Ethiopian Fodder Roundtable considers promising feed technologies for the dairy sector

The Ethiopian Fodder Roundtable has been a useful forum for sharing ideas around feed development for livestock in Ethiopia. In late January we met to discuss a study commissioned by SNV Ethiopia which identified some promising feeding practices and technologies for dairy production in Ethiopia. Solomon Mogus set the scene with a presentation giving highlights of his assessment of current feeding practices and some suggestions for change. We then broke into groups to consider each suggestion asking ourselves two questions:

-          What are the expected benefits in terms of milk yield, saved labour etc?

-          What are the most limiting constraints to their adoption?

We had some very fruitful discussions on the pros and cons of the various technologies and practices proposed. There is more work to be done in assessing the economics of some of the proposed technologies.

SNV developed a leaflet summarising the recommendations; we will revise the leaflet based on the working group discussions.

The presentation is here:

http://mahider.ilri.org/handle/10568/3098

In this video, Alan Duncan of ILRI and Jürgen Greiling of SNV Ethiopia reflect on the meeting:

 

Fourth Ethiopia fodder roundtable focused on delivery of livestock services

On 22 june 2010, ILRI hosted the fourth in a series of Ethiopia fodder roundtables that bring different actors together to share knowledge on developments in the sector.

We caught up on video with some of the participants:

Amanuel Assefa from Agri Service Ethiopia explains how this NGO is supporting the development of community-based dairy hubs in the country.

Asfaw Tolessa briefly introduced the work of Land O’ Lakes in Ethiopia and how it supports dairy development in the country.

Carl Birkelo from  ACDI/VOCA explains how the fodder roundtable is a useful way to keep up with developments in the sector in Ethiopia.

Speaking about the roundtables to Nadia Manning-Thomas, ILRI project leader Alan Duncan says that “the roundtable has been a good form of communication. It has helped all involved to learn about what different actors are doing around fodder, allows good networking, and helps make connections to other initiatives. People appreciate it. It not only makes more information available within the sector as a whole, but also is a good forum to synthesise main elements of what is going on in a particular area. It has crystallised real issues which we can then document and share further. It keeps knowledge moving around.”

 

Delivering AI services to Ethiopia’s livestock sector

The delivery of veterinary and artificial insemination (AI) services was a major focus of the ‘Fourth Ethiopian Fodder Roundtable’ held at ILRI on 22 June 2010 (the presentation by Kebebe Ergano explains how a project on animal feed and fodder came to be involved in the delivery of these types of services).

Alemaheyu Lemma of Addis Ababa University outlined some of the factors and constraints affecting the delivery of AI services in Ethiopia.

Noting that “the bull is half of the herd,” he argued that solving problems around breeding are crucial to the health and performance of the whole herd.

He identified a large number of constraints to AI services in the country, including:

• Where genes have been upgraded through improved breeding, they are quickly diluted due to indiscriminate breeding;
• Most cattle breeding is uncontrolled, with very few herd records etc, so genetic improvement is very difficult;
• Farmers complain that their cows do not get pregnant after AI, which is linked to a lack of awareness when cows should be inseminated, poor quality semen, and other weaknesses in service delivery;
• There is hardly any communication and feedback system between the national AI center, service giving units, and end users
• AI services do not reach out to all the farmers, especially those in remote areas;
• The shortage of trained AI technicians

View his presentation.

In this short video interview, he reflects on AI services in Ethiopia: the main change he argues for is to widen and improve the breeding alternatives available to farmers.

Emiru Zewudie (ALPPIS) and Desalegn GebreMedhin (EMDTI) extended the list of constraints, elaborating on the opportunities for private organizations and associations to contribute in this area.

GebreMedhin identified some opportunities or drivers for private AI service delivery: the growing demands for quality semen and reliable ways to deliver this, growing willingness among farmers to pay for quality services, more opportunities to obtain semen from alternative suppliers (beyond the national center), and government policies that are more supportive of the private sector.

He also noted 2 particular challenges: the high investment and overhead costs to get started, and the lower rates charged to farmers by the government for AI services.

View his presentation.

Zewudie, formerly with the National AI Center, introduced the services of ALPPIS, and set out some principles for successful AI services that it is following:

• proper planning and organization [but that Ethiopia is not well-organized at the national level]
• accessible and affordable [to the farmers]
• reliable and continuous [otherwise farmers lose confidence]
• effectiveness [how many inseminations, conception rate]
• incentives for the farmers [markets for the products that come from AI]

He noted that farmers are willing to pay for AI services if they prove to be effective and reliable, and called for:

1. The reorganization and better monitoring of the delivery of AI services at the National level;
2. Support for the private sector to successfully participate in the delivery of AI services;
3. Ways and means to provide reliable, effective, and profitable AI services.

