Communication in the fodder adoption project

This morning at the end of project workshop, project teams from Vietnam, Syria and Ethiopia shared their approach to the project’s output 3 – to enhance the capacity of project partners to experiment with and use fodder innovations through effective communication, technical information and training… Mechanisms for joint learning used by the Vietnam fodder adoption … 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 →

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 →

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 →

Vietnam cattle marketing study shows benefits of embedding forage development within a larger market context

Although feed is a major constraint in smallholder systems, upgrading of feed resources is often driven by enhanced market access for livestock products. In one of our sites in Vietnam, intensive grass production for stall feeding to cattle has taken off in a big way. In part, this has been driven by enhanced access to … 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 →

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 Continue reading →