Assessment of the relationships between livestock production policies implementation and knowledge integration for the promotion of food security in Ethiopia

Abstract This paper proposes a modelling approach to bridge policy gaps and provide decision-makers with a useful tool for more focused decisions in livestock supply chains. This approach, which is put into practice through institutional arrangements, has the potential to empower the role of coordination and cooperation in the livestock supply chain, link stakeholders/entrepreneurs to vertical upstream and downstream direct and indirect actors. While there are substantial contributions to the detail of this paper, one of its most important contributions lies in introducing public-private partnerships as a driver of livestock economic development. This study evaluated the impact of integrated knowledge on production, rural households’ income, and rural households’ food security using Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models. The database used in social accounting matrix (SAM) is also used as the base year data for policy simulations in the CGE models. The result indicates that adoption of scientific-technical breed selection and veterinarian knowledge could enable the region to obtain higher livestock production and income, thus leading to higher food security than region with indigenous and integrated knowledge adoption. The results indicate that integrated knowledge policies have more impact on livestock production, rural household income, and food security than indigenous knowledge policy implementation alone. The policies have a greater impact on the rural households’ income and food security in the merger case than in the indigenous technical simulation case. The findings imply that livestock production policies’ implementation and knowledge integration are still necessary for achieving food security, and eradicating poverty.