Stronger, sustainable meat supply chains for Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a developing country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second most populous country of Africa. Ethiopia has more than 100 million inhabitants and that number is growing very fast. Almost 45% are aged 0–14 years and 20% are aged 15–24 years.

The economic situation is gradually improving, but the labour-market perspectives for all these young women and men are not good. Many young people leave the country as refugees, hoping to find a better life in Europe.

Ethiopia is an agricultural country with large numbers of cattle, sheep, goats and camels. Many of these are exported as livestock or meat, predominantly to Arabic countries. Although Ethiopia is one of the fastest-growing economies in the region, it is also one of the poorest.

SME has the ambition to support the development of the meat sector in Ethiopia. SME wants to strengthen the creation of supply chains for meat: helping to improve the conditions for supply chains from the production of fodder, to fattening livestock, to improving slaughter and meat processing. In that way SME contributes to more food and more food security. A system of integral quality care and monitoring is an important part of this support — the customer and the retail sector must be assured of good-quality meat, produced under reliable, hygienic conditions.

The supported supply chains are stimulated to produce within the framework of sustainability and corporate social responsibility.