The Ethiopian Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries announced on Wednesday that it has finalized the construction of three livestock quarantines in a bid to boost exports revenue from the livestock sector. The reported 3 livestock quarantines, with a collective capacity to host over 42,000 export-ready cattle concurrently, have a combined construction cost of 210 million Ethiopian birr (close to 9.1 million U.S. dollars), according to Abrham Tesfaye, the Ministry’s public relation head. While the livestock sector is an important subdivision within the east African country’s economy in terms of its contributions to both agricultural value-added and national GDP, recent drought has wrecked havoc on Ethiopia’s cattle population. The east African country has recently launched livestock identification and traceability system. Figures from the Ethiopian government revealed that the east African country is home to one of the largest livestock populations in Africa, with approximately 50 million cattle, 50 million goats and sheep, and an additional assortment of horses, donkeys and camels.

Source: Ethiopian News August 10, 2017 02:48 UTC