I was surprised at the negative depiction of the Ethiopian leather sector in the        "Viewpoint" written by Wondirad Seifu headlined "Leather: the Dwindling Sector" [Volume 8, Number, 378, July 29, 2007]. This is an important engine of growth for the economy that does not deserve such an angle taken. 
 

As someone who has worked in the sector and being familiar with many statistics from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD), Ethiopian Leather Industries Association and National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), the reality of the Ethiopian is actually quite positive.
 

As one of the priority sectors considered to be instrumental to achieve fast development goals for the country, the leather sector is receiving all the attention it deserves by all the stakeholders from the government to the man behind the plough. The problem of ectoparasites affecting quality of hides and skins is being taken care of by all the regions severely affected. If everything goes as planned, ekek will be under control in Afar, Amhara and Tigray regions by the end of this year. The other regions are on the alert to mitigate the problem should any outbreaks occur.
 

The sustainability of the efficacy of the interventions made so far are being cemented further by training and launching community animal health workers who will be interested to be available at the reach of every farmer interested to give the treatment services for fees that the farmer finds economically justified by the benefits he/she gets from ekek-free animals. 
 

There is no doubt ekek has badly hit our leather sector, especially the leather produced from sheep skins. Sheep in the highlands suffer from ekek caused by lice and keds. Sheep and goats in the lowlands, especially in arid areas, suffer from ekek caused mostly by sarcoptic mange.
 

The word ekek is actually a misnomer. It is a name given to a skin disease characterised by itching, alopecia and different kinds of skin eruptions that cause dermatitis. It is not a name given to a specific disease like the English term.

For example, ekek caused by lice and keds is known as cockle; caused by mites, mange; caused by Dermatophilus, streptothricosis or dermatophilosis; and that caused by a fungus is known as  dermatomycosis. All of these are called ekek in Amharic.
 

The ekek or cockle (caused by lice and keds) is a skin defect that is most prevalent in the highland sheepskin. It is an allergic dermatitis caused by the saliva and feces of the sheep louse (Bovicola ovis) and the sheep ked (Melophagus ovinus). It is characterisded by brownish or greyish discoloration of the dermis or formation of small papules or nodules of 0.5mm to one millimetre in diameter. These nodules merge to form a large patch which remains as a scar on the dermis.
 

Mange is a skin defect caused by mange mites. It is characterised by hair loss, erythema, rough thickened skin, scale formation, lichenification and crust formation.
 

Most of the sheep skins are produced from the highlands because over 75pc of the sheep population of the country is found in the highlands and most of these sheep suffer from lice and keds infestation which cause ekek. Goats are normally not affected by cockle because they are hardly infested by the sheep lice (Bovicola ovis) and the sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus) which cause cockle or ekek. Goats and sheep in the arid regions of the country like the Afar, Somali, certain parts of the Amhara, Tigray and Oromia Regions suffer from mange.

Fortunately, sheep ekek (cockle) can be cured using insecticides like diazinon, amitraz, deltamethrin, etc. Diazinon is actually produced locally. Sheep treated twice at about two week-intervals and treated repeatedly at a quarterly interval will have their ekek scar cured in three to four months. In the case of sheep and goats affected by mange, the animals have to be treated three to four times continuously at about a two week-interval.
 

The problem has been felt for more than one decade not only by the industry but also the government such that the three regional states (Tigray, Amhara and Afar) where the outbreak is most severe started campaigning to treat their sheep and goats with a blanket cover of their respective regions. Tigray did treat all its sheep and goat stock last year and Amhara and Afar started this year in February and April respectively. According to some industry reports, skins from Tigray that used to produce only 10pc of the processed skins as the best grades, has increased to over 40pc.

The Amhara Regional Government invested over 29 million Br for the campaign. It has almost completed the second round of treatment and is aiming at controlling the disease in a sustainable way by launching trained farmers or community animal health workers. USAID-Agribusiness and Trade Expansion Programme is collaborating with the four regions it operates in, namely Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP), and other donor organisations like USAID-Ethiopian Sheep and Goat Productivity Improvement Programme, Ethiopian Tanners Association and FAO are included in this. It supports rolled out activities in these regions and also has focused intervention plans to certain districts with a view to devise an effective strategy that can be replicated by other districts and regions of the country.

