Influence of animal diseases and sanitary regulations on livestock export trade and cases of export restrictions
2003
Wondwosen Asfaw
The economic benefit derived from the livestock sector in Ethiopia is not commensurate with the potential and the sub-sector remained untapped. The widely prevalent livestock diseases are major constraints to Ethiopian livestock export. Livestock exports from Ethiopia are jeopardized by repeated bans, in particular from the countries in the Arabian Peninsula, as they are perceived as carrying the risk of introducing a number of trans-boundary livestock diseases. An epidemic of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in the horn of Africa in 1997/8 stimulated many countries, but most importantly the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the major trading partner, to instigate a ban on livestock imports from the region. This was briefly withdrawn but appearance of epidemic RVF in the Arabian Peninsula in 2000 resulted in re-imposition of the ban that is still substantially unaltered. This created a crisis in the countries of the Greater Horn of Africa, not least in Ethiopia. In the short term the case of raising SPS standards, in Ethiopia, must depend largely upon the domestic benefits of improving public and animal health, securing the traditional livestock export market in the Arabian Peninsula and promoting intra regional trade though regional trading blocks. Gains from increased trade in meat or live animals with developed countries will be small or non-existent in the short term. Developing countries, trading among themselves, might benefit from harmonizing SPS measures albeit at a lower level than the recommended by international standards.
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