Tools for livestock feed assessment – lessons from ELF and QuickFeed projects

Earlier this year, ILRI joined national and international partners in two ‘feed assessment’ projects in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Livestock Feeds project (funded by ACIAR) and the ‘QuickFeed‘ early win project of the Africa RISING program both set out to  test a suite of rapid diagnosis tools to identify promising feed and fodder interventions.

At the recent QuickFeed synthesis meeting, we interviewed Jane Wamatu, Adugna Tolera and Getachew Legesse about their experiences with the FEAST, TechFit and value chain assessment (VCA) tools used in both projects.

Jane and Adugna explained that the first time they used the FEAST and TechFit tools was during the ELF project. By the time of the QuickFeed project they were more experienced and better able to provide training and support to the research teams, and this was one of the reasons why the fieldwork of QuickFeed proceeded more smoothly. Another reason, Getachew felt, was that the research team members were younger and highly motivated, partly because the QuickFeed project was part of the larger Africa RISING project and so researchers were hopeful that their research could be continued under Africa RISING project. Another reason was the improvements resource people made to the tools following ELF. In FEAST, the number of respondents for individual data collection was increased to 9 farmers. In TechFit, the list of technologies was revised and the methodology of VCA was simplified considerably and tailored to fit seamlessly with FEAST and TechFIt.

Jane, Adugna and Getachew agreed that FEAST was very well developed with a clear template, results, analysis and structure for reporting. TechFit, on the other hand, still needed considerable improvements. Adugna felt that the pre-filter worked well but that there is a need to complete and review the list of technologies and their attribute scores. Also, the cost-benefit analysis of potential technologies was very difficult to calculate and required a lot of assumptions. He also felt that there is a need to write fact sheets for each of the technologies. A clear description of potential benefits and cost would also be useful. Finally, there was a need for clear guidelines – a manual – for using the TechFit tool. Having said all this, everyone agreed that there was great potential and need for TechFit.

The VCA tool in QuickFeed was focused on dairy and sheep value chains. This was easier and more useful than the VCA in ELF which focused on feed in general. Getachew felt that VCA now worked well but still required some ‘expert’ guidance during implementation. The reason was that each VCA had different objectives and pathways, and the methodology needed to be adapted to fit the objectives.

Everyone agreed that the participatory nature of FEAST and VCA created a direct, deeper kind of interaction and communication with farmers and other actors along the value chain and that this was extremely useful. In fact, the process of implementing these tools in itself had been very beneficial for creating greater understanding and interaction between researchers , farmers, traders and other stakeholders.

Story by Werner Stur

More on the ELF project – Part of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish

More on the QuickFeed project – Part of the Africa RISING program

 

Fodder and feed in livestock value chains in Ethiopia – reports available

Three reports from the six-month ‘Fodder and feed in livestock value chains in Ethiopia – trends and prospects’ project were recently produced by ILRI.

The project was led by ILRI and involved the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research, the Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute and the International Center for Research in the Dry Areas.

The project aimed to develop a preliminary understanding of how feed components of intensifying livestock production systems in Ethiopia are changing as systems intensify and how this is reflected in the feed-related elements of focal value chains. The project outputs included three synthesis reports along with a series of field reports that can be accessed via links in the synthesis reports.

Download:

• Fodder and feed in livestock value chains in Ethiopia: Final report of the Ethiopian Livestock Feeds project
• Report of the Ethiopian livestock feeds project synthesis workshop, Addis Ababa, 28–29 May 2012
• Small ruminant feeding strategies in smallholder systems: A synthesis of global experiences and recommendations for Ethiopia

This project was funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); it is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish.

 

MilkIT India advisory council reviews project plans, sites, partners

On 1 June, members of the MilkIT project advisory council held their first meeting in Dehradun. Nils Teufel of the International Livestock Research Institute introduced the project and its intended activities.

View the presentation:

 

The subsequent question and answer session generated lively exchanges; the main questions – with answers – included:

1. What is the meaning of “innovation platform”?

• It’s about to bringing together experiences of a variety of stakeholders on
• dairy marketing, feed support , knowledge sharing and innovation/change
• regarding how to test & adapt these innovations.
• Innovation platforms are not only a discussion forum and not just an extension activity.

