From Waste to Employment Opportunities and Wealth Creation: A Case Study of Utilization of Livestock By-Products in Hargeisa, Somaliland

This article was conducted to establish the involvement of vulnerable women and youths in innovative livestock by- products value addition to create alternative employment opportunities and diversify wealth creation livelihood activities through DFID UKaid Sustainable Employment and Economic Development (SEED) funded programme and implemented by FAO Somalia in the security fragile state of Somaliland that has few options of formal employment opportunities. The study focused on the processes and achievements of the SEED programme towards deriving maximum benefits from livestock by-products instead of concentrating on meat production and consumption only. During the programme intervention, an initial forty (40) beneficiaries of various trade skills and academic levels were selected through SOMDA for capacity development with competency based training (CBT) skills. One of the primary advantages of CBT was that it focused on the success of each participant. The training focused on each trainee attaining a small number of specific and job-related competencies in bone-craft trinkets and laundry soap production. By the end of SEED phase I, the intervention created a total of 120 direct jobs which were involved in soap and bone-crafts production giving the impetus of making full use of the meat value chain and creating a viable source of employment and income for women and youths in Somaliland contributing to increased Somali economy from the main lifeline of Somalia population that is anchored on livestock production and trade.

Opportunities and Challenges of Setting-Up an Articulate HACCP System in Export Slaughterhouses in Countries Emerging from Conflict: An Appraisal of North-Western Somalia

An investigation in North-Western Somalia (Somaliland) to determine opportunities and challenges of setting up a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system to be adopted and complied with during operations in an export slaughterhouse was carried out for more than two years. A baseline and after intervention microbiological analysis was carried out on 500 wet and dry meat swab samples collected from carcasses from the slaughterhouse. The analysis was against total viable counts, E. coli counts and Salmonella species. It was established that after intervention through capacity building and supply of basic livestock slaughter equipments and tools, levels of carcass contamination reduced though not statistically significant. Slaughterhouse workers were trained on food safety quality assurance systems of good hygiene practices, standard operating procedures, sanitary standard operating procedures among others. Good opportunities of establishing HACCP system were high as the slaughterhouse had a ready supply of livestock for slaughter and high demand of Somalia small ruminant carcasses in the Middle East countries. However, the implementation faced severe challenges including lack of transport plane for carcasses to export market, frequent severe drought shocks, stiff competition from export of live livestock from Somalia, stiff competition from other countries exporting carcasses to Middle East countries;among others. These led to interruptions to operations and subsequent closure of the slaughterhouse impacting negatively on establishment of a vibrant operational HACCP system.

Cattle Feed Resource,Water Sources and Housing System in the Central Rift Valley of Oromia Regional State,Ethiopia

The study was conducted in Adami Tulu Jidokombolcha(ATJK),Bora,Dodola,Shala and Negele-Arsi districts with objective to assess main cattle feed resources,water sources and housing systems.A pre-tested,semi-structured questionnaire was used to conduct survey.About 240 respondents were identified using random sampling techniques.Collected data was analyzed by SPSS statistical software(Ver.24).Study result indicates that household in average had three hectares of land and allocated about two hectares of land for crop cultivation.Most respondents reported that cattle herding is not common during dry season while it is common during wet season.Survey result indicate that natural pasture,weed and maize tiller and stored crop residues are main feed resources in wet season while crop after math,crop residue and fodder trees are main resources during dry season.Brackish,local mineral and common salt are mineral sources for cattle in study areas.Lake,river and boreholes are important water sources in dry season where as ponds and rivers are main water sources during wet season for their cattle.The observed cattle watering frequency is mainly once a day.Housing system practiced in the study areas is mainly Kraal.The information generated from this study on land size per household,cattle herding system,feed resources,mineral sources,water sources,water utilization and housing type can be used as a baseline for any livestock development programs in those and similar areas.

Structural Traits,Structural Indices and Body Weight Prediction of Arsi Cows

Structural measurements are indicators of animal performance,productivity and carcass characteristics.This study was conducted with the objectives of assessing structural measurements,developing body weight prediction and structural indices for cows of Arsi breed.The cows were purchased from highland and lowland agro-ecologies of Arsi and East Shoa zones of Oromia regional state,Ethiopia and kept in Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center(ATARC)for the breed development purpose.Totally 222 cows were included in the structural traits measurement.Thirty four young heifers were also considered in the study.Twenty two structural traits were considered during observational survey.The structural index was calculated from the phenotypically correlated linear measurements.Structural traits were analyzed by T-test of SPSS version twenty four.The observed average values of height at wither,chest depth,heart girth,body length,pelvic width,cannon bone circumferences of the cows were 107,55.62,141.06,117.82,31.41 and 13.58cm,respectively.Heart girth(0.82),flank girth(0.73),hook circumferences(0.67),chest depth(0.65)and height at rump(0.64)were highly correlated(P<0.01)to body weight of the cows.Regression analysis indicated that hearth girth had the highest coefficient of determination for body weight of the cows and heifers.Accordingly,the simple linear equations were developed to predict the body weight of cows and heifers.Body weight of Arsi cow(y)=-221.005+3.1(heart girth)and Body weight of Arsi heifer(y)=-188.452+2.75(heart girth).Based on this,the measuring chart tape can be developed to estimate the body weight of Arsi cows and heifers at field condition where there is no access to weighing scales.