Livestock contributes about 30-35% of agricultural gross domestic and more than 85% of farm cash income. It also contributes about 13-16% to total GDP of the country. Likewise, livestock plays a significant role in the economy of the Oromia region. The livestock population of Oromia is estimated at 23.7 million heads of cattle, 10 million poultry and 1.5 million beehives under private holdings (CSA, 1992). According to this source, Oromia accounts for about 44% of cattle, 39.5% of sheep and 30.5% of goats stock and 47.6% of beehives of the country, implying the existence of high potential in the region, which should be exploited effectively and efficiently.
In 1992, there were 138 veterinarians, 277 animal health assistants, 185 technicians and 632 assistance technician and 50 vaccinators giving veterinary services in 189 health clinics of the region. This puts the ratio of one veterinarian to 132,000 veterinary livestock units (VLU), which is below the recommended standard ratio of 20,000 VLU. Moreover, one clinic is currently providing services to 90000 VLU, which indicates inadequacy of veterinary personnel, clinics and facilities in the region as compared to the vast livestock potential and wide prevalence of animal ailments.
Though, the importance of livestock sub sector is vital in terms of its contribution to the GDP its productivity has remained very low. Lack of sufficient feed, low performance of local breeds, inadequate veterinary service, high prevalence of animal diseases are among the major factors constraining the productivity of livestock in the region. Access to credit and marketing of output is another important bottleneck hindering the development of the sub-sector. Thus, improving genetic potential of local breeds, creating access to credit and market and market information mechanisms of live animals and their products and expansion of veterinary services should be viewed as important future strategy.
With regard to fishery development, although, Oromia has a large number of water bodies containing fish resources, commensurate developmental activity has not been undertaken so far. According to the Oromia Economic Study (1999), it is possible to harvest 17,500 tons of fish per annum, from the water bodies although the current actual yield is only 4700 tons which is only 27% of the potential resource. Fish stocks in most of the lakes in Oromia are generally under-exploited and virtually untapped, despite the region's location advantage to access most of bigger urban centers. On the other hand, very little effort has been made so far to increase production of fisheries by adding 459.6 thousand of fish chicks into water bodies, distributing 164 boats, 855 nets and 50868 hooks for fish catchers/producers in the region over the five years (1988 – 1992).
In general, lack of extension services in the area of fishery, lack of infrastructure and transport facilities as well as poor dietary habits of the community are some of the major factors that have attributed to low production of fisheries. Moreover, the method of handling, processing and marketing is very traditional where both consumer and traders buy fish directly from fishermen at the landing place.
Thus, it is crucial that the regional government design and implement strategy, which aims at improving infrastructure, ensuring market expansion mechanisms and facilitating access to credit. Furthermore, farmer-beef industry linkage should be firmly established as most of these factories are located in Oromia since it is extremely vital to tap this comparative advantage for the benefit of our farmers. Additionally, it is highly essential to examine the option of organizing livestock farmer's co-operatives and involve them in both domestic market and export of live animals. In the longer prospective, it is recommended to see into the possibility of establishing livestock product processing plant particularly in pastoralist areas through strengthening co-operative societies and encouraging private investors into the sector.
Over the last seven years agriculture sector has been getting significant resource allocation in terms of recurrent and capital budget signifying the degree of attention given to the sector by the regional government. As per the available data about 422.5 million birr was allocated for the sector as capital budget of which only birr 371.6 million (87.9%) has been utilized over the reference years revealing limited implementation capacity of the sector, which should be improved to realize the objectives, set out to enhance the production and productivity of agriculture.
