Enhancing dairy feed interventions in India and Tanzania – three messages from the MilkIT project

In December 2014, the MilkIT project (Enhancing dairy-based livelihoods in India and Tanzania through feed innovation and value chain development approaches) held final workshops in Lushoto and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. On 11 December, team members met in an ‘Outreach Meeting’ with various stakeholders and partners. The aim of the meeting was to continue synthesizing the key insights of the project through interactions with a wider community. Continue reading →

MilkIT: Enhancing dairy-based livelihoods in India through feed innovation

The MilkIT (enhancing dairy-based livelihoods in India and Tanzania through feed innovation) project comes to an end in December 2014. The project team in India recently produced a video documenting some of the project’s experiences, zooming in on innovation platforms, womens’ empowerment, and enhanced forage availability. Continue reading →

Innovation platforms as a route to dairy development in India

The International Livestock Research Institute has adopted an innovation platform approach as a route to dairy development in the hills of Uttarakhand. Continue reading →

Innovation Platforms as a tool for smallholder dairy development: Experiences from Uttarakhand in India

At last week’s Tropentag 2014 conference Thanammal Ravichandran, Nils Teufel and Alan Duncan gave a presentation on the use of innovation platforms in the ‘milkIT’ project in India. The study evaluates the process of IP functioning and conflict management through a qualitative “innovation storyline”. The IP meetings were regularly documented with details of issues discussed, actions planned and follow up activities. Continue reading →

Transformation of beef production in Vietnam – an innovation case study

During the Fodder Adoption Project our Vietnam case was particularly successful building as it did on previous forage development efforts in Vietnam led by CIAT. Through the Fodder Adoption Project and previous projects the livestock system in study sites moved from a subsistence system to one based on marketing of improved cattle to distant markets. … Continue reading →

Fodder seed field day in Ethiopia is an encouraging sign of sustained innovation

During the lifetime of the Fodder Adoption Project ILRI established local innovation platforms at various field sites around Ethiopia. The idea behind these was to provide a forum for key livestock feed stakeholders to get together and jointly plan actions to improve the livestock feed situation for smallholder farmers. One such innovation platform was established … 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 →

Inception of a new project on livestock feed development for dairy value chains in India and Tanzania

Following completion of the IFAD-funded Fodder Adoption Project, IFAD recently agreed to fund a further project on feed enhancement for dairy value chains in India and Tanzania. The project will be implemented by ILRI with CIAT as a major partner. We are calling the project MilkIT (Milk in India and Tanzania) and the grant agreement … 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 →