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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

Barriers to the uptake of improved feeding strategies

At last week’s Africa-RISING ‘quick feed‘ project inception meeting, Werner Stür shared some of the reasons why improved animal feeding strategies seem not to be taken up, and some ways to address this. He started by arguing that current future livestock productivity challenges would benefit significantly from “a little more feed per animal.” He outlined … Continue reading →

Synthesis of fodder innovation approaches published

Seife Ayele, formerly of the International Livestock Research Institute, conducted a synthesis study of “fodder innovation approaches” across the three countries where the Fodder Adoption Project based its activities. The work has now been published in Science and Public Policy and can be accessed here. The study concludes: … fodder innovation can be successfully triggered … Continue reading →

Understanding livelihood constraints to better target livestock feed interventions – the Africa RISING Quick Feed Project

Uptake of improved feeding strategies to support market-oriented livestock production does not happen readily in the Ethiopian Highlands. Livestock tend to be fed opportunistically with what is available and a large proportion of the diet is composed of low quality material such as crop residues. There are many valid reasons for this. See for example … Continue reading →

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

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 – … Continue reading →

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 →