2. What will be the project output in Dec 2014 and who will receive it?

• As a research project, papers and reports will be major outputs, with IFAD being the first recipient.
• Research outputs will be aligned with the demands of donors and partners.
• Documentation of processes and results will enable global and local use.
• Documentation of establishment and success/failure of innovation platforms will be a major output. Induced changes will be a main indicator.

3. What will be language of dissemination?

• Main audience will be institutions. Therefore, first language will be English.
• However, for local institutions documents in Hindi will also be prepared.

4. What will be done to reduce livestock impact on forests?

• Feed requirements, current sources & opportunities will be assessed with FEAST
• General land-use change will not be a focus of MilkIT because of its short duration
• More efficient use of existing resources will probably emphasise farm products and labour efficiency (reducing forest use)
• Himmothan has already experience with introducing winter fodder. Forest use has already decreased.

5. How can MilkIT improve green fodder supply when the project is only 32 months and most green fodder comes from trees which yield only after 3-5 years?

• MilkIT will prioritise technologies (with the help of Techfit) which yield fast effects (no planting campaigns, no focus on breed improvement).
• More efficient use of existing feeds will be focus (supplementation, chopping) and wider use of under-utilised resources (grass-lands).

6. How will feed-related problems be identified? How will local capacity & willingness for adoption be considered?

• Innovation platforms will improve communication.
• Specific tools (e.g. Techfit) will enable efficient discussion.

7. What will be main project indicators, milk yield?

• Milk yield will be important, but profitability and labour returns will also be main indicators.
• Improved productivity will decrease pressure on forests.

8. How will other aspects of productivity be considered (breed, health) and who will be doing this?

• Within the project period no major breed improvement effects can be expected.
• But we know that local cows are being replaced with buffaloes.
• Feed improvements offer greater effect in improved animals with less labour.
• Where health issues are important we include local institutions in platform.
• How will the variation between households and animals be considered?
• MilkIT will only target groups (e.g. SHGs), not individual households/animals
• At the platform level discussions will have to consider for which type of households/animals technologies are suitable.
• When documenting effects we will have to collect household/animal data.

9. How is MilkIT going to compete with strong local dairy organisations?

• We will map which institutions are working on which issues.
• The innovation platforms will bring all relevant and willing actors together as a complementary activity.
• We are aware that compared to local institutions MilkIT will only show a brief appearance and cannot compete.

After reviewing work plans, members formed three groups discussing:

• Innovation platforms: “How can innovation platforms support development and dissemination of new technologies for dairy development?”
• Marketing constraints: “What are you most interested in for overcoming institutional and marketing constraints in the dairy sector?”
• Feeding constraints: “What should MilkIT produce to help with improving productivity of dairy animals among small holders through better feeding, breeding & health?”

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The project is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). It started in January 2012 and runs for three years

Basic project information

Project brochure

News on the project

Outputs from this project

Project wiki

This project is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish.

 

Successful feed interventions are all about context: Ethiopian Livestock Feeds (ELF) project synthesis workshop reflection

On 28-29 May we wrapped up the Ethiopian Livestock Feeds Project with a synthesis workshop in Addis Ababa. This brought together the whole project team, the core of which  were colleagues from Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research and Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute. We have been working together on refining various tools including FEAST, Techfit and a simple value chain assessment checklist.

This suite of tools is designed to help with developing ideas and plans for feed interventions at local level. This was our chance to review results of using the tools in the field. Also, we used the opportunity to review the tools themselves and look for ways of improving them.

The results showed that the tools are a rapid way of developing a good overview of the farming system and some of the constraints to improved feeding. Generating ideas for feed intervention was more challenging and probably requires an existing insight into what might work. However the tools were helpful in guiding thinking, and in ensuring that suggestions for feed improvement took into account system constraints such as land and labour availability. These tools are certainly not recipes for generating workable feed interventions but the process of working with the tools at field level could help to arrive at interventions which are more likely to succeed – especially if researchers work with development people in applying the tools.

