.
In order to support decisions on intervention strategies suitable for livestock development in
the different production environments of Ethiopia, the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural
Resources (MoANR) and ILRI (2014) defined the major livestock production systems under
each environment. The main livestock production typology zones identified are the:
(i) lowland grazing zone (includes the lowland pastoral and agro-pastoral systems);
(ii) highland mixed crop-livestock rainfall sufficient; and (iii) highland mixed crop-livestock
rainfall deficient (MoANR and ILRI, 2014).
The distribution of medium- and large-scale intensive poultry production system is not linked
to the production typology zones identified by MoANR and ILRI. However, the distribution of
family poultry production systems shows clear patterns along the production typology zones.
Family poultry systems are mostly found in the highlands (both in the mixed rainfall sufficient
and mixed rainfall deficient typology zones) and more rarely in agro-pastoral areas. Pastoral
communities do not keep chickens at all. Figure 5 shows the map of the main typologies of
livestock production zones by major adminstrative regions of Ethiopia.

9
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

FIGURE 5. Map of the main typologies of livestock production zones by the major administrative
regions of Ethiopia

Source: MoANR and ILRI, 2014

2.2.2. Industrial and integrated/medium- and large-scale intensive systems

Farms with >1 000 broilers or >500 layers are classified as medium- and large-scale intensive
poultry systems (see Appendix 1). In Ethiopia, statistics on the size and distribution of such
producers is not exhaustive. According to the estimates reported by USDA in 2017,
approximately 35 farms in the country are considered to produce over 1 000 broilers.
Producers operating with a capacity of over 10 000 birds are very small in number and are
found in and around Addis Ababa, Debre Zeit, Modjo and Adama while they are also emerging
in the growing urban areas of Mekele, Bahir Dar, Gondar, Hawassa and Dire Dawa. Currently,
there are only a few poultry integrations in Ethiopia at this scale: ELFORA Agro-Industries PLC,
Alema Farms PLC, Ethiochicken, SAFE Poultry PLC, Astral Foods, and Feedco Animal Feeds PLC
(Boere et al., 2015). ELFORA Agro-Industries PLC, located in Debre Zeit, Addis Ababa and
Chefa, was established in 1997 and is one of the largest companies engaged in poultry
operations. The company produces parent stock, hen table eggs, day-old chicks (DOCs),
pullets, broilers, and is also involved in meat processing and retailing for local and export
markets.

10
Current status of poultry production and supply chains

Breeding stocks and hatching eggs

In Ethiopia, both broiler and layer parent stock are imported from other countries either in
the form of DOCs or hatching eggs. The poultry companies importing parent stocks own
hatcheries and multiplication facilities for producing DOCs for their own farms or for
dissemination to other smaller farms. Alema Farms, ELFORA Agro-Industries, Ethiochicken,
SAFE Poultry PLC, Astral Foods and Feedco Animal Feeds PLC are among the major companies
importing breeding stock, supplying DOCs and hatching eggs.
TABLE 4. Some of the major hatcheries in Ethiopia, 2015
Capacity DOC delivered
Company name Parent source
Setters Hatchers per year
Abebaw (Modjo) 28 080 7 000 365 000 ISA
Alema Farms 225 000 98 000 2 880 000 ISA, Cobb and
(new) Lohman
Ayma Poultry 57 000 19 200 250 000 ISA
Farm (Alemshet
Degife)
Daniel Getu 57 600 19 200 100 000 ISA
ELERE Farm 180 000 72 600 1 300 000 Cobb and Lohman
(Fanta Terefe)
Gerado Farm 76 800 19 200 250 000 ISA
(Ebrahim)
Hawasa Genene 57 600 18 000 120 000 ISA
SW Poultry Farm 77 000 19 200 300 000 ISA
(Samson Wossen)
Kombolcha 168 400 42 000 450 000 ISA and Koekoek
(Shimelis)
ELFORA 210 000 76 000 112 000 (per week) Ross and Hendrix
ELFORA (new 410 472 82 944 6 000 000 Cobb
farm in Chefa)
Bracod Agro- 38 400 19 200 2 000 Lohman
industry
Andasa (Bahir 38 000 12 000 10 000 Lohman
Dar)
Milkias Albert 76 800 19 200 - Cobb
Ethiochicken N/A N/A 2 400 000 N/A
SAFE Poultry PLC N/A N/A 2 000 000 N/A
Astral Foods PLC N/A N/A 50 000 (per hatch) N/A
Feedco Animal N/A N/A 50 000 (per hatch) N/A
Feeds PLC
Note: N/A= not available.
Source: Boere et al., 2015
Table 4 presents some of the major hatcheries in Ethiopia in 2015. The parent stock farms at
Alema Farms PLC rear 10 000 broilers and 5 000 layers of Ross and Lohman breeds,
11
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

respectively. The hatchery produces 2.88 million broiler and layer DOCs per year;
approximately half of the broiler DOCs produced are used for own production, the remaining
half are for sale.
The existing hatchery of ELFORA Agro-Industries can produce 112 000 DOCs per week and an
additional four new hatcheries are being established with capacity of 6 million DOCs per year.
Although ELFORA has the largest DOC production capacity, SAFE Poultry PLC, producing
around 2 million DOCs per year, is probably the largest supplier of layer DOCs to small-scale
intensive family poultry producers having a formal marketing chain with farmers for the DOCs
they provide. The DOCs produced by the former are mainly for use within its own farms.
Ethiochicken is the other company engaged in the introduction of parent stock and DOCs. It
also operates through a tailor-made distribution model with the government by supplying 40-
day-old dual purpose chicken to rural smallholder farmers. Its hatchery has a capacity of at
least 2.4 million DOCs per year.
Astral Foods PLC and Feedco Animal Feeds PLC also produce substantial numbers of broiler
and layer DOCs each with a hatching capacity of 50 000 DOCs per batch. None of these
companies are apparently engaged in the supply of fertile hatching eggs.
Despite the growing production of broiler and layer DOCs, the total output of the Ethiopian
hatcheries is too low and currently there is a severe shortage of DOCs in the country. Most of
the hatcheries in Ethiopia are poorly functioning. Knowledge on the hatching process is low
and management standards in most of the hatcheries are poor. Management of parent stocks
and hatcheries are below global industry standards (Boere et al., 2015).

Broiler meat
ELFORA Agro-Industries PLC and Alema Farms are the two major large-scale intensive broiler
producers in the country. ELFORA Agro-Industries PLC has a processing plant with an annual
production capacity of 1 000 tonnes of broiler meat. In addition to this, in 2015 it has
established an integrated poultry farm in Chefa with a capacity of 714 000 broilers per year,
producing 5 000–6 000 tonnes of broiler meat annually. Two of its processing plants have
export hygiene standards approved and registered by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).
Alema Farms has an annual production capacity of 150 000 broilers. The farm has a chicken
processing plant with a single processing line for 2 000 birds per hour; they also further
process some of the chicken meat into sausages. Currently, Alema Farms operates at limited
production, slaughtering only 4 000 broilers per day.

Hen table eggs

ELFORA produces about 112 million table eggs annually. The layer farms of Alema Farms hold
around 15 000 commercial layers. Ethiopia has around 10–20 medium-scale intensive poultry
producers keeping between 1 000–10 000 broilers and layers, e.g. Maranata, Almaz, Abebaw
Modjo, Genesis and Fanta poultry farms. Although data on their exact contribution to national
production is not available, they provide a large amount of eggs and poultry meat to the
growing towns (Boere et al., 2015; Vernooij et al., 2012).

12
Current status of poultry production and supply chains

Feed resources and feeding systems

Most of the poultry companies described above have their own feed mills. The feeds produced
by most of these companies are intended primarily for consumption within their own farms
and only the surplus is sold to other producers. However, not all intensive poultry producers
own feed mills. Producers operating at and around 1 000 birds purchase compound feeds
from larger poultry producers and other companies specialized in feed mill operations.
Compound feeds are available mostly in the form of mash. Pellets are not common. Feeding
systems are rarely automated, including in large-scale intensive farms operating over 10 000
birds.

Environmental aspects (waste management)

Most intensive poultry farms in Ethiopia do not have clear waste management schemes. The
manure and processing by-products are usually disposed of right outside the towns where the
farms are located. Part of the poultry litter is sold to livestock producers, particularly to be
recycled as an ingredient of the feed mixtures for fattening cattle. The litter sold as feed
ingredient is untreated and carries many undesirable elements and contaminants such as
feathers, antibiotics and other poultry house wastes. Vegetable producers and gardeners are
also regular customers buying untreated poultry litter and manure for use as fertilizer. The
current practice of using untreated poultry litter by vegetable producers and gardeners in
close proximity to poultry farms can potentially cause spread or recurrence of disease.
Inspection and regulation by environmental protection authorities is almost non-existent.

CASE STUDY 1. Adama Poultry Farm, Poultry Products and Feed Processing PLC.: a medium-
scale intensive layer farm in Adama
This company is located in Oromia Regional State, Adama town, about 90 km East of Addis
Ababa. It is a private commercial farm owned by Mr Wondwesen Belay and managed by
Mr Ghirmai Gebreselassie. The farm employs a total of 28 workers including a veterinarian,
administrative and feed mill operating staff, a supervisor, poultry farm attendants, gardeners
and security guards. The poultry farm is located in a well-developed site with electricity and
adequate water supply and all weather road access.
The poultry houses have concrete walls with corrugated iron roofs, equipped with relatively
modern feeding and watering troughs and laying nests. The birds are housed on bedded floors
with standard housing spaces in sufficiently ventilated and clean houses.
The total annual production capacity of the farm is 10 000 birds. The farm has a hatchery with
capacity of producing 10 000 DOCs per month and a feed mill with capacity of 1 tonne/hour.
It also has a mini –processing plant with a small freezer capacity. Currently the farm produces
table eggs only and is operating at about half its total capacity with 5 250 Bovans Brown layers.
Laying hens (and replacement stock) are raised from DOCs purchased from other large-scale
intensive poultry producers. The hatchery and processing facilities are not functional due to
technical reasons.
The farm produces its own compound feed using raw feed materials obtained from local
markets, premixes are purchased from importers. Vaccinations against ND, Marek's, Gumboro
and Fowl Pox are carried out on a regular basis following the schedules provided by the

13
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

manufacturer. The mortality rate of the farm during the brooding and growing period ranges
from 10 to 15 percent. Daily records are kept on laying performance, morbidity and mortality.
Table eggs are sold to local traders and supermarkets around Adama and Addis Ababa. Prices
fluctuate seasonally, falling substantially during the Orthodox Christians' fasting periods.
Interference of brokers and lack of market information are serious constraints to the
marketing of products. The poultry farm wastes are disposed into deep pits while dead birds
are incinerated.

