Ethiopia has experienced impressive agricultural growth and poverty reduction, stemming in part from substantial public investments in agriculture. Yet, the agriculture sector now faces increasing land and water constraints along with other challenges to growth. Ethiopia’s Agrifood System: Past Trends, Present Challenges, and Future Scenarios presents a forward-looking analysis of Ethiopia’s agrifood system in the context of a rapidly changing economy. Growth in the agriculture sector remains essential to continued poverty reduction in Ethiopia and will depend on sustained investment in the agrifood system, especially private sector investment. Many of the policies for a successful agricultural and rural development strategy for Ethiopia are relevant for other African countries, as well. Ethiopia’s Agrifood System should be a valuable resource for policymakers, development specialists, and others concerned with economic development in Africa south of the Sahara.

With the current Second Growth and Transformation Plan (2015-2020), the Government of Ethiopia expects the agro-industrial sector to play key role in economic growth of the Country. Accordingly, the creation of Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks has been identified as one of the key mechanisms for accelerating the development of the sector and the structural transformation of agriculture. Agro-industrial parks will play a significant role in transitioning Ethiopia from an agricultural-led into an industrial-led economy. In view of that, the development of Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks has been prioritized in Ethiopia’s national development strategy and four Agro-Industrial Growth Corridors have been selected for piloting the establishment of four Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks. The initiative aims at driving the structural transformation of the Ethiopian economy while reducing rural poverty and creating a better environment for increased investments in agro-processing and allied sectors. Since 1981, FAO has been a strong partner of the Government of Ethiopia towards the achievement of national food security and economic growth goals. FAO is working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to empower value chain actors and to promote inclusive, efficient and sustainable agricultural value chains. The present document is the first one of a series of detailed analyses of prioritized commodities, which will lead to inclusive, sustainable and stronger agricultural value chains in the Agro-Commodities Procurement Zone of the pilot Integrated Agro-Industrial Park in Central-Eastern Oromia.

In many developing countries in which staple foods dominate the composition of diets, higher consumption of animal-source foods (ASF) is associated with significant nutritional benefits. Given the importance of prices for consumption decisions in these settings, we analyze ASF price patterns in the last decade (2007-2016), relying on a large-scale price dataset collected in 116 urban retail markets in Ethiopia. We document important seasonal and spatial patterns and we find, worryingly, that real prices of ASF have been increasing in the last decade by between 32 to 36 percent for three major ASF – milk, eggs, and meat. Similar price increases are noted in rural and urban areas and for tradable and non-tradable ASFs. This price trend is in contrast with staple cereals for which real prices stayed at similar levels over the last decade. As we estimate that a price increase of this magnitude would reduce consumption of ASF by approximately 25 percent, holding other things constant, it seems that more investments and attention to the production of ASF and the livestock sector are needed to reduce ASF prices and increase their consumption in Ethiopia.