View his presentation.

In this short video, Amare Haileslassie from ILRI argues that farmers need markets for livestock and livestock products otherwise they have little incentives to adopt improved cross-bred cows nor to improve the productivity of their feed resources.

 

How multi-stakeholder platforms help extend fodder options for livestock in Ethiopia

Speaking at the ‘Fourth Ethiopian Fodder Roundtable’ hosted by ILRI on 22 June, Kebebe Ergano of ILRI introduced the IFAD-Funded ‘Fodder Adoption Project’ (FAP) and how it uses multi-stakeholder platforms to bring together people working with livestock and fodder in Ethiopia.

The project starting point is the recognition that feed/fodder scarcity is a major constraint to livestock production in Ethiopia. It also recognizes that fodder scarcity is not just about technologies but also about the collective capacity of a network of individuals and organizations.

It therefore uses an innovation system framework to engage multiple actors along livestock commodity value chains – facilitating continuous interaction among stakeholders to generate innovation rather than just research products or technologies.

The vehicles for the interactions are several multi-stakeholder platforms where actors directly or indirectly involved in livestock value chains raise and discuss common issues of concern.

From an initial focus on fodder, the scope of project discussions were broadened as different actors set out their concerns. Kebede: “We started with fodder, but we were dragged to deal with other issues like AI, marketing, and so on.”

Some of the lessons learned so far:

• Participatory selection of technologies that address farmers’ priority problems and demonstrating tangible economic benefits is key;
• Linking forage technologies with value chain issues in livestock enterprises is critical for successful adoption of forage technologies;
• Functioning markets (such as for inputs, credit, and output) and basic development infrastructure (road, electricity, ICT, etc) are key to technology uptake and agricultural transformation;
• Selecting stakeholders and understanding their needs and positions is important;
• Stakeholder platforms should not be simply a ‘talk shop’ and they must support tangible outcomes;
• Strong convening agency for stakeholder platforms is a must;
• Presence of a local facilitator with adequate training to facilitate the process is essential;
• Regular formal and informal communication that creates transparency is critical to the process;
• Willingness to adapt to changing circumstances and uncertainty must be recognized;
• Trust, mutual respect and patience, especially in the face of frustration and slow progress, are key ingredients;
• Monitoring and (self-) evaluation throughout the process by stakeholders will result in improved learning and better outcomes.

View his presentation

In this video interview, Ergano explains how the project evolved into a multi-stakeholder platform.

In this video interview, Juergen Greiling from SNV explains the value of multi-stakeholder platforms and hubs as devices to bring different actors together to identify and implement development activities.

 

High quality feed for livestock in Ethiopia – Some constraints

On 22 June 2010, ILRI hosted the ‘Fourth Ethiopian Fodder Roundtable’ on the effective delivery of input services to livestock development in the country.

ILRI’s Alan Duncan kicked off the discussions with a reflection on the constraints facing the supply of high quality feed for livestock in Ethiopia.

Among the constraints he identified:

1. The overall nature of the sector is characterized by small farms, subsistence production, a greater focus on cereals, and undeveloped livestock markets.
2. The shortage of biomass for feed. A ‘free grazing culture’ ensures that everything is eaten. A reliance on animal energy for tillage and transport means there is less energy for production. The use of livestock as a ‘bank’ leads to the purchase of additional animals. Each animal therefore gets a small amount of biomass, and much of energy from the biomass is used for the ‘maintenance’ of large numbers of animals (for security, for traction, etc) instead of for the ‘production’ of livestock products for the market.
3. The dominance of arable production that requires feed for the draught animals – consuming biomass – and means that crop residues dominate livestock diets.
4. Feed is an intermediate commodity, leading to an “uncertain value chain.”

Looking forward, he highlighted some drivers of change:

• dwindling grazing resources are forcing farmers to consider other feed sources;
• there is a growing urban demand for livestock products;
• and improving infrastructure.

View his presentation:

** This Roundtable is part of a series organized by the IFAD-Funded ‘Fodder Adoption Project’ (FAP) at ILRI. Reports from previous roundtable discussions are available online.

** Nadia Manning-Thomas talks to Alan Duncan about the roundtable process and its results.

 

Summary of Fodder Roundtable meeting on Oct 15 09

Last October we held the 3rd in our series of Fodder Roundtable Meetings in Ethiopia. I put together this summary of the day, focusing especially on the synthesis discussion. Comments welcome. Here is a link to the summary:

http://mahider.ilri.org/handle/10568/544