2.2.3. Family poultry production systems

In rural areas, family poultry production systems generate tremendous opportunities in terms
of improving food security and nutrition and empowering women. Family poultry production
is a suitable enterprise for women and poor households due to the small quantity of land
needed and low investment costs required to start up and run the operation. Family poultry
production can empower rural women, despite their often poorer access to land and inputs
as well as their heavy work burden within rural households.
In this review, family poultry production systems are classified into four categories based on
market access, production objectives, level of specialization/technology use, flock size, etc.
(Appendix 1). The characteristics of such systems in Ethiopia are described below:
1) The small-scale intensive system, is based on the use of specialized, commercial DOCs or
pullets (200–1 000 broilers, 100–500 layers), commercial balanced rations and good quality
houses. Producers under this system have full access to veterinary services and the overall
mortality rates of birds are low to medium (<20 percent).
The small-scale intensive system is rapidly growing in the urban and peri-urban areas of the
country. They are mostly run as family businesses and considered as important sources of
income for many families. Small-scale intensive poultry production currently plays a significant
role in the employment of youth.
Producers obtain DOCs from the medium- and large-scale intensive poultry farms and
hatcheries indicated in the previous section (Table 4). They purchase compound feeds from
large-scale intensive farms and feed mills, such as the Alema Koudijs Feeds, but their supply is
inadequate and intermittent. The majority of the feed used by these producers comes from
smaller feed mills which include feed producers preparing small quantities of poultry feeds at
the household level and smaller feed mills processing feeds for poultry, sheep, goats and dairy
cattle.
2) The semi-intensive system is characterized by flocks ranging from 50 to 200 birds, using
commercial, crossbred or indigenous breeds reared under scavenging management
conditions with regular supplementation. Differently from scavenging systems, birds are
provided with housing and improved health care, resulting in low to medium mortality rates
(from 20 to >50 percent).
The Ethiopian Livestock Master Plan (LMP) estimated that there were about 120 000
households under the semi-intensive family poultry system in 2014 (Shapiro et al., 2015).
However, the CSA report shows that the number of chicken holders with flock sizes ranging
from 50 to 199 is only about 9 000, of which around 8 000 holding from 50 to 99 chickens
(CSA, 2017).

14
Current status of poultry production and supply chains

TABLE 5. Number of chicken holders by size of chicken holding, 2017

Total number of Number of households by size of chicken holding

households 100 to
Region 1 to 9 10 to 49 50 to 99
owning chickens 199
(thousands) chickens chickens chickens
chickens
Country's total 9 649.2 7 696 1 945 7.1 1.1
SNNPR 2 032.4 1 702 330 0.3 0.1
Oromia 3 256 2 581 674 1 -
Tigray 919.6 727 192 0.6 -
Amhara 3 174 2 500 669 4 1
Benshangul 148.4 101 47 0.3 -
Gumuz
Gambela 36.3 21 15 0.3 -
Afar 22.5 15 7 0.5 -
Somali 27 22 5 - -
Harari 14 11 3 - -
Dire Dawa 19 16 3 0.04 -
Source: CSA, 2017

3) The extensive scavenging system shares almost all the attributes described below for small
extensive system. However, it is based on a larger flock size (ranging from 5 to 50 birds)
comprised of indigenous and/or crossbred chickens and it is practiced by households having
access to rural markets. Producers in this system do not have regular access to exotic chickens
and usually raise their own replacement stock. Food security and income generation are the
primary reasons for keeping chickens. They use broody hens to hatch replacement stock.
4) The small-extensive scavenging system is practiced by households located in remote villages
with little or no access to markets, with the main purpose of chicken rearing being for
household consumption. It is based on a flock size of 1–5 indigenous chickens kept under
scavenging conditions. Birds have no or little supplementary feeding and no housing. Chicks
are produced through natural incubation. This system is also characterized by high chicken
mortality (often >70 percent) due to lack of proper health care and veterinary services.
The extensive scavenging and small-extensive scavenging systems are the dominant forms of
poultry production in Ethiopia. A report by the CSA (CSA, 2017) shows that out of the
estimated total of 17.2 million households in the country, the number of households keeping
poultry is about 9.6 million (56 percent). About 80 percent of such households (7.7 million
households) keep from 1 to 9 chickens while 19.6 percent (about 1.9 million households) keep
from 10 to 49 chickens (Table 5), indicating that the dominant proportion of poultry producers
practice small-extensive scavenging family poultry production followed by extensive
scavenging.
In extensive scavenging systems, poultry keeping is mainly an activity undertaken by women
and can be a source of supplementary income. Poultry can contribute to as much as 20–25
percent of the household income, much of which is controlled by women (Ayele and Rich,
2010). A study by Gebremedhin et al. (2016) found that decisions on the income generated
15
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

from scavenging poultry belonged to women in 30 percent of the cases and by both women
and men in about 54 percent of the cases. Poultry income is often used to cover school
expenses, indicating that targeting rural women in family poultry development schemes does
not only mean empowering women but also contributing to the education of their children.
The small-extensive scavenging and extensive scavenging family poultry production systems
are low-input low-output systems. Table 6 presents the proportion of different poultry types
in the flock. The overall flock structure shows significant number of unproductive birds carried
both to ensure replacement and also as a means of averting risks associated to the heavy
mortality inherent in this type of system. Laying hens comprise only about 34 percent of the
total national poultry flock.
TABLE 6. Estimated number (thousands) of poultry by type and breed classification in Ethiopia,
2017
Breed classification
Poultry All poultry
Indigenous Exotic Hybrid
type*
Number % Number % Number % Number %
Cocks 5 843 9.8 5 283 8.9 258 0.4 302 0.5
Cockerels 3 296 5.5 2 997 5.0 102 0.2 197 0.3
Pullets 6 246 10.5 5 416 9.1 437 0.7 393 0.7
Non-
laying 1 629 2.7 1 506 2.5 59 0.1 64 0.1
hens
Chicks 22 568 37.9 21 499 36.1 240 0.4 830 1.4
Laying
19 912 33.6 17 352 29.2 1 515 2.6 1 045 1.8
hens
Total 59 495 100 54 054 90.9 2 610 4.4 2 831 4.7
*Poultry are classified according to the Ethiopian context: males and hens over 24 weeks of age are referred
to as cocks and laying-hens, males and females between 8 and 24 weeks are referred to as cockerels and
pullets, both males and females from day-old to 8 weeks of age are referred to as chicks, and spent hens in
the poultry flock are referred to as non-laying hens.
Source: CSA, 2017

16
Current status of poultry production and supply chains

CASE STUDY 2. Elfinesh Balcha uses income from extensive scavenging chickens to send
her children to school
Elfinesh Balcha is a 30-year old woman with a family of 5 members, living in a rural village
called 'Dubbo' in the SNNPR region. Beside working on the farm and undertaking household
activities, she is responsible for the day-to-day management
of family poultry (e.g. feeding, watering and cleaning of night
shelters), with the help of her three children.
Ms Balcha completed secondary school and received training
on poultry production offered jointly by the government
extension service and the Areka Agricultural Research
Centre. She keeps eight exotic chickens – which she
purchased from the government extension service – and
three indigenous hens under scavenging management with
occasional feed supplementation. The supplements used are cereals, mainly maize and
wheat, purchased from the local market. Commercial poultry feeds, veterinary
pharmaceuticals, vaccines (only available for cattle) and improved birds are not easily
accessible. The chickens are sheltered during the night with other animals. Ms Balcha keeps
no records on the performance of the chickens.
Elfinesh Balcha raises chicken for income and occasional household consumption. The sale
of chickens and eggs makes around 10–15 percent of her income. The prices of poultry
products are seasonal. For instance, during the Orthodox non-fasting season three eggs are
sold for 10 Birr while during the major fasting seasons four eggs are sold for the same price.
Much of the poultry money is used to pay for children’s school fees and materials (e.g. books
and pens). Ms Balcha’s main source of income is butter trading.

2.2.4. Feed resources

In small-extensive scavenging family poultry systems, production is almost entirely dependent
on the scavenging feed resources available within the local environment such as household
wastes and food leftovers, field crops, worms and insects. The quantity and quality of the
scavenging feed resources vary mainly depending on the season of the year. Occasional
supplementation exists for birds in the extensive scavenging family poultry production system.
In the intensive systems, poultry are fed compound rations and feed is the single most
important factor determining the cost of poultry production.
The most common poultry feed ingredients in the country are cereal grains, milling by
products (e.g. wheat shorts and middling) and oil seed cakes (e.g. noug seed cake, cotton seed
cake, sunflower cake, sesame cake, groundnut cake and linseed cake). The major cereals
grown include maize, wheat, sorghum, teff and barley. In 2014, maize, the major cereal crop
used in poultry feeding, covered about two million hectares of land with annual production of
around 7.2 million tonnes of grains. At the same time, soybean, the major oil seed used in
poultry rations, covered about 35 000 hectares of land with an annual production of around
72 000 tonnes of grains (CSA, 2015b).

