Enhancing Incomes and Resilience of Pastoralists in Ethiopia Through Vertically Integrated Livestock Supply Chains

As droughts in the lowlands of Ethiopia increase in frequency and severity, a key resilience capacity for livestock producers is their ability to generate income and savings from their animals, which they can use to purchase feed and other inputs when droughts strike. A major constraint is that livestock demand in the lowlands is fragmented, highly seasonal and often evaporates during dry seasons and droughts. This learning brief describes how the Mercy Corps-led Resilience in Pastoral Areas – North (RIPA-North) program used a Market Systems Resilience approach to transform the structure of livestock supply chains in the lowlands to benefit female pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, resulting in a 193% increase in livestock purchases and year-round demand that withstood even the recent severe drought.