Dairy Production and Milk Consumption in Pastoral Areas of Ethiopia

Dairying is one of the livestock production systems practiced in almost all over the world including Ethiopia, involving a vast number of small, medium, or large sized, subsistence or market-oriented farms. Pastoral communities are acutely aware of the nutritional value of milk. In pastoral area, milk from camels and goats, is the most beneficial for children’s overall health, strength and growth. In the wet season, milk consumed by pastoral children can account for 67% of the mean daily energy they require and 100 % of their protein requirements. However, due to lack of availability and access to milk in the dry season, daily milk consumption decreases in pastoral areas. In view of such a large number of dairy cows and the important number of producers engaged in the dairy sector, the development efforts so far made have not brought a significant impact on the growth of the sector. The milk marketing system is not-well developed giving the large majority of smallholder milk producers, limited access to the market. In most of the cases, existing dairy cooperatives are operating in areas that are accessible to transportation and markets. This means that a substantial amount of milk does not reach to markets and a number of producers keep on producing at a subsistence level. Therefore, this review focuses on the dairy production and milk consumption practices in pastoral areas of Ethiopia.

Keywords: Pastoral communities; Milk; Dairy cows