17
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

TABLE 7. Production capacities of some of the major feed mills

Facility/production capacity
Processed
Liquid Ingredient
Name of feed mill Feed mill Mixer feed
mixing storage
(tonnes/ (tonnes/ storage
facility capacity
hour) hour) capacity
(tonnes) (tonnes)
(tonnes)
Alema Koudijs Feeds PLC 12.5 15 1.5 500 1 000
Ashraf 6.25 6.25 - 500 300
Akaki Animal Feed PLC 5.2 8 - 1 000 500
Kaliti Animal Feed
4 6 - 1 500 -
Enterprise
Addis Alem Agriculture
2 4 - 3 000 1 000
Development PLC
BSLF Animal Feed
0.5 0.5 - - -
Processing Plant
Fantu and Family 0.5 0.5 - 100
HBH General Business 2 1.5 - 50 20
Adaa Dairy Cooperative 1.5 1 - 100 60
Almaz Poultry and Feed
0.5 0.5 - 40 -
Processing Enterprise
Ethiofeed PLC 2 1 - 300 20
Astral Foods PLC* 10 - - - -
Feedco Animal Feeds
10 - - - -
PLC*
Source: B. Yemane, personal communication, 2017; *Boere et al., 2015

However, there are still substantial gaps in the supply of major feed raw materials used in
poultry feeding, particularly maize and soybean. For instance, the amount of poultry feed
required for semi-intensive family poultry production in the year 2020 is estimated at 266 600
tonnes of maize and 127 300 tonnes of soybean meal. This would imply that 51 900 ha of
additional land would be required for maize production and 43 200 ha for soybean production
(Shapiro et al., 2015). Intensive poultry systems also need significant quantities of these
ingredients.
Table 7 presents some of the major commercial feed producers manufacturing specialized
poultry feeds in the country. Some of the notable companies include Alema Koudijs Feeds,
Ethiofeeds and Friendship Agro-industries. These three companies use local feed raw
materials. Premixes used in the feed formulations are generally imported. However, a number
of foreign companies, including Astral Foods and Feedco, have recently gotten involved in feed
manufacturing.
The feed mills of Astral Foods and Feedco produce pellet lines and extruders. Feedco plans to
grow its annual capacity to 150 000 tonnes and to produce premixes in Ethiopia. The other
large poultry companies such as Ethiochicken and Elfora Agro-industries PLC also produce

18
Current status of poultry production and supply chains

significant quantities of compound poultry feeds but chiefly for their own consumption.
Moreover, Modjo feed company produces about 1 500 tonnes of feed per week. Much of the
poultry feeds used in small-scale intensive and semi-intensive family poultry farms comes
from feed producers preparing poultry feeds at the household level (Ayele and Rich, 2010). As
most feed companies require payments in cash before or on delivery, the small- and medium-
scale poultry farmers who do not have easy access to hard cash can be challenged.
Despite the existence of several feed companies in Ethiopia, a survey conducted between
September 2015 and August 2016 by the Ethiopian Animal Feed Industries Association (EAFIA)
indicated that the national supply of commercial feeds is very low (Seyoum, forthcoming).
Although around 50 percent of the compound feeds produced during the survey period were
for poultry, the total quantity produced was less than 31 000 tonnes per year (Table 8).
Considering the production potentials indicated in Table 7, most of the feed mills in the
country do not seem to operate at their capacities. This could be an opportunity for
international feed companies, but they would have to face the challenge of producing quality
feed at affordable prices for Ethiopian poultry producers.
Reliable data on the prices of commercial feeds are lacking. However, the price of compound
feeds is generally perceived to be high by producers, particularly small-scale intensive and
semi-intensive family poultry producers. As availability, price and quality of feeds are the most
important factors limiting commercial poultry production in Ethiopia, the promotion of feed
efficiency through removal of the 15 percent VAT on imported supplements (VAT on poultry
feeds has recently been exempted) and reducing the 53 percent import tax on premixes and
concentrates combined with the enforcement of the existing quality control regulations
deserve considerations.
TABLE 8. Quantity of major compound feeds produced (tonnes/year) by private feed processing
plants and farmers' unions from September 2015 to August 2016
Private feed
Feed plants of
Feed type processing Total % share
farmers' unions
plants
Dairy feed 12 276 4 156 16 432 27
Beef cattle feed 6 572 5 372 11 944 19
Poultry feed 30 750 143 30 894 50
Other feeds (sheep,
2 220 95 2 315 4
goats, pigs)
Total 51 820 9 766 61 586
% share 84 16
Source: Seyoum, forthcoming

19
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

2.2.5. Poultry and public health

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)

Currently, HPAI is reported in 11 African countries (OIE, 2017). Although there have been no
HPAI outbreaks in Ethiopia, the country has experienced scares resulting in demand shocks in
the past (Ntsefong et al., 2017).
With a few exceptions, the biosecurity level is low in most of the intensive poultry farms in
the country. In family poultry production systems, there is almost no concern over biosecurity
issues.

Other major poultry diseases

Newcastle disease (ND), Infectious bursal disease (IBD), Marek's disease, Mycoplasmosis,
Salmonellosis, Colibasilosis, Coccidiosis, Toxoplasmosis and Heliminthosis are poultry diseases
with significant economic importance both in the family poultry production systems and
intensive production systems in Ethiopia. ND is identified to be the most important disease in
all production systems, being responsible for the largest proportion of morbidity and mortality
in all parts of the country (Desalegn, 2015).
The National Veterinary Institute (NVI) produces 16 types of livestock vaccines, including
against major poultry diseases such as ND and fowl pox. The institute produces a range of ND
vaccines (HB1, La Sota and I-2 strains) and provides them on request to large and small poultry
producers. The guidelines supplied to users along with the vaccines and the dosages are
suitable for intensive systems (including semi-intensive family poultry systems) but not
tailored for use in scavenging family poultry production systems. Although flocks in the
medium- and large-scale intensive systems appear to be vaccinated regularly, vaccination in
the extensive and small-extensive scavenging poultry systems is only carried out in times of
outbreak.
CSA (2017) reported huge losses of chickens due to disease and causes other than disease in
different parts of the country during the year 2016 (Table 9). The huge losses due to different
diseases (over 34 million birds in total) result from the little or no national programme for
control and prevention of poultry diseases. The CSA report shows that there was no
vaccination programme in all regions, and that some regions attempted to treat afflicted birds
but with poor results. During the same year, close to 30 million birds was lost due to causes
other than disease. The high number of poultry losses (Table 9), severely impacts the income
and livelihood of rural poultry farmers. A national major initiative would be required to reduce
the incidence of poultry losses.

20
Current status of poultry production and supply chains

TABLE 9. Number of chickens afflicted, treated and died of disease and other causes in different
parts of Ethiopia, 2016
Died/lost due
Afflicted/ Died from
Geographic area Treated to other
diseased disease
causes
Tigray 3 518 279 303 934 3 341 847 3 330 134
Amhara 14 041 685 1 635 077 13 325 307 10 392 633
Oromia 10 956 017 1 762 241 10 213 579 8 745 963
SNNPR 3 705 908 493 168 3 356 217 6 066 455
Benshangul Gumuz 1 650 719 203 619 1 516 426 960 913
Gambela 206 688 6 365 196 430 204 767
Afar 76 530 - 69 630 51 599
Somali 59 472 - 58 636 79 079
Harari 8 129 - 7 728 100 658
Dire Dawa 29 122 - 27 043 55 712
Ethiopia 34 252 549 4 404 404 32 112 843 29 987 913
Source: CSA, 2017

The high number of poultry losses suggests inefficiencies in animal health services, despite the
many institutions and professionals working in the sector. In almost every wereda (district),
there are veterinary clinics staffed with veterinarians. Approximately one for every three
kebele (village) has an animal health post with animal health assistants responsible for the
diagnosis and treatment of diseases emerging at the farm level. The assistants are supported
by the veterinarians stationed in the wereda/district offices of agriculture. In addition to this,
there is one federal animal health laboratory (the National Animal Health Diagnostic and
Investigation Centre, NAHDIC, at Sebeta) and 14 regional animal health laboratories
distributed across all regions. In 2015, according to Precise Consult International, there were
a total of 9 711 animal health professionals, 256 at federal level and the remaining 9 455
distributed in all regions. Veterinarians accounted for about 9.3 percent (902 of 9 711), with
the remaining being lower level animal health professionals (BSc, Animal Health Assistants).
The public clinics and animal health posts generally lack diagnostic capacities and drug sales
outlets. The capacity for diagnosis of poultry diseases, both physical and human, does not exist
even at regional and wereda/district levels. On the other hand, the private sector is poorly
involved in the provision of animal health services (Table 10). There is an urgent need to
finalize and implement the recent initiative of the country to rationalize public and private
sector roles in the provision of veterinary services with the aim to transition to private
provision of clinical services, wherever feasible.

21
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

TABLE 10. Number of private and public formal animal health service centres in 40 sample
weredas/districts
Clinics and animal
Sector Drug sales outlets Total
health posts
Public 318 0 318
Private 47 139 186
Total 365 139 504
Source: Boere et al., 2015

The high losses associated to causes other than disease are mainly due to predator attacks.
Such losses can be largely attributed to poor management practices and lack of poultry
housing under small-extensive and extensive scavenging family poultry systems.

2.2.6. Environment
The most serious environmental concern in the Ethiopian poultry sector arises from the
existing poor waste management practices. Manure and poultry litter are poorly handled and
randomly disposed of. Some farms sell untreated poultry litter as cattle feed and manure for
fertilizing horticultural crops. Waste from larger poultry integrators includes large number of
dead birds, hatchery and processing plant wastes. Clear waste management schemes and
facilities are lacking and the increasing scale of commercialization and mass production that
are expected in the foreseeable future implies the need for adequate preparations.
Although many of the investment projects are required to undergo environmental assessment
through the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia before licensing, government
regulatory bodies have poor awareness and capacity to make critical assessment on
environmental impacts, whether short or long term.