The project staff witnessed sharp changes in infestation of sheep and goats treated against lice and keds with diazinon.  For instance, what used to be over 90pc infestation in February 2007, just before the campaign started in Amhara, has dwindled to less than 10pc in April, 2007. It must be understood, however, this result of the treatment cannot be expected to reflect the quality of leather produced in a few months after the campaign started, because it takes time for the scars created by the parasites to heal, not to mention the time it takes to fully treat all the animals in the region due to the enormity of the logistics and resource challenges it poses.

Regarding quality deteriorations in raw hides and skins after slaughtering, this has a lot to do with our traditional practices since most of the slaughtering takes place in our backyards by people who may not have the necessary skill to do it and using inappropriate tools. While changing the traditional practice takes a long time, there are various initiatives underway right now such as the USAID Agribusiness and Trade Expansion Programme's training of slaughtering technicians on the right methods of flaying animals and introduction of hides and skins collection centres where the raw stock can be cured to withstand putrefaction and improve its management and logistics until delivered to tanners. Hundreds of trainers of trainees have graduated in Oromia, Amhara, SNNP and Tigray by the USAUD-Agribusiness and Trade Expansion Programme. This has already shown encouraging results as witnessed by the selection outputs of the tanning industry.
 

Indeed, the tendency of smuggling raw hides and skins from the country does exist and thus the vigilance to address it must be enhanced as it is already being done. Nevertheless, I do not believe it is a problem to bemoan about as the author did.
 

Similarly, I do not believe the author knows the ratio of application of hides and skins between traditional and industrial uses and if discouraging the traditional use is beneficial at all. A constructive analysis of the situation would have been to generate innovative ideas on how to enhance the application of hides and skins for traditional manufactures that can be marketed internationally as unique high value products and create a niche market for the country. The present level of traditional consumption is estimated to be less than 10pc of what is available.
 

The other references to the growth rate of the industry and the picture painted of it from the title of the article all the way down to the last word are unfoundedly negative which should not come from some one with a concern.
 

Recovery of raw hides and skins is being enhanced by a similar development strategy designed to motivate every player in the supply chain do more in collection and timely delivery to tanners.  All the records available show total hides and skins reaching the industry are increasing by double digits every year.  That is why the overall export of processed leather increased both in quantity and value by nearly 20pc last year over the previous year and this year over last year. All the developments so far suggest more will be achieved by the end of this budget year. The industry is actually growing at an unprecedented two-digit rate in its history not only in quantity and volume but also in quality. It is for the first time that Ethiopia's export of leather and leather products contained nothing less than 35pc from industrially processed leather and consumer goods of leather. 
 

The industry is now welcoming world class investors who are jointly manufacturing footwear for export markets. This has resulted, for the first time in the history of the country, a production level of more than 3,000 pairs of shoes per day in a single factory working 24 hours per day that are all exported to European distributors. It is not difficult to witness this first hand by observing how many more footwear factories are heading for the same mass production if one goes to the industrial zones in Addis Abeba.
 

It is for the first time again that leather products by Ethiopian industries matched in quality those produced by the highest names in the fashion world and are being sold in boutiques and high end retail outlets displayed alongside Prada and other creators of fashion from London to Tokyo and Milan to Los Angeles.
 

It is also for the first time that Ethiopian produce such as those of TAYTU Consortium are welcome to exhibit in the top-end of the world market for  a second time this year i.e. in Platform 2 in New York this coming September and Paris Sur Mode in early October.
 

It is encouraging to see the dynamism in the industry and the up-scaling momentum it has achieved which all together show not just a light at the end of the tunnel as it has always been said but the enormous light that has shone on our industry vibrantly growing, creating hundreds of jobs for our compatriots and earning considerable foreign currency for our national development endeavours. It is indeed a sector of deeds and results that we all have to be proud of and support and the rest of the world is acknowledging as recently documented by BBC.