What struck me at the workshop was the context specificity of successful feed interventions. The presentation from EIAR Holeta on a FEAST assessment in a dairy system showed that two areas in close proximity had completely different constraints. In the village of Robe Gebya there are plenty of cross-bred cows and farmers derive much of their livelihood from sale of milk. In nearby Berffetta Tokkoffa, horticultural crops are the dominant livelihood option and most cows are indigenous and primarily kept for draught purposes. Interestingly when farmers were asked about key solutions to improve their livestock-based livelihoods those relying on indigenous cows suggested various feed-related interventions including backyard forage and improved use of crop residues. Those with cross-bred cows were more concerned about arrangements for milk marketing – they seemed already to have sorted out their feeding. This contrast illustrates the dangers of blanket recommendations to improve feeding strategies and is one reason why many previous efforts to improve feeding have been disappointing.

As I stressed in my closing remarks, I hope that as this work develops we can move to the next stage which is working with farmers to test some of the interventions that the tools are coming up with. Time to get our hands dirty….

View the final day presentations:

Ethiopian Livestock Feed Project – approaches, tools, results

Results and experiences using value chain analysis, FEAST and Techfit tools in the Ethiopian Livestock Feed Project

 

This project is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); it is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish.

 

Project team gathers in Tanga to kick-start MilkIT project

On 24-25 April scientists from India and Tanzania gathered in Tanga, Tanzania for the inception meeting of the IFAD-funded MilkIT project. The project is implemented by ILRI and CIAT are a major partner. This was the first opportunity for the whole project team to get together, familiarize themselves with the project and begin to develop activities.

Partners from the project in Tanzania are

• Sokoine University of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science and Production
• Tanzania Livestock Research Institute, Tanga-Centre, Tanga

and in India:

• Institute of Himalayan Environmental Research and Education (INHERE)
• Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (CHIRAG)

Representatives from each partner organization participated in the meeting.

MilkIT is being implemented under the umbrella of the Livestock and Fish Research Program of the CGIAR and we planned activities jointly with a related project in Tanzania funded by Irish Aid.

During the meetings we spent time aligning our thinking on some key concepts: innovation platforms and how they work; and value chain approaches. We also discussed site selection following recent scoping visits to various prospective sites. Partnership arrangements, gender considerations and links to IFAD programs were also on our agenda.

Finally we made a start on developing activity plans for Year 1.

So the MilkIT train has now left the station and we are looking forward to seeing activities begin to take shape in coming months.

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The project is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). It started in January 2012 and runs for three years

Basic project information

Project brochure

News on the project

Outputs from this project

Project wiki

This project is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish.

 

Ethiopia Livestock Feed project trains partners, tests tools for further fieldwork

Farmers discuss ILRI feed assessment tool FEAST

Following the Ethiopian Livestock Feed (ELF) project inception meeting on 21-22 February 2012, the ELF team arranged a training workshop and field trip to test two tools in livestock value chains, FEAST and Techfit, before beginning research in their selected sites across Ethiopia. 25 participants gathered on 12-16 March 2012 at ILRI in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss the tools, refine the questionnaire for field testing, and work through any issues and queries about the project.

Alan Duncan led the training session on Techfit, and Ben Lukuyu on FEAST. Trainees included four researchers from each selected site (two experts on feed, the others on socio-economics) and the three key resource people included Abate Tedla of ILRI, Adugna Tolera of Hawassa University and Jane Wamatu of ICARDA.

Farmer explains the cost of labour in rural Ethiopia

On Wednesday, the ELF team traveled to Godino, near Debre Zeit in Ethiopia, to test run the tools with local farmers.

The party split into three smaller groups who will later investigate feed resources in sheep, beef and dairy value chains in the chosen project sites in Debre Birhan, Debre Zeit and Holetta.

The day began with a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) exercise on FEAST, where the experts and farmers answered and discussed a number of questions on land, labor, credit, inputs, and education.

Questions ranged from “How easy is it to hire casual labor as and when required?” to “ What proportion of the PRA group have completed secondary schooling?” All feedback was recorded to calculate context scores. Individual in-depth interviews were then carried out with three different farmers, while the remaining small groups continued with a PRA exercise using the Techfit tool.

The group reconvened on Thursday to reflect on the field trip and discuss next steps for the project. Presentations from the FEAST assessment were prepared during the morning session and presented by each group in the afternoon. Adugna presented the results of the Techfit PRA exercise. An afternoon reflection session looked at what worked during the field testing, what was difficult, and what needs to be changed.

