Embassy of the United States
Press Release
THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2007 Addis Ababa – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is pleased to announce the inauguration of the Andido Livestock Market completed under the Pastoralist Livelihoods Initiative (PLI) on July 14, 2007. The Andido market, located in Amibara Woreda of Afar Region, represents the first link in an improved “value chain” to improve livestock sector performance that will lead to economic benefits for pastoralists.
The inauguration ceremony, organized by ACDI/VOCA (formerly VOCA-Ethiopia) was attended by Glenn Anders, USAID Mission Director, as well officials of the Federal and Regional governments.
In October 2005, USAID launched the PLI project in Somali, Afar and Oromia Regions of Ethiopia to help pastoralist communities build more sustainable livelihoods and become less vulnerable to drought and other shocks. The livestock marketing component of PLI, implemented by ACDI/VOCA, seeks to strengthen Ethiopia’s livestock marketing system by increasing sales to high value domestic and export markets. An essential activity toward achieving this goal is to construct key livestock market facilities to reduce costs and improve pastoralists’ access to markets.
The market sites to be constructed were selected based on agreed criteria and through consultations with pastoralists, livestock traders, government officials and NGOs, as well as on recommendations from a value chain analysis conducted by ACDI/VOCA and other PLI partners. Factors taken into account include weekly volume of animals supplied to market, availability of water and feed resources in a given locality, alignment with the Ethiopian Livestock Development Master Plan and, most importantly, linkage to export markets.
The Andido market is one in a series of market sites to be constructed to boost pastoralists’ livelihoods with integrated services such as water, feed and veterinary care. In the short term, pastoralists will be able to boost their bargaining power by providing the option of holding their animals until the next market day to obtain a higher price. In the medium and long term, these market improvements will increase Ethiopia’s competitiveness at an international level.
“The new Andido livestock market is one of 25 sites to be built with USAID support, making a tremendous difference in the lives of pastoralists,” said Ms. Brutawit Dawit Abdi, ACDI/VOCA Country Representative for Ethiopia. ACDI/VOCA is an international development organization which has been working in Ethiopia since 1994 to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and pastoralists through enhanced market opportunities.