2.3. POULTRY VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS

Several studies have been conducted to map the poultry value chain of Ethiopia. Vernooij et
al. (2012) mapped the commercial poultry value chain for broiler chicken meat and table eggs
of exotic origin describing the challenges and opportunities in the supply chain by classifying
the producers based on the definition of farm sizes as small-scale (capacity of 50 to 1 000
birds), medium-scale (1 000 to 10 000 birds) and large-scale (over 10 000 birds). Both the
broiler and layer poultry value chains showed a low level of specialization with a limited
number of actors. There is a high level of integration of activities in the value chain of the
large-scale poultry producers, with feed, multiplication, hatching, production and retailing
often all in one business.
The number of actors on different scales in the broiler and layer poultry value chains follows
a pyramid structure, with only a few large-scale farms, a few tens of medium-scale farms and
a few hundred small-scale farms. The findings of the value chain mapping by Vernooij et al.
(2012), showed that the structure of both the chicken meat and table eggs value chains have
many features in common, as described below.

22
Current status of poultry production and supply chains

2.3.1. Chicken meat

Feed
The number of feed manufacturers producing specialized poultry feeds is small. Although
recently expanding through the establishment of foreign feed companies such as Astral Foods
and Feedco, the number of local companies manufacturing compound feeds is limited (the
notable ones being Alema Koudijs Feeds, Akaki Animal Feeds PLC, Ethiofeed, Friendship Agro-
industry). All the feed companies use local raw materials and imported premixes.
The growing demand for poultry and poultry products in Ethiopia, provides a huge opportunity
for both local and international poultry feed manufacturing companies.

Vaccines and drugs

Most of the vaccines used in the poultry sector are produced locally by the National Veterinary
Institute (NVI). The NVI obtains the necessary licences and certificates from the Ethiopian
Veterinary Drugs and Animal Feeds Administration and Control Authority (VDFACA). The
vaccines produced by NVI include live and inactivated vaccines against ND, IBD, fowl typhoid,
and fowl pox, gumboro and marek's disease. Large-scale intensive poultry producers also use
gumboro-marek's disease combined vaccine imported from France. Currently, the Equatorial
Business Group, Rangvet PLC, East Africa Pharmaceuticals, and Gasco Trading are the notable
importers and suppliers of veterinary products (Boere et al., 2015).

Equipment
Almost all equipment used in commercial poultry farms are imported by many different
traders. Small and medium farms usually buy feeders and drinkers directly from local
suppliers. The more specialized equipment such as processing equipment, hatchers and
climate systems used by large-scale farms are purchased by the farms directly from companies
abroad. Friendship Agro-Industries, Gasco Trading and Wiseman PLC are the most important
importers and suppliers of equipment.

Multiplication and hatching

Large-scale farms operating over 10 000 birds import DOCs directly from multiplication
centres abroad. Smaller intensive farms instead need to make joint orders to meet the
minimum number of DOCs permitted by the government for import. Large-scale farms also
import parent stock to produce DOCs and occasionally hatching eggs. The large-scale farms
use the DOCs both for their own production and to supply other farms, mainly small- and
medium-scale farms.
The total output of the hatcheries is currently too low to meet the demand for DOCs.
According to a survey conducted in 2014, this resulted in long waiting lists of poultry keepers
and empty houses for as long as 7 months (Boere et al., 2015). This makes poultry production
a risky venture and leads to many producers dropping out of the business.

Production of broilers
The number of producers involved in broiler production is much lower compared to table egg
production. There are approximately 25–30 medium- to large-scale integrated farms that
process and distribute their products themselves. The most important farms involved in
23
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

chicken meat production are indicated above (Section 2.2.2.). Generally, the sizes of such
farms varies significantly ranging from farms keeping a few dozens of birds to farms keeping
around 20 thousand birds.

Slaughtering/Processing
Small-scale farms usually sell live birds and do not have slaughtering facilities. Those who
slaughter chickens at their farm use hired labour/butchers and brokers who take the carcasses
to their own premises to dress and freeze them for marketing. Slaughtering and processing is
carried out manually and 'Halal' slaughter is not practiced. The small-scale farms mostly
produce whole plucked and eviscerated carcass.
The medium- and large-scale farms slaughter and process their own birds into plucked,
eviscerated and frozen carcass. However, only a few of these farms go further into producing
specialized cuts. The number of farms having automated slaughtering facilities is very small.

Collecting, trading and retailing

Broilers, mostly deep-frozen whole chickens, from large- and medium-scale farms are
marketed through the farm’s own super/mini markets or sold to other super/mini markets or
market vendors. Small-scale farmers instead, generally sell poultry to brokers who collect,
freeze and market processed products. Some small-scale farmers sell live birds directly to
consumers in local markets.

2.3.2. Table eggs

Inputs
The input flow of the table eggs value chain is the same as that of the chicken meat value chain
(see section 2.3.1).

Multiplication and hatching

The large-scale farms import parent stock to produce DOCs and occasionally hatching eggs to
produce layer hens. The large-scale farms use the DOCs both for their own production and to
supply other farms, mainly small- and medium-scale farms. The government multiplication
centres (most of which are now privatized, leaving one or two out of the seven that existed a
few years ago) distribute DOCs and pullets to rural farmers. A few medium-scale farms
operating their own hatcheries buy fertile eggs from hatching egg exporters in Europe and
hatch their own layer DOCs.

Production of table eggs

The most important farms involved in table egg production are mentioned in section 2.2.2.
Similarly to broiler chicken farms, the size of layer farms varies significantly, ranging from
farms keeping a few dozen layers to farms keeping a couple of ten thousands.
All large-scale layer farms rear pullets themselves, mostly from their own or imported DOCs.
Most small-scale farms and some medium-scale farms, on the other hand, specialize either in
pullet rearing or layer production. Some multiplication centres raise pullets to a point of lay
and sell to small-scale farms for egg production.

24
Current status of poultry production and supply chains

Slaughtering/Processing
Spent chickens, comprising meat and egg producing females and males are usually marketed
live directly to the local consumers mostly during festive occasions. However, some farms
slaughter, process and sell spent chickens to market vendors for sale in minimarkets and
specialized shops equipped with deep freezing facilities.

Collecting, trading and retailing

Large-scale farms use several routes to market the eggs they produce. These include sales
through their own super/mini markets, sales to other super/mini markets, or direct sales to
market vendors. Primary collectors are another route to the market, playing the role of
middlemen in the distribution channel.
The key market channels for small and medium-scale farms are primary collectors. The latter
collect the eggs from different farms and sell them to market vendors or super/mini markets.
Consumers buy eggs from local markets as well as from kiosks and shops in villages or
supermarkets in bigger cities.

25
3. Poultry and egg markets and regulations
Poultry and egg markets in Ethiopia are at an early stage of development. The scavenging
family poultry production systems are the principal providers for the domestic market,
supplying most of the marketable poultry products. The share of the intensive and semi-
intensive poultry systems in the national market is currently on the rise. This section deals
with aspects related to poultry supply and demand, trade, marketing and markets and issues
related to policies and regulations. The section on poultry supply and demand highlights the
sector’s gaps in meeting the consumption needs of the population. The section on trade,
marketing and markets highlights the position of the country in the global poultry export-
import trade. Issues related to policies and regulations influencing the development of the
sector are presented in the final section.

3.1. POULTRY SUPPLY AND DEMAND

The supply of poultry meat and eggs remained very low during the past several decades.
Section 3.1.1. covers highlights of current production and of trends in outputs of poultry meat
and eggs over the past years. The per capita poultry meat and egg consumption in Ethiopia
are presented in section 3.1.2. and compared with global averages and consumption figures
in other developing countries.

3.1.1. Production
The national poultry meat output in 2016 was estimated at about 13 000 tonnes. Ethiopia's
share of the total poultry meat outputs in East Africa, Africa and the world in 2016 was only
2, 0.2 and 0.01 percent, respectively (Table 11). Similarly, its share of total eggs production
when compared to East Africa, Africa and the world poultry eggs production in the same year
(Table 12) was 11, 1.7 and 0.07 percent, respectively (FAOSTAT, 2018).
TABLE 11. Annual poultry meat production in Ethiopia as percentage share of African and global
production, 2016
Production Ethiopia
Country
(thousand tonnes) (% share)
Ethiopia 13
East Africa 688 2
Africa 5 913 0.2
World total 120 302 0.01
Source: FAOSTAT, 2018
TABLE 12. Annual poultry egg production in Ethiopia as percentage share of African and global
production, 2016
Production Ethiopia
Country
(thousand tonnes) (% share)
Ethiopia 54
East Africa 492 11
Africa 3 225 1.7
World total 80 754 0.07
Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

26
Poultry and egg markets and regulations

3.1.2. Consumption
Poultry meat and egg consumption in Ethiopia is extremely low. In 2013, the per capita
consumption of poultry meat was about 0.66 kg (Figure 6.a.). During the same year, the per
capita annual poultry meat consumption of East Africa and Africa was estimated to be 1.64
and 6.73 kg, respectively, while the global average stood at 14.99 kg (FAOSTAT, 2018). The
trends in consumption and the per capita intake of energy and protein derived from poultry
meat (Figure 6.b., Figure 6.c.) have not changed much since 2003. The per capita consumption
of eggs was also low, accounting for around 0.36 kg in 2013 (Figure 7.a.). The per capita intake
of energy and protein derived from poultry eggs in 2013 were only 1 kcal/day and 0.11 g/day,
respectively (Figure 7.b., Figure 7.c.).
FIGURE 6.A. Poultry meat consumption, 2003–2013

0.75
0.7
kg/capita/year

0.65
0.6
0.55
0.5
0.45
0.4
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

FIGURE 6.B. Per capita intake of energy derived from poultry meat, 2003–2013

2.1
2
kcal/capita/day

1.9
1.8
1.7
1.6
1.5
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

FIGURE 6.C. Per capita intake of protein derived from poultry meat, 2003–2013

0.25
g/capita/day

0.2

0.15

0.1
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

27
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

FIGURE 7.A. Poultry egg consumption, 2003–2013

0.44

0.42
kg/capita/year

0.4

0.38

0.36

0.34
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

FIGURE 7.B. Per capita intake of energy derived from poultry eggs, 2003–2013

2.1
1.9
kcal/capita/day

1.7
1.5
1.3
1.1
0.9
0.7
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

FIGURE 7.C. Per capita intake of protein derived from poultry eggs, 2003–2013

0.125

0.12
g/capita/day

0.115

0.11

0.105
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

3.1.3. Prices
Information on producer prices for production of hen eggs and chicken meat is presented in
Figure 8. The general trend is that producer prices have slightly increased from 2006 to 2008.
The trends in producer prices fluctuated until they showed sharp rises in 2016. Compared to
2006, the producer price per tonne of hen eggs in shell increased five-fold in 2016, from 460
to 2 362 USD, while prices for production of live weight chickens and chicken meat increased
by about three-fold each. The reason for the sudden sharp rise in the prices per unit of hen
eggs in shell and chicken meat produced is not clear.

