Effect of Small Ruminant Ectoparasites in the Tanning Industry in Ethiopia: a Review

Hides, skins as well as live animals are among the main commodities that are used to earn foreign currency in Ethiopia. Ectoparasitic skin diseases of domestic ruminants caused by lice, sheep kades, ticks and mange mites are among the major diseases that result serious economic loss to smallholder farmers, tanning industries and to the country at large. In 1996/97, six tanneries in and around Addis Ababa had rejected 2,037,745 pieces of skins which caused a loss of USD 6.3 million and in 1998/99 three tanneries that are found in Amhara Regional State have reported 443,602 pieces of skin rejection per annum which worth USD 1.4 million loss. Ectoparasitic skin diseases due to ticks, lice, sheep kades and mange mites cause 35% of sheep skin and 56% of goat skin rejections. These parasites can be controlled using commercial drugs (pesticides), but their accessibility and affordability to the poor Ethiopian farmers, and lack of safety of the commercial organophosphorous compounds towards human and environment makes them unattractive for use. Thus, this review paper tries to present the over all country status on ectoparasites in animals in Ethiopia.