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Introductio 2

The document provides background information on Ethiopia, including its government structure, population, economy, and agriculture sector. Agriculture is the foundation of Ethiopia's economy, employing 80-85% of the population and contributing 40% of GDP. Livestock production has expanded faster than agriculture overall in recent decades but domestic animals provide a disproportionately small contribution to income and food security due to challenges like disease and poor nutrition.

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Yeabsira Workagegnehu
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41 views2 pages

Introductio 2

The document provides background information on Ethiopia, including its government structure, population, economy, and agriculture sector. Agriculture is the foundation of Ethiopia's economy, employing 80-85% of the population and contributing 40% of GDP. Livestock production has expanded faster than agriculture overall in recent decades but domestic animals provide a disproportionately small contribution to income and food security due to challenges like disease and poor nutrition.

Uploaded by

Yeabsira Workagegnehu
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Introduction

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) was established on 21 August

1995. It comprises 11 Regional States or Administrative Areas having considerable

degrees of autonomy. The country covers 1,220,000 sq km and varies in altitude from

almost 120 m below sea level to over 4600 m above sea level, with much of the country

being above a nominal ‘highland line’ of 1500 m. The human population comprises

many ethnic groups speaking different languages or dialects and of various religious

persuasions. The number of people was estimated at more than 75 million in 2006

occupying the national territory at a density of 61.5 persons/sq km. Annual population

growth is 2.9%. In 2006 the rural population was equivalent to 84% of the total. Women

account for about 42% of the labour force. Infant mortality is 113 per thousand and life

expectancy at birth is 49 years with women having an advantage over men of about 3.2

years. Average income is US$ 91.37 per person per year. Poverty and malnutrition are

major challenges to the country which, with a UN Human Development Index of 0.414,

was ranked 171 of 182 world countries in 2007 (UNDP, 2009).

Agriculture is the cornerstone of the economy and about 80-85% of the Ethiopian

people are employed in the sector which contributes about 40% of total GDP. Within

agriculture some 60% of the output derives from crop production. Livestock and their

products (but notably excluding draught power and manure that contribute perhaps

almost 60% of the real gross value of livestock output) account for 30% of

agricultural GDP. Livestock production has expanded recently at a faster rate than

agriculture in general. In the early 1970s livestock contributed about 25% to

agricultural GDP but in the 1990s this had risen to about 33%. Domestic animals are

a major repository of national wealth but in relation to potential they make a

disproportionately small and disappointing addition to national income and to food


security. Livestock provide only 6% – less than 100 Kcals – of daily energy intake in

the human diet. Poor performance is attributable, inter alia, to most native livestock

resources being adapted to survival rather than to high production, a high disease

challenge, inferior nutrition, inadequate support services and mediocre management.

Poultry, especially in the small scale scavenging village context, can make considerable

contributions to poverty alleviation and in the supply of high quality protein. They have a

high reproduction rate per unit time, are efficient in transforming otherwise largely

unusable protein and energy into human food and require very little capital

investment. Poultry are kept by all strata of society from the landless rural poor to

the well off in the cities. Eggs and poultry meat are more readily available than many

other animal products and the small unit size does not require them to be stored or

preserved.

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