28
Poultry and egg markets and regulations

Market prices of chicken in Ethiopia are seasonal. Consumer prices generally rise during
holidays such as Easter, New Year and Christmas. Consumer price information obtained in
June 2017 shows that price of a live bird weighing between 1.5 to 1.8 kg is between 9–10 USD
while the retail price for frozen whole chicken produced locally was between 4–5 USD per kg
(USDA, 2017). The reason for this price difference is attributed to the preference of Ethiopian
consumers to buying live birds and slaughtering them at home.
FIGURE 8. Producer price (USD/tonne), 2006–2016

6000

5000
USD/tonne

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Eggs, hen, in shell 459.8 1113.6 1377.9 1188.7 1025.2 1304 1840.9 1690.8 1652.9 1592.9 2362.3
Meat live weight, chicken 1215.1 1602.8 1993.8 2143 1379.7 1858.6 1985.4 1823.5 1782.6 1717.9 3773
Meat, chicken 1898.6 2504.4 3115.3 2155.8 2904.1 3102.2 5895.3

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

3.2. TRADE, MARKETING AND MARKETS

The section on domestic market (3.2.1.) presents the current trends and prospects existing in
the country for increased consumption and hence demands of poultry products. The section
on trade (3.2.2.) provides brief information on the import and export of poultry and poultry
products. It shows that import trades are largely based on introduction of parent stocks and
DOCs for broiler and egg production by large-scale intensive poultry producers from poultry
breeding and multiplication companies in Europe.

3.2.1. Domestic market

With over 100 million people, the Ethiopian population is the second largest and one of the
fastest growing in Africa. It is expected to grow to about 112 million in 2020 and to 125 million
in 2025 (UNDESA, 2017). Currently, about 20 percent of the population lives in the cities. The
urban population increased from 9.7 million to 19.3 million between 2000 and 2015. This
number is expected to rise further to 30.2 million by 2025 and 70.5 million by 2050 (Figure 2).
Although the current consumption of poultry products is among the lowest in the world, the
domestic market is expected to take off following the trends in the population growth and
increasing income. The market share of eggs and chicken meat from exotic breeds is growing.
For instance, in 2014 the contribution of exotic chickens to the total national egg output was
less than 5 percent (CSA, 2015a). In 2016, exotic breeds contributed to 27.3 percent of the
total number of eggs produced nationally (CSA, 2017).

29
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

Although traditionally the eggs and meat from exotic breeds are less preferred to the
indigenous owing to the existing cooking and consumption habits, the trend is changing. There
are large numbers of bulk consumers such as full board public universities and colleges
(serving over half a million students), hospitals, hotels and restaurants. Promotion and
education on preparation of different food recipes is underway and public awareness on
diverse cooking styles is on the rise.
None of the major international fast food brands (e.g. McDonald's or Kentucky Fried Chicken)
have restaurants in Ethiopia. The reason is that there are no poultry meat processing plants in
Ethiopia meeting the welfare, slaughter, health, biosecurity and Hazard Analysis and Critical
Control Points (HACCP) standards required by these major fast food chains (USDA, 2017).

3.2.2. Trade
Poultry and poultry products are probably among the least traded commodities in Ethiopia.
Despite the lack of consistent and reliable statistics, some sources indicate that Ethiopia has
been importing parent DOCs for many years. All the breeding stock and DOCs used by large-
scale intensive poultry producers and government multiplication centres are imported. Figure
9.a. shows that the country imported varying quantity of live chickens from 2003 to 2016. The
largest quantity imported was in 2008 (398 000 heads), with no imports in the subsequent
two years, and very small quantities imported afterwards (FAOSTAT, 2018).
The only significant volume of chicken meat imported was 130 tonnes recorded in 2013
(Figure 9.b.). Relative to chicken meat substantial volumes of canned chicken meat were
imported between 2014 (193 tonnes) and 2016 (141 tonnes). Importers of chicken meat and
canned chickens are not clear, but Ethiopian Airlines and some of the international brand
hotels in Addis Ababa that serve international customers are probably among the potential
ones.
Ethiopia has almost no record of exporting either live poultry or any form of processed chicken
meat. The Ethiopian LMP aims to achieve exportable surplus of poultry meat by 2020.
However, export during this planned period appears to be impractical because local demand
is expected to surpass supply and also it would be difficult for Ethiopia to compete on price
and quality terms with major exporters such as the United States and Brazil (USDA, 2017).
FIGURE 9.A. Live poultry imports, 2003–2016

450
400
350
Head (thousands)

300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

30
Poultry and egg markets and regulations

FIGURE 9.B. Poultry meat imports, 2003–2016

250
200
Tonnes

150
100
50
0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Chicken (meat), import quantity Chicken (canned), import quantity

Source: FAOSTAT, 2018

Poultry egg imports and exports

Ethiopia has no notable records of poultry eggs import and export so far.

3.3. CURRENT GOVERNANCE, POLICIES, AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK

3.3.1. Policies

Agricultural Development Led Industrialization (ADLI) strategy

The ADLI strategy is the key guideline to the overall economic development of the country. It
elaborates the leading role of the agricultural sector in industrial development and
subsequent transformation of the national economy. It sets the directions towards achieving
structural transformation in the agricultural sector.

Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy

One of the key strategies in the Ethiopian agriculture and economic development is the CRGE
strategy (CRGE, 2011). The strategy intends to foster development of green economy through
reduction of carbon emissions to near zero. The key sectors identified for implementation of
the green economy strategy include power generation, transport, forestry, and livestock. With
regards to the livestock sector, the strategy stipulates consistent and significant reduction of
the ruminant livestock population and a shift towards increasing the share of poultry meat
consumption in the total meat consumption.

The Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II, 2016–2020)

Ethiopia has been implementing the GTP since 2010. The first phase lasted from 2010 to 2015
and the second phase is ongoing (2016–2020). The pillar of the GTP is achieving
transformational change in all sectors of the economy so that Ethiopia will attain the lower
middle-income country status in 2025 (National Plan Commission, 2015).

The Ethiopian Livestock Master Plan (LMP)

The LMP is developed as a road map for the growth and transformation of the livestock sector.
It is based on a comprehensive analysis of the sector, intending to produce export surplus of

31
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

livestock commodities mainly focusing on cattle (dairy, red meat/milk and feedlot systems)
and poultry development. Promoting large-scale intensive poultry system and substituting
scavenging family poultry production with small-scale intensive and semi-intensive family
poultry systems are the key elements of the poultry development agenda stipulated in the
LMP.
The LMP is produced in the context of the GTP and advises what can and needs to be
accomplished to develop the livestock sector, along with action plans and 'Roadmaps'
(outlining how it can be achieved). The LMP also intends to inform Government of Ethiopia
policymakers, as well as development investors involved in livestock development, on the
current status of the livestock sector and the future potential of priority investment options
for poverty reduction and economic growth (Shapiro et al., 2015).

Trade policy
The trade policy generally follows the export oriented economic growth policy of the country.
As a result, the government encourages foreign direct investment as well as local investment
to involve in export trade. Currently a wide range of incentive packages are set in place to
motivate export.

Road maps, strategies and legislations

Some of the most important policy tools relevant to poultry sector development are listed
below:
 The poultry development road map;
 Veterinary rationalization road map;
 Legislation for regulation of veterinary drugs and animal feeds administration and
control; and
 Livestock and fisheries research strategies (2016–2030).

3.3.2. Producer organizations

There are tens of thousands of primary cooperatives and thousands of cooperative unions in
the agricultural sector throughout the country. However, the overwhelming majority of these
cooperatives and unions are related to crop production and marketing. Insignificant numbers
of producer organizations exist in the livestock sector and almost none exist in poultry.
A limited number of cooperatives have been organized in feed processing. In the SNNPR, there
are six cooperatives that established feed mills and started supplying feed mixes for chicken
and other livestock species. About the same number operate in the three other major regional
states, Oromia, Tigray and Amhara. The Ethiopian Poultry Producers and Processors
Association (EPPPA) was established as part of the Dutch support for the Ethiopian poultry
sector. However, EPPPA has not been very active since its establishment and its contribution
to the poultry sector has been negligible. The Ethiopian Animal Feed Industries Association is
relatively more active although its roles and impacts on the feed sector are not clearly visible.

32
4. Sustainable development of the poultry sector:
Status and prospects
The development of the poultry sector should be viewed in the context of addressing the
entire value chain. Engaging and mobilizing the multiple array of actors, both public and
private, involved in the value chain is critical in order to address the many issues involved in
developing the sector.
The first section presents the current strengths and weaknesses in both the large- and
medium-scale intensive systems and the family poultry production systems in terms of
technical performance, feed availability and quality and marketing of products and inputs. The
section on poultry development includes a brief assessment of the country’s past poultry
development strategies and provides information on some of the major projects (ongoing and
recently completed) in poultry research and development. Finally, the future prospects of the
poultry sector are highlighted based on the existing challenges and emerging opportunities.

