Hide and Skin Preservation in Ethiopia: Traditional Practices, Improved Techniques, Quality Challenges, and Future Prospects

Hides and skins are important livestock by-products and the principal raw materials for Ethiopia’s leather and leather-products industries. Their value, however, depends not only on the number of animals slaughtered but also on how promptly and correctly the pelts are removed, preserved, stored and transported before tanning. Fresh hides and skins contain abundant water, nutrients and microorganisms; delays after slaughter can therefore lead to bacterial putrefaction, hair slip, grain damage, unpleasant odour and irreversible losses in leather strength and appearance. In Ethiopia, these risks are intensified by dispersed small-scale and household slaughter, limited access to suitable salt and drying facilities, long distances between rural producers and collection centres, variable technical knowledge, weak incentives for quality, and exposure to heat, dust, insects and rain. This review synthesizes preservation principles and techniques relevant to Ethiopian conditions, including immediate handling, wet salting, dry salting, air-drying, brine curing, chilling and freezing, and selected emerging approaches such as antimicrobial treatments and improved curing systems. It distinguishes preservation—which slows microbial and enzymatic deterioration—from defect prevention, grading and subsequent tannery processing. Evidence from Ethiopian studies indicates that post-slaughter putrefaction is one contributor to downgrading and rejection, although many defects originate before slaughter or during flaying and cannot be corrected by curing. The review proposes a context-sensitive preservation pathway: clean and rapid collection; species-appropriate curing; controlled drying or salting; raised, ventilated storage; pest exclusion; traceable grading; and prompt transport to processors. It also identifies research needs in locally feasible curing protocols, salt quality and reuse, low-cost drying structures, preservation costs, environmental impacts and incentives linked to raw-material quality. The central conclusion is that preservation should be treated as a coordinated value-chain service rather than an isolated task performed after slaughter.