AGP-LMD

What is AGP-Livestock Market Development?

The Agricultural Growth Program-Livestock Market Development (AGP-LMD) is a five-year project funded by the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future (FTF) Initiative as part of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) contribution to the Government of Ethiopia’s Agricultural Growth Program (AGP). The AGP’s goal “to end poverty and enhance growth” aligns with FTF’s goal to “sustainably reduce poverty and hunger.” AGP- LMD follows a holistic value chain development approach and is developing the capacity of value chain businesses. Its operations take place in highly-productive highland woredas of Ethiopia that have the largest livestock populations with large number of smallholder producers.

Value Chain Focus

AGP-LMD applies a value chain development approach to ensure that these value chains can compete in the domestic and international market.

Meat/Live Animals (MLA)

AGP-LMD works closely with actors in the middle segment of the cattle, sheep and goats meat and live animal value chain, and assists them to expand market reach and become enterprises that are more efficient. AGP-LMD also creates stronger market linkages, based on mutual benefits and synergies among actors at different levels of the value chain.

Dairy

AGP-LMD assists dairy producer groups, milk collectors, processors and other supporting businesses to increase milk production at the farm level, improve collection and logistics, and strengthen processing capacity and efficiency. In addition, AGP-LMD stimulates demand, to spark growth in volume and efficiency across the value chain.

Hides and Skins

AGP-LMD focuses its efforts on improving and increasing hide and skin processing and collection through abattoirs and slaughter houses. These activities increase the volume of hides and skins by reducing rejection rates and developing a more effective marketing/collection system that preserves the quality of the materials.

Project Consortium

AGP-LMD is led by CNFA and supported by 13 consortium partners. CNFA, a Washington, D.C.-based international development organization specializes in implementing enterprise -based agricultural/livestock development initiatives that are designed to facilitate market access, enhance agribusiness competitiveness, increase productivity and improve access to inputs and finance.

CNFA has mobilized a team of international partners, including the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), which has been at the forefront of Ethiopian dairy development and International Medical Corps (IMC), which integrates its 10 years of continuous work addressing HIV/AIDS and nutrition in Ethiopia to the CNFA approach. Additionally, J.E. Austin & Associates (JAA) is leading value chain analytics, the Institute for International Education (IIE) is contributing its approach to gender equity, and the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) is integrating technology solutions into all program activities.

In addition, the consortium includes four large and experienced regional partners operating in the AGP-LMD target regions. REST, HUNDEE, ORDA and Self Help Africa provide regional office facilities and regionally-based personnel for front-line implementation of AGP-LMD activities. Local consulting firms TREG, BCaD, Precise Consult and DOT Ethiopia support the program’s relevant studies/analyses.

Project Objectives

AGP-LMD addresses USAID’s Strategic Objective of improving smallholder incomes and nutritional status through the achievement of three key USAID intermediate results (IRs):

I. Increase Productivity and Competitiveness of Selected Value chains

II. Strengthen Enabling Environment for Livestock Value Chains

III. Improve Quality and Diversity of Household Diet Through Intake of Livestock Products

Integrated into these components are the crosscutting objectives of engaging people living with HIV/AIDS, gender equity, promotion of ICT solutions, environmental mitigation and natural resource management.

Vision

To create a vibrant and competitive livestock industry driven and built on public and private investment that generates employment and income for smallholder families and provides affordable, high-quality, nutritious livestock products for consumers, particularly vulnerable households.

Why Ethiopia?

Ethiopia has the largest cattle population in Africa at 52 million, including 10.5 million dairy cattle, placing the country in the top eight livestock-producing countries in the world. Despite these high statistics, Ethiopia is not meeting its potential. In 2011, the volume of global meat exports was estimated to be $105 billion, and Ethiopia accounted for less than one percent of this total (0.75 percent, or $79 million). Additionally, the country is a net importer of dairy products, despite its large dairy cattle population and ideal resources for improved milk production. Livestock and livestock products are Ethiopia’s fifth-most important commodities, but the sector needs support in order to become more economically productive for the country and its population. AGP-LMD’s efforts self-propels value chains so that they are primed for continued growth and development in a sustainable way.

Projects and Activities

Increasing Farm Productivity

Providing training to livestock producers to enable them to increase their livestock production and expanding private farm supply businesses to provide commercial farm inputs and services.

Linking Smallholders to Markets

Strengthening smallholders’ ability to access markets is a key project activity that includes expanding rural milk collection systems, livestock markets, cooperatives and processors efforts to directly purchase products.

Improving Access to Finance & Investment

Catalyzing increased private sector investment by mitigating risk, facilitating expansion of credit markets, increasing awareness of livestock sector lending, improving business skills and providing innovation grants when commercial financial services are inadequate.

Empowering Stakeholders for Policy Reform and Advocacy

Facilitating policy discussions to alleviate and reform the bottle necks identified by the different stakeholders through workshops, roundtables and multi-stakeholder platforms.

Launching Nutrition Campaign

Conducting a nutrition campaign to promote animal source food consumption and dietary diversification. Campaign focuses specifically on caretakers with children under the age of two and pregnant mothers.

Implementing Economic Strengthening Activities for People Living with HIV (PLHIV) Community

Utilizing experience of its consortium to implement market -oriented interventions to enhance and boost PLHIV’s economic status within the three target value chains.