4.1. CURRENT ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

OF THE POULTRY SECTOR

4.1.1. Strengths and weaknesses in production, inputs, etc.

Strengths
 Poultry keeping is widely known and practiced.
 Poultry is a source of income for rural people (especially women).
 Increased recognition of poultry production as a business and employment
opportunity for the youth and women, both in rural and urban areas.
 Poultry is a great avenue to empower rural women.
 Ethiopia has conducive climatic conditions.
 No HPAI outbreaks in the country.
 Increasing production of agricultural commodities particularly cereals and oil seeds.
 Rapidly growing number of agro-processing industries.

Weaknesses
 Irregular supply of day old chicks (irregular supply from abroad, low national
production).
 Lack of proper recognition and support for women in the sector.
 Lack of quality feed and poor enforcement of quality control regulations.
 No local production of premixes.
 No domestic production of veterinary drugs (except for some vaccines produced by
NVI).

33
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

 Limited access to services (extension support, finance, etc.) and supplies.

 Lack of facilities for processing, storage and transportation.
 Poor hatching conditions and management.
 Shortage of trained workers.
 No veterinary monitoring.
 Poor farm management leading to high morbidity and mortality.
 Lack of knowledge of management factors (health care, feeding, growing chicks).
 Lack of knowledge of regulations and requirements for getting a loan to invest (mainly
local large-scale intensive producers).
 Extended government bureaucracies for licensing new investments and facilitating
land acquisitions (mainly foreign industrial and integrated/large-scale intensive
producers).

4.1.2. Strengths and weaknesses in marketing and trade

Strengths
 No cultural taboos in the consumption of poultry products.
 Increasing coverage of mobile communications and rural road access.
 Investment opportunities exist.
 Growing per capita income.
 Increasing urbanization.
 Existence and expansion of large number of full boarding public universities and
colleges, and other institutions such as hospitals.

Weaknesses
 No consumption of poultry products by Orthodox Christians for a prolonged period of
time every year due to religious reasons (fasting).
 Lack of marketing options and market access.
 No reliable statistics and market information on poultry production and demand.
 Lack of competition in the value chain (monopoly position of some big farms).
 Inadequate infrastructure to transport fresh broiler meat to the market.
 Commercial poultry production is concentrated in a few poultry hubs, increasing the
risk of disease spreading.
 Low level of product differentiation of broiler meat.
 Preferences for indigenous poultry products.

34
Sustainable development of the poultry sector: Status and prospects

4.2. POULTRY DEVELOPMENT

4.2.1. Past poultry development strategies

So far, extension support for developing intensive poultry production systems (from large- to
small-scale) has not been carried out in Ethiopia. With the exception of the very limited
interventions initiated at the beginning of the GTP II period (2016) to support semi-intensive
family poultry production systems, the extensive scavenging family poultry system has been
the sole beneficiary of government extension services and technical support.

In the past decades, considerable attempts were made to improve the productivity of
extensive scavenging and small-extensive scavenging family poultry. Nearly all of these
attempts focused on improving the poor production performance of indigenous chickens
through replacement with exotic breeds. The extension schemes largely constituted in the
distribution of pullets at point of lay (usually from 5–10 per household). Other inputs and
services such as feed, veterinary services and training on improved management practices
were not part of the package. As a result, the birds did not survive the challenges of the
scavenging environment.

In the 1980s, the MoA initiated a cockerel distribution scheme. This involved importation and
distribution of exotic breeds of cockerels to be used as breeding males in villages. The cockerel
distribution scheme failed because farmers were unwilling to remove their indigenous cocks
and the exotic cocks failed to adapt to the environments.

During the late 1990s, the Ministry of Agriculture developed a new set of packages intending
to address the extensive and small-extensive scavenging, semi-intensive and small-scale
intensive family poultry production systems. The packages presented a number of alternative
intervention schemes suiting the needs of different systems. It also attempted to integrate
different actors in the system from input supply to marketing and provision of credit services.
However, no part of these packages was implemented. The distribution of varying numbers of
exotic breeds (ranging from 15–25 hens) was the sole practice followed to improve the
productivity of the family poultry production systems.

Over the past couple of years, small and micro enterprises (SMEs) have become involved in
DOC growing and other specialized activities related to poultry production. This has occurred
as part of the country's initiative to expand employment opportunities for youth and women
around towns and cities. This scheme consists of a contractual arrangement with large private
poultry companies that supply vaccinated DOCs and feed to raise the chickens until 45 days of
age with technical backstopping of the government extension services. The 45-day old
chickens are eventually distributed chiefly to the scavenging family poultry producers through
the extension system. Although lack of adequate extension support and poor market linkages
challenged the scheme it seems to hold a promising future.

The other notable strategy for developing the sector is probably the plan of the Ethiopian
Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) initiated in the middle of the GTP II period (2016–
2020) which aims to transform the scavenging family poultry systems into semi-intensive
family poultry production systems in selected poultry commercialization clusters located in
the SNNPR, Oromia, Amhara and Tigray regions.

35
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

The poultry sector did not have a clear roadmap guiding its development until the recent
production of the LMP (Shapiro et al., 2015). The poultry development road map was prepared
in the context of the country's growth and transformation plan (GTP II, 2016–2020) and its
subsequent phases projected until 2030. The MoA is expected to release the final version of
this document. The EIAR has also developed a comprehensive research strategy for the
coming 15 years – 2016–2030 (EIAR, 2017) – to support the development goals anticipated in
the poultry sector. The other important recent initiative of the MoA relates to improving the
existing poor veterinary services through privatizing the delivery of veterinary clinical services
and upgrading the public veterinary services. To this end, the Ministry developed the
veterinary rationalization road map which is expected to be implemented soon.

4.2.2. Major ongoing and recently closed projects

Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) II
Implementing The World Bank and the Government of Ethiopia
agency
Duration 2016–2020
Geographical Oromia, Amhara, Tigray and the SNNPR
area
Beneficiaries Hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in 150 weredas/districts
Brief The objective of the AGP for Ethiopia is to increase agricultural productivity
description and market access for key crop and livestock products in targeted
weredas/districts with increased participation of women and youth. After
the official phasing out of the first term, the second phase (AGP-II) was
launched on 14 November 2015 to run from 2016 to 2020 as an official
support program for the implementation of the second GTP (GTP-II) of the
Ethiopian Government. The additional features in the AGP-II are that it
increased the number of target weredas/districts from 96 to 150, identified
strategic commodities for intervention (including poultry among the high
priority commodities) and extended significant support to enhancing the
extension system, technology generation, multiplication and transfer and
building capacity of agricultural research centres and extension services.

African Chicken Genetic Gains (ACGG) project

Implementing International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

agency
Duration 5 years (2014–2019)
Geographical Three African countries: Ethiopia, Tanzania and Nigeria. In Ethiopia the
area project focuses on the four major poultry producing regions (Oromia,
SNNPR, Tigray and Amhara) and, in and around, Addis Ababa
Beneficiaries Smallholder farmers

36
Sustainable development of the poultry sector: Status and prospects

Brief The program aims to improve chicken genetics and delivery of adapted
description
chicken breeds to support poverty reduction, productivity growth, increased
household animal protein intake, and the empowerment of women in rural
communities.

Feed Enhancement for the Ethiopian Development (FEED II) project

Implementing ACDI-VOCA
agency
Duration 3 years
Geographical Oromia, SNNPR, Tigray and Amhara regions
area
Beneficiaries Smallholder farmers and Farmers' Cooperative Unions
Brief ACDI-VOCA implements USDA's Feed Enhancement for the Ethiopian
description Development (FEED II) project. Building on the progresses achieved during
FEED I, The project aims to increase livestock and poultry productivity by
developing the animal feeds sector. It mainly targets to (i) develop the feed
ingredients supply chain and service delivery; (ii) develop feed
manufacturing enterprises; (iii) develop a sustainable forage production
system; (iv) introduce and expand feedlot, poultry and dairy enterprises; and
(v) promote on-farm feeding practices.

Ethiopian-Dutch poultry sector relations

Implementing The Dutch poultry sector

agency
Duration Long term, since 1990
Geographical Mainly large-scale intensive poultry producing areas of Ethiopia
area
Beneficiaries The poultry sector, large-scale intensive poultry producers and the Ethiopian
Poultry Producers' and Processors Association
Brief The Dutch poultry sector has been involved in the Ethiopian poultry sector
description since 1990. Through this relationship a large-scale integrated farm was
established which contributed significantly to the local poultry development.
It supported establishment of a small-scale intensive poultry farm named
Alema Farms which has later become one of the largest poultry integrators
in the country. Since 2008, Dutch support in the poultry sector expanded
further giving rise to the establishment of the Ethiopian Poultry Producers
and Processors Association. In 2011, a mission of a large group of Dutch
companies created momentum for a more extensive engagement and
establishment of the Holland-Africa Poultry Partners (HAPP) consortium.

