Australia funds scoping study on feed in livestock value chains in Ethiopia

There is a lot happening in the area of feeds for livestock value chains in Ethiopia at the moment. A number of new livestock research for development initiatives are on the horizon including: The Gates Foundation-funded East Africa Dairy Development Project extending its activities into Ethiopia The CIDA-funded LIVES programme The multi-donor Agricultural Growth Programme … Continue reading →

Innovation, scaling out and market development: Fodder adoption project synthesis report

Under the title ‘Enhancing Livelihoods of Poor Livestock Keepers through Increased Use of Fodder’, the goal of this IFAD-funded Programme was to improve the livelihoods of poor livestock keepers in Ethiopia, Syria and Vietnam in a sustainable manner through increased access to and adoption of fodder interventions. With activities in Ethiopia, Syria and Vietnam and … Continue reading →

Fodder Adoption Project Ethiopia: Innovation Platforms from technology focus to actors focus

On September 28, I joined Andre Van Rooyen (ICRISAT) and Ranjitha Puskur (ILRI) in a session on innovation platforms in agricultural research for development at the Rome AgriKnowledge share fair. For my presentation, I used experiences of the ‘Fodder Adoption Project in Ethiopia to illustrate how using the innovation systems approach shifted the focus of … Continue reading →

Planted forage as an entry point to catalyse stakeholder action on broader livestock value chain issues – experiences from Ethiopia

Feed scarcity in smallholder systems is a key constraint to improved livestock production in developing countries. However, development efforts which have taken a narrow technology-focused approach to dealing with feed scarcity have had limited success. In the Fodder Adoption Project, we experimented with the use of local stakeholder forums in our sites in Ethiopia to … Continue reading →

Forage seed supply in Ethiopia – some thoughts on current status and how it might evolve

Forage seed supply continues to be an important constraint to improving feed resources for livestock in Ethiopia. Last week the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research organized a National Forage Seed Workshop (May 12-14, 2011). There were a number of interesting presentations: what was clear from many of these is that forage development for livestock has … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

Livestock stakeholder group in Ada’a, Ethiopia builds momentum

Three years ago when we set up stakeholder groups to work together on fodder/livestock issues in Ethiopia, we were worried about the sustainability question. Who would facilitate such groups after our Fodder Adoption Project and the Improving Productivity and Market Success projects phased out? With this in mind, this year we devolved facilitation of the … Continue reading →

Using participatory video with farmers in Ethiopia: Strengths and weaknesses

Earlier this year, Beth Cullen was commissioned to train farmers in participatory video (PV) – as a tool for capturing community views and perceptions on their collaboration with the Fodder Adoption Project over the last 3 years. More information on her work is here. She recently submitted a short report on the assignment, describing the … Continue reading →

Fodder adoption project in Ethiopia – community video tells farmers’ story

As part of the reporting on the Fodder Adoption Project, ILRI commissioned Beth Cullen to train farmers in one of the project sites in participatory video. So they can tell their side of the project story. This film was planned and filmed by project participants from Mieso woreda, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. More on Beth Cullen’s … Continue reading →

Final meeting of the Fodder Adoption Project in November 2010

The Fodder Adoption Project is drawing to a close at the end of 2010. Next week (15-19 Nov, 2010) we will hold our final co-ordination meeting in Laos PDR to review research findings and draw out some lessons. Some 30 participants from around the world will participate. As well as reviewing FAP we have also … Continue reading →