Feed in smallholder systems mini-symposium

On 18 and 19 November 2010, the Fodder Adoption Project organised a mini-symposium on ‘feed in smallholder systems’ as part of week-long end-of-project review discussions. The session was opened by Alan Duncan with a brief presentation on Sustainable livestock intensification in smallholder systems – where does feed fit and how can current constraints be overcome?. … Continue reading →

Fodder adoption project scales out innovation processes

Today, the country teams from the IFAD-supported ‘Fodder Adoption Project’ met in Luang Prabang Laos to review and assess what was achieved during the project. The workshop opened with an overview presentation by project coordinator Alan Duncan. He introduced the goal of the project: to improve the livelihoods of poor livestock keepers through increased access … 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 →

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 … Continue reading →

Final meeting of Fodder Innovation Project – some reflections

I’m just back from Hyderabad where I attended the final conference of the Fodder Innovation Project, a sister project to FAP which has been funded by DFID for work in India and Nigeria. This project takes as its premise that fodder scarcity is an “innovation capacity” problem rather than a technical problem. They have been … Continue reading →

Moving from “project mode” to sustained change in practice among local actors – some challenges

We hear a lot these days about “project-led approaches”. Projects come in and deliver various interventions but these tend to leave no lasting impression beyond the life of the project. Such approaches tend to focus on technical interventions. One response has been to think more about innovation systems: dealing with the range of players already … Continue reading →

Film: Stakeholder platforms enhance innovation in Ethiopian dairy system

In October we held a field day with local stakeholders at our Ada’a site. We invited both farmers from surrounding districts as well as other members of our local stakeholder group. In the morning we walked through fields and talked with farmers about their experiences of planting fodder and how this fitted into their dairy … Continue reading →

Promising technologies not enough on their own to bring about widespread change in smallholder systems

In this short video, ILRI’s Alan Duncan introduces the IFAD-funded ‘Fodder Adoption Project’ based at ILRI. He outlines the approach followed in the project – trying to strike a balance between the technological and institutional angles. The project helps groups of stakeholders – farmers, private sector, dairy coops, the government – get together in ‘innovation … Continue reading →

Capturing and Communicating our outputs

Welcome to the Fodder Adoption Project blog. I hope this will be a more dynamic way of communicating what is happening within the project. As we come into the last year of the project I hope to use this blog to post various outputs emerging from the project. These will include working papers, meeting reports, … Continue reading →