Ethiopian Meat and Dairy Industry Development Institute (EMDIDI)
The level of industrialization of agro- processing in the country is very low, with the share of manufacturing sectors accounting for less than five percent of the Growth Domestic products (GDP) in the past decades. In an effort to turn this growth pattern and realizing the vision of the government for the manufacturing sector, it is given great attention and priority for the agro- processing sector and established EMDIDI with the main objectives of meat and dairy sector development and competitiveness of the sector in the global arena by council of Ministers Regulation No 295/2013.
The Ethiopian Meat and Dairy industry is relatively a younger industry with no more than 40 years of involvement in processing milk and milk products, in exporting meat, honey and wax. The first company that started processing milk and milk products, and the first abattoir that began exporting meat was Hashim export Abattoir the meat and dairy both base themselves on the country’s livestock resources. Indeed Ethiopia possesses one of the world largest livestock populations of which 56.71 million cattle population that makes the country stand or rank first in Africa and 6th in the world,29.33 million sheep population which makes 3rd in Africa and 10th in the world and 29.11 million goats population which makes again 3rd in Africa and 8th in the world,2.03 million of horse,7.43 millions of donkeys,0.4 millions of mules,1.16 million of camel and lastly 56.87 poultry population that includes(cocks, cockerels, pullets, laying hens, non-laying hens and chicks) and 10 millions of bee colonies that make Ethiopia to stand 1st in Africa and 9th in the world. All these data indicates that Ethiopia is rich in its livestock population although a very little of its livestock population is used to contribute their share for many years. But currently the government is highly committed to make use of all these livestock population.
Current status of the Dairy Industry-there are more than 44 dairy processing companies located in different part of the country of which one is the company that processes Camel milk and export to the neighboring countries such as Djibouti Somali land and others. The processors are processing different kinds of milk and milk products and provide them all to the local market. But it is believed that most of these companies should move forward in capacitating themselves and enter the global market with competitive products both in quality and quantity. This industry is relatively, having a better position due to mature in its age and huge investment. The dairy industry is the sector with the highest degree of protection due to the economical vulnerability position of small milk producers. Milk – also known as white gold – can be used to make an enormous variety of high quality products.
The dairy industry involves processing raw milk into products such as consumer milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, condensed milk, dried milk (milk powder), and ice cream, using processes such as chilling, pasteurization, and homogenization. Ethiopia holds large potential for dairy development. In addition, the country enjoys diverse topographic and climatic conditions favorable for dairying. These consist of a high central plateau ranging from 1,800 to 3,000 meters above sea level, a rift valley that divides the country from north to south with altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 1,800 meters above sea level and lowland plain areas of less than 1,000 meters above sea level in altitude. Depending on the altitude difference, temperature ranges from less than 100 Cc in alpine areas to 350Cc and more in lowland areas. Moreover, rainfall in most of the country is adequate for crop and pasture production. The favorable climate throughout the country supports use of improved, high-yielding animal breeds and offers a relatively disease-free environment for livestock development. Given the high potential for dairy development and the ongoing policy reforms and technological interventions, success similar to that realized in the neighboring Kenya under a very similar production environment is expected in Ethiopia.
The Meat Industry-it is a stage of development in the country in which there was only one company exporting meat to the global market especially to the Middle East and some African countries before 1990? But currently there are 10 export abattoirs exporting mainly and goats’ meat and four export abattoirs are to enter the global markets and these increase the number of export abattoirs from10 to 14 export abattoirs to 11 in 2015/16.This in turn improves the amount of exported meat in quantity, value job opportunity and in addition the currency earned from this sub sector and the amount of exported meat. Ethiopia has a number of livestock value chain market opportunities that if realized will power the growth of the livestock industry and value chain as well as the overall economy.
The Feed Industry– there is about (6) feed industry in Ethiopia processing different feed products. Of course it is believed that and concrete data indicates that this sub sector in potentially untouched and it is a sub sector which may allow huge investment since the country stands first in its cattle population from African and 6th in the world. This sub sector may be the youngest sector of all the industries under our institute.
The honey and wax industry- flora resources base for large honey production. The number of bee colonies is also believed to be large. A strategic plan of the Ministry of Agriculture for the next ten years envisages that export of honey and beeswax would be increased to 40% and 50% of the total production.
Ethiopian honey is also considered to be organic as the bee forage are forests and plants grown without the use of chemicals. This would mean that chemical residue would be small in the Ethiopia honey, which is one of the quality criteria for a good table of honey . Currently there are 31 companies which process honey and there are 32 companies for honey production and out of these some of them do produce wax.
