1 Product Description: These are enterprises which aim at large commercial scale breeding, fattening and marketing of goats and sheep. Better quality off breeds will be selected from indigenous and foreign stock, will be made to breed and fattened for local and foreign markets. Mutton from goats and sheep is very popular in the Sudan and in the Middle East
2 Market Potential: Sheep and goats have huge demand for their mutton in the domestic market especially during holidays and at the end of fasting period of the Christian and Muslim religions. Tens of thousands of sheep and goats are also exported to the gulf countries every year. Recently, Sudan with its newly fouled oil wealth has started importing large number of cattle, sheep and goats from the Amhara region. And this demand will grow in the future. The domestic market for sheep and goats is supplied by merchants who buy the animals from individual farmers and bring the animals to major urban center to sell. The traditional system of raising sheep and goat is characterized by the presence of large numbers of small scale farmers who practice stock rising as secondary activity next to farming. Each farmer may own a small flock of sheep or goats with five or six heads per flock; and a farmer may sell one goat or sheep in a year. This traditional system is extremely inefficient in terms of supplying good quality sheep and goat. The animals are not properly feed and cared for. Selective breeding and cross breeding are not practiced. As a result the quantity of mutton obtained from each sheep or goat is relatively small. The export market for sheep and goats is dominated by supply from the eastern parts of the country. The regional states of Afar and Somali are the main supplies of sheep and goats to the Arabian Gulf states. The Amhara and Tigray regions can be major supplies of these livestock resources to the Sudan, Egypt, Yeman and Saudi Arabia if there are modern farms for breeding and fattening sheep and goats. Exporting these animals along the Metema and Humera boarder could be relatively and shorter. In brief, there are sufficient domestic and foreign markets for absorbing large number of sheep and goats to be raised by modern and efficient livestock management systems. This project idea is to establish a number of medium scale livestock breeding and fattening farms in selected sites of the Amhara region for supplying the domestic and the export market.
3 "Process and Technology: In the context of rising sheep and goats, "process" refers to the steps to be taken to breed, fatten and market the livestock's. The first step is to select the most appropriate locations for the project. For the domestic market these locations should be closer to the major urban centers of the region. For the export market, the best locations will be not far from the Ethio-Sudanese boarder. Once sites are selected, the next stage is to construct the necessary infrastructures for the breeding and fattening phases. This will involve building shades, barns, water points, etc. The third stage is stocking the farms with the necessary number of sheep or goats for breeding. After breeding feeding, the young animals until the reach certain age and attain a certain weight will be undertaken. Finally, the animals will be ready either for local or export sale. The technology of sheep and goat rising is simple. It requires simple tools and implements.
4 Estimated Investment: To breed, fatter and market about 1000 sheep or goats per cycle, the investment need will be:
a. Building/shade 400m2 Birr 300/m2 120,000
b. Implements and tools 50,000
c. Working capital 100,000
1,270,000
5 Benefits: Increases food production, earns foreign exchange, and stimulates the livestock sectors.
6 Location : Selected sites suitable for raising sheep or goats