Ethiopia: illicit livestock trade costs $138 mln a year

ADDIS ABABA, October 22, 2007 – Livestock smuggling costs Ethiopia $138 million a year, the government said on Monday, but the authorities are taking action against the illegal trade.

Livestock exports are a key source of hard currency for the country, which earned $52 million from the sector last year.

"The government will soon organize trading centers where pastoralists would receive competitive prices ... to discourage illicit trade which loses the country over $138 million annually," Assefa Mulugeta, head of the Agriculture Ministry's Livestock Department, told Reuters.

Assefa said Ethiopian cattle and goats were being smuggled overland to neighboring countries before being shipped to the Middle East for sale.

"We have to try and convert the illegal practice into a legal one. Nothing would be achieved through forceful measures."

SOURCE : Reuters