37
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

4.3. PROSPECTS OF THE POULTRY SECTOR – OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

4.3.1. Prospects of the poultry sector

Ethiopia aims to reach a lower-middle-income status by 2025. The likelihood of success
appears to be high given the sustained close to double digit economic growth the country
achieved during the past decade. Currently, around 20 percent of the population lives in urban
cities, and a rapid rise is expected in urban population and income in the coming years,
indicating a rising number of consumers.
During the first five years of GTP I (2010–2015), productivity of the main crops grown in
Ethiopia (particularly cereals) has increased at a rate of over 6 percent annually (National Plan
Commission, 2015). This growth is expected to continue due to the increasing use of modern
agricultural technologies by farmers, application of improved production practices and
increased market access. The area coverage and total output of oil seed crops is also increasing
rapidly. At the same time, agro-industrial parks are emerging in all parts of the country.
Construction of several agro-industrial parks is underway since 2016. Efforts to discourage
export of raw agricultural commodities are stronger than ever before. As a result of these
developments, a significant rise in the supply of feed ingredients is expected and the poultry
sector would be the major beneficiary.
In 2011, Ethiopia has launched a strategy to develop a climate resilient green economy (CRGE).
The CRGE has identified a set of strategic interventions towards developing a low carbon
emission economy. One of the interventions is a consistent and significant reduction of the
ruminant population and a shift away from red meat production. The country developed the
Livestock Master Plan (LMP) with the aim to (i) realize the stipulations in the CRGE, (ii) achieve
the goals set in the GTP (which is now in the second phase, 2016–2020), and (iii) meet the
existing huge gaps in the supply of livestock products (Shapiro et al., 2015). The LMP forecasts
the poultry sector to help close the total national meat production-consumption gap and
achieve the increase of the share of poultry meat consumption to total meat consumption. To
realize this, it plans to increase poultry meat production from 49 000 to 164 000 tonnes and
the number of eggs produced from 419 million to 3.9 billion between 2015 and 2020. Although
the plan seems to be overambitious and the accuracy of the base line statistics appears to be
unreliable (particularly in reference to the figures reported by the CSA and FAOSTAT) the
prospects for future development of the poultry sector are apparent from the strong
recognition and policy support accorded to the sector by the government.
The LMP envisions achieving this ambitious plan through transforming the structure of the
poultry sector. The LMP plan aims to cut the contribution of the extensive scavenging and
small-extensive scavenging family poultry systems to poultry meat and egg production by
41 percent by 2020 and increase poultry meat and egg production from the small-scale
intensive and semi-intensive family poultry by 251 and 246 percent, respectively, in the same
time period. The targets for the large-scale intensive production are even more ambitious: to
increase poultry meat production by 32 000 percent and table egg production by 10 314
38
Sustainable development of the poultry sector: Status and prospects

percent in year 2020. Considering these ambitious plans for growing the large-scale intensive
poultry system and the small-scale intensive and semi-intensive family poultry production the
prospects for new investments in commercial poultry development are tremendous.

Prospects of commercial poultry development

The prospects for the future growth of commercial poultry in Ethiopia is high, with an average
poultry meat consumption of about 0.66 kg per capita compared with about 1.64 kg in East
Africa and around 6.73 kg in Africa (FAOSTAT, 2018). Firstly, Ethiopia could and should be
considered as a logical expansion and or potentially a breeding hub in and for East Africa
especially given its fast growing economy, urbanization, population and growing domestic
demand for poultry meat as a more sustainable and cheaper source of protein.
Forecasts indicate the Ethiopian poultry sector is expected to grow annually by between 6–10
percent until 2025. According to a report produced in 2015 by Wageningen UR Livestock
Research, NABC and Agri-Business Support facility on the Ethiopia poultry sector,
opportunities in Ethiopia are almost endless and one of the promising areas is the agro-sector
of Poultry. Ethiopia is now going through constant multifaceted economic growth and
transformation. The country’s improved economic infrastructure, abundant and affordable
labour along with its excellent climate and fertile soil remains Ethiopia’s comparative
advantage attracting investors.
Investors in Ethiopia are provided with various incentives depending on the sectors such as
custom duty payment exemptions on capital goods and construction materials, and income
tax exemptions from two to seven years and carry forward losses. Similarly, several export
incentives have been put in place to encourage investors looking for export opportunities.
Ethiopia has investment protection schemes through its Investment Code that protects
private property, and repatriation of capital and profit. More importantly, the government
guarantees constitutional protection from expropriation. For those companies considering
using Ethiopia as a spring board to other African markets, Ethiopia is a signatory to several
International Investment agreements such as the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
(MIGA), Bilateral Investment Promotion & Protection Treaties (BIPPT), and the International
Convention for the Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID). Equally, Ethiopian products have
duty-free access to the US and EU markets. The aforementioned points provide positive and
important information for any company considering investing in the poultry sector in Ethiopia.
However, there are some negatives. Current import regulations regarding the registration and
importation of vaccines and additives pose significant danger to flock health and ultimately to
the profitability of a poultry breeding or broiler growing company. Labour whilst low cost and
abundant lacks the necessary skills and therefore requires training and education.
If the poultry industry is to continue to grow and meet the increasing demand for poultry meat
either fresh or frozen then a significant investment in cold chain is required. Expansion in the
poultry sector will require a significant increase in the current number of hatcheries and feed

39
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

mills quickly followed by additional poultry processing facilities for broiler meat production.
To aid in the shift away from the current reliance on imported hatching eggs and day old
chicks, more local parent and Grand Parent stock farms are needed.
So far, as poultry feed ingredients are concerned, Ethiopia has a huge production of maize
with a significantly lower production of Soybeans both of which are the most important
ingredients in chicken feed production. Maize inclusion rate in breeder feed formulations is
60–70 percent and soybean meal 9–21 percent, depending on the use of other raw materials
such as sun flower meal, wheat bran, and maize gluten meal.
According to a 2017 presentation by Nan-Dirk Mulder, Senior Animal Protein Analyst at
Rabobank, Ethiopia is currently utilising around 15 million hectares of farm land for production
with a potential to expand by another 5 million hectares. Therefore, there is a huge
opportunity to increase production.
Similar to other African countries, Ethiopia's crop yields are low at around 15 percent when
compared to US and EU who achieve on average yield of 60 percent. So by using more stable
and homogenous quality and supply of feed grains, this should lead to increased yield and
more efficient supply.
One of the most exciting pieces of news for the Ethiopia poultry sector is the recent
announcement by Nutropia that it will initially invest capital of 20 million euros to build a new
farm. The first stage will consist of hatchery, a broiler farm and a primary processing plant
capable of producing 4 700 tonnes of poultry meat annually. Once completed, it will also have
parent stock rearing and production farms.
Other major African poultry companies are also setting up poultry operations in Ethiopia. The
Wadi Group, based in Egypt, are one of the largest poultry integration companies in Egypt
placing around 4 million parents annually. They also have well established and successful
poultry integrations in Lebanon and Sudan. In general, the commercial poultry sector of
Ethiopia has positive prospects.

4.3.2. Opportunities and challenges of the poultry sector

Opportunities
 Export opportunities to the Middle East by employing 'halal' slaughtering practices
(although: competition from Brazil).
 Tremendous opportunities for empowering rural women.
 Growing production of feed ingredients in the country.
 Large and growing domestic (urban) market.
 Good feed conversion as compared to beef (in intensive production).
 Growing number of bulk consumers (hotels, restaurants, universities, colleges,
hospitals, etc.) purchasing broiler meat and table eggs from exotic chicken breeds.

40
Sustainable development of the poultry sector: Status and prospects

 Support and attention from (business) development programs, both national and
international.
 Current farms can potentially gain huge increases in efficiency and output by applying
simple management practices and measures.
 The Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute is undertaking a breeding program to
improve productivity of indigenous chicken and also searching for exotic chicken
breeds suitable to the local situation.
 Broad outreach to rural farmers through development agents of the extension system
for enhancing employment opportunities for women and youth.

Challenges
 Poorly functioning farmers' organizations.
 Most potential investors tend to be risk averse and incline towards adopting short term
investment strategies (potential investors are unlikely to make large long-term
financial investments unless they can achieve an adequate return on their investment).
 Low level of education among primary producers.
 Lack of feed quality control.
 Inadequate availability of credit services.
 Inadequate availability of water and electricity.
 Poor coordination in the value chains: links among input suppliers, service providers,
producers, and actors in the marketing channel are poorly coordinated.
 Fluctuation in demand (especially as demand declines drastically during the Orthodox
Christians' fasting periods).

4.3.3. The way forward

Ethiopia has plans for transforming its poultry sector by promoting the active engagement of
actors in the public and private sectors. The roles of both the public and private sectors need
to be clearly defined within the context of the poultry value chain. The MoA is the apex
government body responsible of developing supportive policy guidelines and designing
appropriate implementation strategies and intervention schemes. Despite the irregularities in
enforcement, most of the existing policy tools and strategies for development of the national
poultry sector are favourable. Strategic measures should be taken towards investing on
women-led poultry businesses for the far reaching positive impacts that this has on
communities, nutrition and livelihood options.

41
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

In addition to supporting the existing systems and dealing with the emerging systemic
bottlenecks, the MoA should consider three main sets of issues when making interventions
for the sustainable intensification of the poultry sector (Precise Consult International, 2015):
1) Integrated/systemic change approach
Interventions should be designed in such a way as to realize systemic changes in the poultry
value chain. To this end, a ‘Complete Package Approach’ addressing the following seven
elements should be adopted.
i. Market
 Need to commercialize the family rural poultry value chains.
 Activities in the value chain should be market oriented.
ii. Health (focused on disease prevention rather than cure)
 Carry out planned vaccination programmes and improve veterinary service
delivery systems at farmer level.
 Undertake regular disease surveillance.
 Build diagnostic capacity at regional and national level.
 Enforce existing quality control regulations for vet drugs and animal feed.
 Institute biosecurity measures at different levels.
 Improve poultry housing through the provision of separate houses for poultry
under extensive and small-extensive scavenging systems and improve housing
conditions for small-scale intensive and semi-intensive poultry systems.
iii. Feed (must be affordable, available and of good quality)
 Increase feed production and distribution significantly.
 Ensure adequate availability of major feed ingredients (e.g. maize, soybean,
premixes).
 Support potential producers of feed and inputs.
 Promote feed efficiency through the reduction of duty (currently 53 percent)
on imported feed mill ingredients.
iv. Breeds
 Ensure supply of breeds that adapt to local environments and are disease
resistant/tolerant and productive.
 Capacitate public and private sector (including research and development
institutions) for breeding and multiplying appropriate chicken breeds.
v. Knowledge/skills trainings (technology transfer) – Extension system
 Efficiently deliver complete packages of inputs and services.
 Identify and address capacity gaps in the value chain actors.
vi. Business support services (historical deficit of SMEs and entrepreneurial farmers)
 Assess feasibility/profitability/sustainability of business support services.
 Design and implement SME development packages (business skills,
marketing, etc.).
 Design and implement interventions targeting women and youth.
 Develop business models.
42
Sustainable development of the poultry sector: Status and prospects

 Promote ICT usage (especially the mobile platform holds much promise).
 Promote and encourage value addition: processing plants, hygienic
processing, dressing, and packaging.
 Re-visit taxation system (VAT exemptions, TIN requirements).
 Engage and support farmer organizations.
vii. Financing (conventional financing difficult for most investors)
 Expand microfinance institutions (small farmers, SMEs).
 Set up grants (for innovators).
 Support investment promotion and joint ventures.
2) Getting the economics right
Poultry value chain actors should be capacitated and incentivized through the following
actions:
 Ensure that farmers can earn profit from the operations they are involved in.
 Capacitate and support the DA (Development/Extension Agent) system.
 Ensure attractive business cases for feed producers, distributors, traders,
transporters, input providers, processors, retailers, restaurants, kiosks, etc.
 Public – Private pivot must be found and delicately balanced.
 Satisfy consumer preferences.
 Identify and meet capacity gaps at all levels of the poultry value chain.
3) Active market development
 Ensure an early focus on markets, given ambitious supply of development
targets.
 Support activities such as: cuisine development (potential for further job
creation for SMEs), fast foods, franchise models possibly working with
processors, institutional buyers (including universities), supermarkets/kiosks,
and promotional campaigns.

