Review on the Challenges and Opportunities of Dairy Value Chain Development in Ethiopia

Dairying is one of the livestock productions practiced almost all over Ethiopia, involving a vast number of small, medium, or large-sized, subsistence or market-oriented farms. However, the structure and performance of dairy sectors and its products marketing both for domestic consumption and for export is generally perceived poor in Ethiopia due to different challenges. These challenges vary across different production system to another and/or from one location to another. Among other challenges seasonality of production, spoilage (lack of milk collecting facilities), poor animal health and management, inadequate supply of quality feed, low productivity and genetics ,quality problem, weak vertical integration, absence processing plant, inadequate permanent trade routes and other facilities like feeds, water, holding grounds, lack or non-provision of transport, lack of access to land, ineffectiveness and inadequate infrastructural and institutional set-ups, prevalence of diseases, lack of credit and inadequate market information are dominant in Ethiopia. Therefore, market infrastructure facilities, producers cooperative, feed quality and quantity provision system need to be strengthen for effective dairy value chain development