EthonlineS Reflections + Reviews + Reports

Putting the Stink on Leather

Wondirad Seifu, January 04, 2009, Addis Fortune

While numerous aid agencies have been claiming to assist in improving the standards of preserving skins and hide to maximize on benefits for the livestock producers, some skins and hides merchants have been trashing the set and established standards of the industry.

The rich component of hide and skins is protein, which accounts for about 30 pc of its weight. Protein, possessing a very high nutritional value, warrants proper handling of hide and skins; failing to do so leads to a complete loss of its leather making potential. In the jargon of the leather trade, the damage is known as putrefaction, which accounts for 90 pc of the deterioration seen following the skinning of the animal. It is rampant in countries like Ethiopia.

However, unfortunately, although a host of aid agencies have claimed to be involved in efforts aimed at harvesting defect-free hide and skins, nothing has come to fruition, except for the publicity. The reality on the ground speaks of the inability of the agencies to deliver on their promises.

Take, for instance, the newly established hide and skins collection stores in Addis Ababa that are made available with the generous support of USAID. Despite the stores cosy appearance and their undetermined owners, they conveniently adapts bad practices, and comfortably violets the Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia.(QSAE ).

The standards require preserving hide and skins within five hours of separation from the animal’s carcass, either by salting or air drying methods. The first demands salt amounting to 50pc of the skin’s weight, while the latter needs a frame for lying out in a stretching position under shade. If that is not possible, the standard implicitly urges one to send the hide and skins immediately to the tanneries.

None of these best practices are observed at the USAID financed stores; ironically, diversified businesses are being carried out: some make available animal’s heads and hoofs , while others provide services that have no relation whatsoever with hide and skins.

Sadly, these stores have completely lost their purpose as a model. Instead, hide and skins are piled over a table under which a charcoal stove is placed to generate an aroma of incenses in a bid to neutralize the bad odour that is emanating from them.

Two contradictory processes seem to be taking place here. The heat from the charcoal could accelerate bacterial decomposition, while the smoke triggers pre- matured tanning process, possibly retards putrefaction at the expense of the skins’ quality.

Sadly, traditional hide and skin collectors are still using iron drums for storage. Still, the same process of deterioration takes place; the drum’s rust has a potential to tan the skins, while congestion in the drum develops heat; and bacterial activity could reach its highest stages.

Proper handling of preservation of hide and skins should be taking place; in its absence, speaking of leather quality is a mockery of the industry.

A couple of decade ago, the storing and preservation of hide and skins was relatively better than it is today. On average, the rate of preservation by salt was about 37 pc although it has been pulled up by salted sheepskins, which was then 80 pc. There was, of course, a practice of providing salt; free of charge, for collectors; such practices had yielded better pay-off.

Recently, I heard on the news that “the share of best quality hide and skins is lifted up from 21 pc to 23 pc”. Quite interestingly, it appears that the leather pundits have managed to invent a computational model with an error zone, say plus or minus 0.0001 pc. On the contrary, over the past 20 years, the volume of best grade hide and skins has dropped from about 70 pc to 21 pc.

This is disappointing for I cannot trace a single salt particle in many of the large stores that pile up wet hide and skins, as if depicting samples of chained mountains while generating the usual bad odour. This is certainly a good sign of a bad practice!

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