43
5. Appendix
APPENDIX 1. CLASSIFICATION OF POULTRY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
Industrial and Family poultry production systems
integrated /
medium- and Small-scale Extensive Small-extensive
Semi-intensive
large-scale intensive scavenging scavenging
intensive
Peri-urban
areas; near Peri-urban areas; near smaller Everywhere. Dominates in rural
Location
capital and towns areas
major cities
Mixed, poultry
Production/farming Usually Mixed, livestock
Poultry only Poultry only and crops,
system poultry only and crop
often landless
Other livestock
No No Sometimes Usually Rarely
raised
Flock size (adult > 1 000 broilers > 200 broilers
50–200 5–50 1–5
birds) > 500 layers > 100 layers
Yes (export and Yes (urban Yes (urban
Access to markets Limited (rural) Rarely (rural)
urban) and rural) and rural)
Yes; Seldom;
Yes; Yes;
conventional Sometimes; usually made
conventional conventional
materials; usually made from local
Poultry housing materials; materials;
houses of from local materials or
good-quality good-quality
variable materials kept in the
houses houses
qualities house
Commercial, Indigenous or
Indigenous or
Poultry breeds Commercial Commercial crossbred or rarely
crossbred
indigenous crossbred
Commercial
Commercial Commercial
Source of new day-old chicks Natural Natural
day-old chicks day-old chicks
chicks or natural incubation incubation
or pullets or pullets
incubation
Scavenging, Scavenging, Scavenging,
Commercial
Commercial regular occasional almost no
Source of feed balanced
balanced ration supplementati supplementatio supplementati
ration
on n on
Access to vet
services and
Yes Yes Yes Sometimes Rarely
veterinary
pharmaceuticals
Access to
conventional cold Yes Yes Yes Rarely No
chain
Low to Medium to
Low to medium Very high
Poultry mortality medium high 20 to Very high >70 %
< 20 % >70 %
< 20 % > 50 %
Food security of
High Ok Ok From ok to bad From ok to bad
owner
Sources: Adapted from FAO, 2014 and FAO biosecurity classification

44
Appendix

APPENDIX 2. KEY SECTOR STAKEHOLDERS

Ministry of Agriculture
Government Ministry responsible for designing and implementing policies and strategies for
developing the national livestock sector. It develops the national livestock development plan
and oversees and leads it implementation through the Bureaus and Agencies of Livestock in
the regional states. The Ministry is also responsible for developing policies and legislations on
marketing and trade of livestock and livestock products, inputs and services.

Veterinary Drugs and Feeds Administration and Control Authority

The agency is in charge of administering and controlling the quality and safety of veterinary
drugs and animal feeds in the country.

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research

Undertakes, coordinates and leads the national research in agriculture including research in
livestock and poultry. The institute is responsible for availing agricultural and poultry
technologies suitable for producers at different levels and agro-ecologies.

National Veterinary Institute

The National Veterinary Institute is the only institution involved in the production of vaccines
for livestock and poultry diseases in the country. It also provides feed analyses services.
However, it does not produce vaccines for large-scale intensive poultry production.

Agricultural Transformation Agency

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency is established to promote transformation
of the agricultural sector by supporting existing structures of the government, private sector
and other non-governmental partners to address systemic bottlenecks in the system. It works
to deliver on the growth and transformation agenda in the agricultural sector.

National Animal Health Diagnostic and Investigation Centre

It is the most important veterinary laboratory in Ethiopia owned by the state. It works as the
centre of excellence for animal disease surveillance, investigation, diagnosis and veterinary
research. The investigation centre has implemented ISO/IEC 17025–2005 in three laboratories
and six tests have been accredited so far.

National Animal Genetics Improvement Institute (NAGII)

It is responsible for genetic improvement and dissemination of improved genetics of livestock
in Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Animal Feed Industries Association

The association of feed milling enterprises in the country.

45
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

Ethiopian Poultry Producers and Processors Association

Association of private poultry producers in the country.

International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

A member of the CGIAR group with global mandate for research in livestock, with particular
emphasis on smallholder livestock production. Its headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya.

46
6. Bibliography
Ayele, G. & Rich, K.M. 2010. Poultry value chains and HPAI in Ethiopia. HPAI pro-poor HPAI
risk reduction. Africa/Indonesia Team Working Paper 25.
Boere, A., Vernooij, A., Duns, H., Mebratu, L. & Dawit, K. 2015. Business opportunities
Report. Poultry #3, in the series written for the Ethiopian-Netherlands business
event, 5–6 November 2015, the Netherlands.
CSA (Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia). 2007. Population and Housing Census of 2007.
Addis Ababa.
CSA. 2015a. Report on livestock and livestock characteristics, Agricultural Sample Survey
2014/15 (2007 E.C.). Statistical Bulletin No. 578, Vol. II. Addis Ababa.
CSA. 2015b. Report on area and production of crops, Agricultural Sample Survey: Time series
data for national and regional level from 1995/96 to 2014/15. Addis Ababa.
CSA. 2016. Report on livestock and livestock characteristics, Agricultural Sample Survey
2015/16 (2008 E.C.). Statistical bulletin No. 583, Vol II. Addis Ababa.
CSA. 2017. Report on livestock and livestock characteristics, Agricultural Sample Survey
2016/17 (2009 E.C.). Statistical Bulletin No.585, Vol. II. Addis Ababa.
Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Centre (DZARC). 1984. Annual Report. Debre Zeit, Ethiopia.
Desalegn, J. 2015. Epidemiology of village chicken diseases: A longitudinal study on the
magnitude and determinants of morbidity and mortality- The case of Newcastle and
infectious bursal disease. MSc Thesis, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS). 2017. FAO, Rome.
[Link]
Ethiopia's Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE). 2011. Green Economy Strategy. Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. 199 pp.
Emebet, M. 2015. Phenotypic and genetic characterization of indigenous chicken in
southwest Shoa and Gurage zones of Ethiopia. PhD Thesis, Addis Ababa University,
Ethiopia.
FAO. 2014. Family poultry development − Issues, opportunities and constraints. Animal
Production and Health Working Paper. No. 12. Rome.
FAOSTAT. 2018. FAO online statistical database. Rome. [Link]
Gebremedhin, B., Tesema, E., Tegegne, A., Hoekstra, D. & Nicola, S. [Link] chain
opportunities for women and young people in livestock production in Ethiopia:
Lessons learned. Lives Working Paper. No. 24. International Livestock Research
Institute (ILRI). Nairobi.
[Link]
sequence=1&isAllowed=y

47
 Poultry sector review: Ethiopia

Halima, H. 2007. Phenotypic and genetic characterization of indigenous chicken populations

in Northwest Ethiopia. PhD Thesis, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South
Africa.
International Labour Organization (ILO). 2018. ILOSTAT [online]. [Cited 22 march 2018]
[Link]
Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MoANR) & International Livestock Research
Institute (ILRI). 2014. The Ethiopian livestock sector: Role, constraints and
opportunities towards a strategy and action plan (pdf). Ministry of Agriculture and
Natural Resources and International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia.
Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation (MoFEC). 2018. Estimates of GDP and other
related macroeconomic indicators- Ethiopia 2006 (2013–14 EFY). Ministry of Finance
and Economic Cooperation, Addis Ababa. [online]. [Cited 21 June 2018].
[Link]
National Plan Commission. 2015. The second growth and transformation plan. The Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 191 pp. (Amharic).
Nigussie, D. 2011. Breeding programs for indigenous chicken in Ethiopia: analysis of diversity
in production systems and chicken population. PhD thesis. Wageningen University,
the Netherlands. 148 pp.
Ntsefong, G.N., Shariati, M.A., Khan, M.U. & Hristova, V.K. 2017. Incidence of avian flu
shocks on poor household livelihoods of poultry farmers in Africa. Int. J. Avian and
Wildlife Biol., 2(1): 00008. DOI:10.15406/ijawb.2017.02.00008.
OIE. 2017. OIE-listed diseases, infections and infestations in force in 2017. [update: 1 January
2017] [Link]
Precise Consult International. 2015. Analysis of the backyard chicken meat and eggs value
chain in Ethiopia. A report submitted to the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation
Agency. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 100 pp.
Seyoum, B. forthcoming. The status of commercial feed sub sector in Ethiopia 2017. Feed
Bulletin, 007. Ethiopian Animal Feed Industry Association, Addis Ababa.
Shapiro, B.I., Gebru, G., Desta, S., Negassa, A., Nigussie, K., Aboset, G. & Mechal, H. 2015.
Ethiopia livestock master plan. ILRI Project Report. Nairobi, Kenya: International
Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
Tadelle, D. 2003. Phenotypic and genetic characterization of local chicken ecotypes in
Ethiopia. PhD thesis. Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, 299 pp.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (UNDESA).
2017. World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision. Custom data acquired via
website
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2016. Human development index.
[Link]

48