Ethiopia's animal resources could scale up economic growth: pastoralists

19 July, 2006

Pastoralists from various countries said Tuesday Ethiopia could further scale up its economic growth through proper utilization of its animal resources especially from the Borena zone of south Ethiopia's Oromia state.

Pastoralists, who gathered in an experience-sharing meeting, told journalists that the ongoing animal husbandry in Ethiopia would pull out the country's pastoralists from poverty.

Pastoralists from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, Peru, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, India and Argentina, among others, are attending the regional meeting of pastoralists in Borena.

The participants of the meeting pointed out that Ethiopia's cattle resource is unique from the cattle resource elsewhere in the world because it comprises a host of species.

The pastoralists commended the Ethiopian government for paying due attention to pastoralists' affairs and for establishing pastoralists' affairs standing committee in the federal parliament.

They said they have taken a good lesson from the Gada system, a traditional conflict resolution method among Oromia's pastoralists.

Ethiopia's pastoralists must in turn learn from others' experience about camel breeding, they said, adding that today camel breeding is advanced elsewhere in the world.

The pastoralists pledged to work jointly in many areas, particularly in finding market opportunities in the world animal market.

Ethiopia is claimed to have the largest livestock population in Africa. Livestock export is an important source of foreign exchange for the Horn of Africa country. The Ethiopian government has envisaged raising the annual meat export of the country to 30, 000 tons in the coming five years which stands at 10,000 tons at present.

Source: Xinhua