Over View of Thyme Value Chain in Ethiopia: The Case of Dinsho and Tarmaber Areas

: This paper aimed to explain the value chain of thyme herb in Ethiopia. Potential thyme collection areas Tarmaber and Dinsho were taken for the study. The study employed qualitative data collection method focus group discussion, personal observation and key informant interview. Thyme herb is collected from wild; particularly from bushy or forest areas. The collection took place by local dwellers. The major production and marketing constraints in thyme herb value chain were over grazing, destructive harvesting, limited knowledge of harvesting and processing; and small and volatile supply of the herb. The supply was small and volatile which hindered the herb not to secure sustainable domestic and foreign consumers thus brought difficulty in product branding. Although thyme herb demanded highly in the market the supply was yet dependent on wild thyme collection. Therefore domestication of the plant to garden crop and conservation of the plant genetic resource should be given an emphasis to get benefited from the plant and to rehabilitate the natural wild thyme diversity.

production, processing and marketing of the crop. Value chains facilitate a clear understanding of the sequence of thyme production, processing and trading activities and the key actors and their relationships. Therefore the objectives of this study were: o Identifying the value chain actors involved in production, processing and utilization thyme and their role in the value chain. o Assessing production and marketing constraints of thyme technologies. o Suggest strategies for the promotion of thyme technologies

Methodology Description of the study areas
The study focused on two thyme collection areas (Dinsho and Tarmaber). Both Dinsho and Tarmaber were among the main collection areas for wild thyme herb in the country. Dinsho is located in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region in the heart of the Bale Mountains. It is located 400 km South-East of Addis Ababa, the country's capital. Agro climatologically the district covers, 95% highland (Dega) and 5% semi-arid (Woinadega). The altitude of the district varies from 2000 to 3600 meters above sea level (Wikipedia, 2011). Tarmaber is one of the kebelas in Mojana Wadera District in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. It is located 190 km away from Addis Abeba. Agro climatologically 17% of the land is lowland, 28 % semi-arid (Woinadega) and 54.7 % is highland (Dega). Its altitude is ranging from 1500 to 3100 meter above sea level. (Destaw and Yalemtsehay, 2015)

Method of data collection and analysis
The study employed qualitative data collection methods including rapid appraisal, key informant interview, focus group discussion and personal observation. The study used information from two FGD (one per collection area), 8 key informants and 15 wild collectors and traders. Wild thyme collectors and different value chain marketing actors in potential thyme markets like Bale, Dinsho, shahsemene and Addis Abeba from Oromia region and Tarmaber, Debre Brehan and Debre Sina from Ahmara region were covered by the study. The current assessment did not intensively address quantitative issues due to irregular nature of the collection and engaged traders.

Results and Discussion Thyme Production
Statistics on the production of aromatic and spice plants like thyme is very difficult to come by in Ethiopia as the commodities were not part of the national agricultural crop survey and thus the traded amount were not evidently known. Thyme has been collected from wild in many parts of Ethiopian highlands. In Dinsho, the plant was collected from natural forest around bale national park. This aromatic and spice plant is not considered for farm level production in the area. It grows naturally on mountains between other bushy plants surviving from uncontrolled animals grazing and over harvesting. Since the plant grows surrounding Bale national park both wild and domestic animals have an access to graze it.
Around Tarmaber and Debresina thyme grows mainly in manmade forest (between eucalyptus trees) and on plateaus area used for cattle grazing.
Domestication of this crop as garden crop with research based agronomic management could create greater access to the produce, and thereby reduces vulnerability of the crop to extinction in the longer term. Marshall (2011) indicated that in the presence of limited cultivation options, popularly traded species have become overexploited.

Herbal thyme trade in Ethiopia
Ethiopian thyme is traded both domestically and abroad. Approximately more than 50% of thyme is consumed domestically. Ethiopia also exports thyme even if the supply was irregular and difficult to get the current exported amount. Thyme export had been declining by 85% annually even if the price had shown an increasing trend by 27% (Fig.1). The reason for this may be the reduction in the supply as also indicated by 63% of thyme collectors during interview.
There are three main outlets by which the wild thyme collectors sell the herb. Wild thyme collectors sell their herb for collectors, retailers and consumers. Generally there are about 8 market channels comprising different marketing actors through which thyme herb reaches consumers (Fig.2).  Environmental protection works has to be strengthened. Awareness has to be created for thyme collectors and controlling mechanism on overharvesting has to be installed. There is almost no scientific information in Ethiopia on varieties, productivity, affecting pest and diseases, profitability of the crop & agronomic managements.

No breeding & agronomic researches done
Research has to be strengthened to address technological gaps Weak post-harvest management. Eg. sun drying(over drying) is not recommended drying method for aromatic herbs because it affects essential oil content that finally decreases the quality Introduction of appropriate postharvest technology and Utilization of international quality standards (American Cleanliness Specifications ASTA, HACCP, GAP, ISO 9000, ISO 22000, ISO 6754:1996) Weak horizontal and vertical integration among value chain actors. No association /cooperative/ that organizes the production & marketing and the information flow Organizing strong spice and aromatic plant producing and marketing cooperative could be seen as a solution

Opportunities nstraints Interventions required
No production and marketing data which makes the trade difficult for agents and investors (no prior planning). Difficult to know the supply condition that creates price volatility Production and marketing data like areas of production, production potential and amount supplied for market should be collected for this herb by governmental office like Central statistical agency so that it become easy for value chain actors to plan Limited value addition (essential oil and formulated products, standardized tea, etc) Government have to promote, enhance and support processors in this sector to change the available potential into opportunity The supply is small and volatile to create sustainable foreign customer and product branding. Thyme was not cultivated in garden and the production cannot be easily regulated.
Domestication of the plant is necessary principally supported by research based technologies

Conclusions and suggestions
In Ethiopia, thyme is collected from wild. The collection took place by local dwellers for additional income generation and own use. The major constraints in thyme value chain were over and destructive harvesting, lack of technical know-how on production; harvesting and processing and lack of structured marketing. Overexploitation of the plant resource has been resulting in a decline of the thyme herb supply. Bringing thyme into garden production could open an alternative income generation for producers and the country. Therefore domestication of the plant to garden crop and conservation of this plant has to be given an emphasis to get benefited from the crop sustainably and to rehabilitate the natural wild thyme diversity. Researches have to work to address technological gaps related to variety, agronomic managements, post-harvest handling and processing. Commercialization level of collected thyme particularly as export crop is very low due to small volumes, limited quality and lack of sustainable supply. Therefore it is important to improve commercialization of thyme through improvement of destination market requirements.