This working paper from the Improving the Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian Farmers (IPMS) project synthesizes project experiences with smallholder dairy production and marketing systems in Ethiopia.
Dairy production is an important component of livestock farming in Ethiopia. The huge and diverse livestock population, varied and favourable agro-ecology for dairying, increasing demand for dairy products in urban and peri-urban areas, long-standing culture of dairy products consumption, and favourable policy are indicators of the importance and potential of dairying in the country. However, productivity of dairy animals in general is limited. This results in shortage of supply of dairy products and requires the country to spend hard currency to import dairy products from abroad. This led to work by the IPMS project to undertake a series of studies to document the existing dairy production environment, analyse constraints of dairy production, identify opportunities for dairy development, and devise pertinent and workable strategies for sustainable market-oriented dairy development in the country.
This paper is a synthesis of these studies and includes a description and performance of the dairy production systems, marketing/processing and input and service supply systems. It also suggests ways forward for sustainable market-oriented dairy development in the country.
IPMS Ethiopia 