The team agreed that time-keeping went well, with farmers available and present on time, and that data collection had been a success. They felt that the selection of farmers needs to be given more consideration next time, e.g. improve gender balance, age variation, and more diverse educational backgrounds. They also suggested using larger groups of 12 farmers. The group further agreed that the PRA exercise could be improved by creating a more natural and relaxed atmosphere; less like an interview and where no one participant can dominate the conversation so that everyone has an equal say.

At the end of the reflection session, Abate Tedla presented the next steps for the ELF project. The team will now split into individual site groups and aim to complete field data collection for FEAST and Techfit by the end of March, carry out value chain analysis field work by mid-April, and focus on data entry, analysis and report writing for the remainder of April.

Further information on the project and its activities is on the project wiki.

View project photos

Information on FEAST / Information in TechFit

This project is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); it is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish.

ELF team conducts PRA exercise on feed assessment tools

By Kara Brown, ILRI

 

Simple but effective: Ethiopian Livestock Feed project inception meeting

A group of 30 International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) scientists, partners and other stakeholders met on 21-22 February 2012 on the ILRI campus in Addis Ababa for a two-day inception workshop on the new Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research-funded project, ‘Fodder and feed in livestock value chains in Ethiopia – trends and prospects’ (the Ethiopian Livestock Feed (ELF) project).

With significant changes in feeding practices in the Ethiopian livestock sector and an increase in human population leading to greater scarcity of livestock feed, this project is one of a number of current initiatives focusing on feed issues within livestock value chains. Over the coming few months, ILRI in collaboration with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research and the Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute are implementing this small scoping study across six sites.

Last week’s inception workshop was held to review Ethiopia’s livestock value chains and their feed resources, to review the methodologies and tools needed for feed and value chain assessment, to initiate the site selection process and to agree upon individual roles and logistics for project activities.

Edmealem Shitye of the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development opened the workshop. He placed emphasis on the need for “simple but effective tools” to gain deeper understanding of how feed components of livestock production systems are changing and how this is reflected in the feed-related elements of focal value chains. The ELF project aims to develop and refine such tools; tools that are easy-to-use and which can prioritize feed technologies for specific locations and their value chains.

Throughout the two days, workshop participants actively engaged in conversation on ILRI’s Feed Assessment (FEAST) and Techfit tools. The project is also developing ideas for ‘light’ value chain assessments. The team gelled well, reached consensus on key actors to involve in the process, and agreed on necessary site selection criteria.

The group looked at the merits and disadvantages of using FEAST and Techfit. They questioned where and how the tools can be used, and by whom. While neither of these decision-making tools are ‘magic’ solutions, they are useful and can contribute as part of an overall process of feed assessment and intervention design. The ELF project will test different research methodologies and approaches within beef, sheep and dairy value chains. Provisional sites include six different areas in the country’s Oromiya, Amhara and SNNPR regions and training will start during the week beginning 12 March 2012.
Key actors in the process include:

• Extension workers
• Small holder farmers
• Researchers
• Development partners
• Private sector operators (feed processors, feed traders, etc.)

The inception workshop was rounded off with an outline of next steps to be taken. Those steps include drafting a detailed activity plan, involving other colleagues and partners, arranging training sessions and further developing methodologies.

Read about the meeting on the project wiki.

View outputs of the project

This project is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); it is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish.

By Kara Brown, ILRI 

 

ILRI and partners develop and test ‘easy-to-use’ feed assessment tools for Ethiopia

On 21-22 February 2012, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) held a two-day inception workshop for scientists, partners and other stakeholders involved in the Ethiopia Livestock Feed (ELF) project. Among other things, the project will further develop and test three  tools for use in assessing feed in livestock value chains. Two of the tools – FEAST and TechFit – have been developed by ILRI.

The Feed Assessment Tool (FEAST) is aimed at rapid participatory feed assessment. It provides a quick overview of the smallholder farming system in a particular location and how feed fits into the overall enterprise. The second tool (“Techfit“) helps with the question of “what next”? It helps to guide thinking of researchers and development workers on feed technology prioritization.

Together with value chain assessment, both tools will be deployed and tested in this project.

 

See an introductory presentation on FEAST:

 

See an introductory presentation on TechFit:

 

More information on the use of these tools in the ELF project is on the project wiki: FEAST and TechFit.

This project is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); it is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish.