Yoseph Mekasha, Tadiwos Zewdie, Tesfaye Shewage, Tesfaye Dubale, Birhanu Biazen and Dirk Hoekstra

Lack of access to commercial concentrate feed supply and inadequate knowledge on the use are among the challenges hindering market-oriented livestock development in Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) Region. Concentrate feed is rich in energy, protein, and other nutrients that are required for optimum production and reproduction performance of livestock.

Cognizant of this, the Livestock and Irrigation Value chain for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project and stakeholders in the livestock sector are working on to create access for and improving concentrate feed supply in the region through the introduction of pertinent interventions. 

These interventions were preceded by the establishment, by LIVES, of commodity platforms in project districts. The platforms help the project team and partners understand the existing situation, identify challenges and constraints, and prioritize interventions for implementation through community participation.

The project then trained, coached and mentored selected livestock producers and extension experts on concentrate feed use and organized study tours for experience sharing.

Six concentrate feed suppliers were then initiated in five intervention districts of Gamo Gofa and Sidama Zones.These are  Chebicho concentrate feed retailing, Alemitu livestock feed retailing, Adanech livestock feed retailing, Feker Shemachoch Hulegeb cooperative, Musa livestock feed retailing, and Mulu livestock feed retailing in Bona, Arbegona, Bensa, Arbaminch Zuria and Bonke districts respectively. With the exception of Feker Shemachoch hulegeb cooperative, all the others are owned and operated by individuals. In addition, these enterprises were supported to establish market linkages with commercial concentrate processors and livestock producers.

The owners of the businesses are also livestock producers mainly dairy, poultry and cattle fattening and 60% of these feed businesses are owned and managed by women. The focus is on retailing commercial concentrate feed mix and/or ingredients. Wheat bran and oil seed cakes (such as noug seed and linseed cakes) are the main commercial livestock feed retailed in project districts.

Within the past 18 months three of the businesses (Feker Shemachoch Hulegeb Cooperative, Musa private feed retailer and Alemitu livestock feed retailing) sold 373, 400kg of commercial concentrate feeds  to more than 100 regular customers and other non -regular buyers in and outside their respective districts.

The retailers in Sidama Zone buy concentrate mix from processors in Hawassa city while retailers in Gamo Gofa zone buy from Wolayta Sodo, Debre Zeit and Mojo. However, most retailers (except those in Arbegona and Arbaminch Zuria districts) source agro-industrial by-products (ingredients) from traders in Hawassa and Wolayita Sodo for Sidama and Gamo Gofa zones, respectively.

LIVES has continued providing the necessary support such as coaching and mentoring to strengthen these businesses. The project is also facilitating business-to-business linkage among retailers, processors and livestock producers.

In general, the feed supply businesses are creating and improving farmers’ access to commercial concentrate feed and contributing towards market-oriented livestock development in the intervention districts and beyond. The performance of the businesses is encouraging although much more needs to be done to enhance the demand for concentrate feed use in the region through awareness creation, coaching and mentoring and knowledge sharing events.

This working paper by the Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) Project and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) presents results from an analysis of the profitability of selected irrigated commodities and farmers’ risk perception in Ethiopia.

Findings from the study suggest that most commodities have high level of profitability for producers. This may assure the feasibility of investments on the respective commodities vis-a-vis other investment alternatives such as saving money in local banks to commercial saving interest rates.

The study found that provided that output prices are stable, yield enhancing interventions secure more profit to farmers and profit is more responsive to yield growth than to cost rise. The level of perceived business risk by farmers ranges from moderate to high with the most important business risk occurring at the production stage of the value chain, followed by the post-harvest and the input supply stages. The study recommends improving the entire value chain of irrigated agriculture by targeting interventions at all stages.

The data was collected from Amhara, Tigray, SNNP and Oromia in the 2013-14 production year.

Download the working paper.

by Dirk Hoekstra, Yigza Dessalegn, Worku Teka and Beamlak Tesfaye

Banana ripening house in Gondar town (photo credit: ILRI\Dirk Hoekstra).

In a recent field visit, we came across two interesting innovations in Gondar town. The first is a banana ripening house which we had heard about while visiting banana farmers working under the Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) in Lay Armacheho District, North Gondar Zone. Such a ripening house would be required in the future, in the district, when banana production expands and home ripening techniques are no longer adequate.

A similar approach of setting up a ripening house was used after banana production expanded in Metema District. Banana farming was introduced there six years ago by the Improving the Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian Farmers (IPMS) project which preceded LIVES. A banana ripening specialist was brought in from Atkilt tera (fresh fruit and vegetable marketing centre in Addis Ababa) to train traders from Gondar town and some farmers from Metema.

One of the trained banana traders did, in fact, start a ‘Chella‘ (banana ripening) house in Gondar town but it only functioned for a short time as a result of low prices offered to farmers and conflicting interests between traders. But by then, the IPMS project had ended and the development and scaling up of banana ripening was not pursued further. So it was quite a surprise to find a fully functional ripening house in Gondar which is operated by Fiseha Aregawi. We noticed many women retailers collecting bananas from the ripening house for sale in town. Another surprise was the fact that most of the ripened bananas were not from Metama (which we expected) but from Arba Minch District, where the project originally introduced banana farming.

Red Bombay onion seed in Gondar town (photo credit:ILRI\Dirk Hoekstra).

The second innovation we came across in Gondar town was industry packed Red Bombay onion seeds, which we found in Mohamednur Ahmed’s agricultural input supplies shop. We learnt that the seed is produced and packed in Mecha District, West Gojjam zone by a commercial company, Jemma Integrated Agriculture PLC, in Merawi.

It reminded us of an onion seed production initiative started by IPMS in Fogera in 2005. Starting with only three farmers, it had grown to 92 farmers in 2009/10, producing onion seeds worth ETB 2,361,000 ( approximately USD 110,000). To professionalize the sale of onion seeds, the project at that time worked with Adet Agricultural Research Centre and the Amhara Bureau of Agriculture regulatory department to train farmers to produce quality seeds. It even resulted in a brand name (FOSP) for the onion seeds which was used by some of the farmers. When LIVES started in the Koga irrigation scheme a few years later, it was found that one of the leading onion seed producers in Fogera leased land in the scheme to produce onion seeds. This person introduced onion seed production in Koga irrigation scheme.

The project in Fogera further expanded and a seed producers cooperative was established in support of Local Seed Business and AgroBig projects. In addition, an entrepreneur, Jemma Integrated Agriculture in Mecha District, started onion seed production, processing, packaging and marketing. The company is now selling packed onion seed to onion producers in west Amhara region at a lower price compared to imported seeds.

Our experiences in Gondar show that projects can plan, initiate and facilitate scaling up of interventions but it is ultimately up to the value chain actors to actually implement them and in their own ways, ensure their long-term success. In addition, innovation requires incubation period to takeoff.

by Berhanu Gebremedhin, Dereje Legesse and Birhanu Biazin

Germame Garuma, deputy head of the SNNPR Bureau of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the ToT workshop (photo credit: ILRI\Yoseph Mekasha).

Scale out of market-oriented extension (MOE) service and value chain development (VCD) approaches in Ethiopia is increasing as a result of training offered by the Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project.

So far, the project has carried out training of trainers (TOT) workshops in four highland regions of Ethiopia. The most recent one took place in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) February 10-15, 2016.

At the closing of the workshop, Germame Garuma, deputy head of the Regional Bureau of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said that the training would help transform agricultural production and trade in the region. He said the LIVES training was especially important in efforts to bridge the missing link in the regional extension service.’LIVES is a small project in terms of its financial resources, but its knowledge and capacity contributions to the region are huge,’ he said.

A week after the TOT workshop by LIVES, the regional bureau of agriculture and natural resources organized a four-day TOT workshop (February 22-24) on the subject to scale out the training throughout the region. The workshop was attended by 130 participants (11 female) drawn from the regional office, all zones and districts in the region and was facilitated by staff who participated in the workshop organized by LIVES. Dereje Legesse, LIVES agribusiness expert, gave technical support during the workshop.

The workshop budget was close to half a million Birr and was paid for by the bureau itself.

This case is also evidence that the TOT workshop approach used by LIVES in capacity building is well received by partners and is being adopted and scaled out.

Participants in the ‘second level’ workshop were unequivocal in their determination to scale out the training further and adopt the MOE service and VCD approach in their agricultural extension activities. They also committed to institutionalizing the approaches in their respective bureaus and offices.

By Azage Tegegne

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR). In this post, Azage Tegegne, leader of the Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) Project, reflects on how working with EIAR has shaped his contribution to livestock research in Ethiopia.

I vividly remember  my first encounter with EIAR, then the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR). I was a senior student at Alemaya College of Agriculture majoring in animal sciences. In our final year, we visited research institutions, commercial and smallholder farms accross the country and development institutions  such as Chilalo Agriculture Development Union (CADU)  to find out about their work and learn from their experiences. One of the visits was to IAR’s Melka Werer and Holetta Agricultural Research Centres, and we were really impressed by the quality of scientific research that was being carried out there—from soils to crop breeding to agronomy, crop protection, etc.

We also saw research in livestock sciences, particularly on the dairy potential of local breeds such as Borana, Barca and Horro, and their crossbreeds with exotic breeds such as Holstein-Friesian, Jersey and Simmental. The animals looked beautiful and were big in size. We were impressed by how the researchers linked forage agronomy research to animal nutrition and animal production.

In the IAR’s animal nutrition and dairy laboratories different kinds of analyses aimed at improving livestock productivity were taking place and the white-overall-clad scientists made a huge impression on me. They answered the many questions we raised as young students, no doubt in some part hoping to impress them with our intelligence and get them to hire us! I remember saying to myself that I belong to IAR and really got motivated to be a researcher/scientist like those I was seeing.

After graduating, for reasons not clear to me even today, I was ‘hijacked’ by Alemaya College and recruited as a graduate assistant. I was happy to be employed by the college because I realized that I could teach and also do research! Due to the shortage of teaching staff, I was one of the first batches of graduate students enrolled in a brand new graduate program of the Addis Ababa University. This opened up an opportunity for me to get attached to IAR at Holetta where I studied animal breeding and genetics under Prof Salah Galal. Galal was an outstanding professor and a very kind and compassionate person who was always willing to mentor young scientists.

Eventually, I decided to do my MSc thesis research on animal breeding and genetics under his supervision using IAR data collected over the years at the four research centres- Holetta, Bako, Melka Werer and Adami Tulu. Various IAR administrators, researchers and assistants contributed to my success in various ways. I thank them all for shaping my life for good.

My connection with IAR continued through participation in the IAR-sponsored annual meetings of the National Crop Improvement Conference (NCIC), which presented and discussed livestock-related research until the National Livestock Improvement Conference (NLIC) was established. NLIC was the precursor of the Ethiopian Society of Animal Production (ESAP). I appreciate that the IAR leadership supported and nurtured these conferences.

After completing my Ph.D. study in 1989 in Queensland, Australia, I joined the then International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA), now International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in 1990 as a post-doctoral fellow and continued with ILRI to date. Over these years, I have actively  participated in the transformation of IAR into the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization (EARO) and then to EIAR. I have been involved in a number of collaborative research activities between ILRI and EIAR and contributed, in my own small way, to the capacity building of the institution.

Over the years, I have also witnessed EIAR evolve and grow its contributions to agricultural development in Ethiopia and beyond. I think I am one of the lucky ones who have had a chance to know and work with different leaders at EIAR–from the founder and first director general, the late Ato Worku Mekasha, to the current director general, Fentahun Mengistu.

As we mark 50 years of EIAR in 2016, I think it is appropriate for us to pause and pay tribute to those who have built this institution and made it one of the leading agricultural research institutions in Africa. Some of them are not with us today, but the culture of scientific research they left behind has endured and we look forward to EIAR continuing to remain one of the leading agricultural research institutions in Africa in the coming years!

Congratulations EIAR on your 50^th anniversary!

A visit to a vegetable farm in Sidama (photo credit:ILRI\Yoseph Mekasha)

A high-level Canadian delegation visited the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) Project sites in Sidama from 9–10 March 2016.

The delegation, which was led by Jim Cornelius, executive director of the Canadian Foodgrain Bank (CFGB), included directors and research scientists from CropLife International, Syngenta, Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences, Bayer CropScience, World Renew and CFGB.

Azage Tegegne, the LIVES project manager shared experiences from the project’s approaches and activities and the challenges and opportunities in livestock and irrigated agriculture development in Ethiopia. Yoseph Mekasha of LIVES spoke about commodity value chain development activities and achievements in Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR).

A visit to a fruit tree nursery (photo credit:ILRI\Yoseph Mekasha).

They visited dairy, fruit and vegetable farmers in Sidama zone where they heard about the activities and outcomes LIVES interventions among farmers there. They also visited feed and agrochemical input providers, milk processors and marketers, knowledge centres and  held discussions with value chain actors and LIVES partners in the region.

The team also got to see the long-term impacts of the Improving Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian Farmers (IPMS) project, the project that preceded LIVES, in Dale District of Sidama zone.

The visit gave the Canadian visitors a first-hand account of the outcomes of the Canadian government’s support and investment in agricultural development and humanitarian projects in Ethiopia.

Pregnancy diagnosis kit demonstration in Saesi Tsaeda Emba District, Tigray (photo credit:ILRI\Solomon Gizaw).

One of the hurdles in delivering artificial insemination (AI) to improve the dairy animals kept by smallholder dairy farmers in Ethiopia is the challenge of making an accurate and timely diagnosis of pregnancy in cows.

Results from a recent MSc study show that on average one AI technician misclassified nearly half (4.6 out of 10) of all cows presented for corpus luteum detection and this triggered the use of alternative detection devices.

To enhance accurate detection of cow pregnancy, the Livestock and Irrigations Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project has recently introduced a cow-side pregnancy diagnosis (PD) and embryo mortality detection kit called Hormonost® Micro-Lab Farmertest, which can determine pregnancy and embryo mortality as early as 20 days post-AI based on milk progesterone profiles, and shortens the time to re-inseminating cows that failed to conceive.

The technology has been evaluated through action research in Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR) and Tigray (see LIVES Working Paper 12). It took only 15 minutes to complete a PD test for six milk samples at a time, and the results obtained indicated nearly 100% accuracy. The technology also helped in detecting the existence of previously unnoticed high embryonic mortality ranging from 15-40%.

Recently, the technology was adopted by the Bureaus of Livestock Development in the four regions, including in districts outside of LIVES intervention areas.

In Tigray region, the technology was used across six districts to detect pregnancy in 124 lactating cows 19-105 days (average 42 days) post-AI. One hundred and thirteen cows were palpated at 60-90 days post insemination for pregnancy diagnosis. Out of 47 cows which were diagnosed as negative based on their progesterone profile, 5 were found to be false negative upon rectal palpation. This is translated to pregnancy detection accuracy of 90.6% by the technology. Cows diagnosed as positive at 18-21 days post-AI by Hormonost but negative by rectal palpation may not necessarily be false diagnosis as it could be the result of embryo mortality between 21 and 60 days of pregnancy.

Given Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) II to increase the national crossbred dairy herd by 5 million over the next five years and the pressure faced by AI technicians in diagnosing pregnancy by rectal palpation, the technology is proving to be effective in reducing the waiting period for re-inseminating cows. The kit has the potential to reduce the time to make a decision to re-inseminate cows by nearly five-fold (20 days vs 90 days by rectal palpation).

The Bureaus of Agriculture in the four regions have shown interest in using the technology in their AI programs, and some are already looking for resources to purchase the kits.

Written by Solomon Gizaw with contributions from Tadesse Gugssa, Yayneshet Tesfay, Dawit Woldemariam, Haile Tilahun and Azage Tegegne.

Small ruminants, which account for more than half of the domesticated ruminants in the world, are an important component of the farming systems in most developing countries.

Despite their economic and social importance, socioeconomic and marketing research on small ruminants has so far been limited, a fact which also holds strongly true in Ethiopia.

This study, based on survey data of 5004 Ethiopian smallholder households, uses analysis of descriptive information and econometric analysis to draw implications to promote market orientation.

Econometric results are based on estimation of bivariate, ordinal, and multinomial probit models. We find that herd size, herd structure, access to livestock market, and involvement in the institutional services of extension and credit stand out as the most important factors affecting market participation behaviour of households.

Results imply that an effective package of interventions to promote market-oriented small ruminant production will need to include development of livestock market infrastructure and market institutions, improved access to extension and credit use, efficient animal reproduction and management, and proper animal health care.

Download the working paper:

Gebremedhin, B., Hoekstra, D., Tegegne, A., Shiferaw, K. and Bogale, A. 2015. Factors determining household market participation in small ruminant production in the highlands of Ethiopia. LIVES Working Paper 2. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

Oestrous synchronization is the manipulation of the oestrous cycle or induction of oestrus to bring a large percentage of a group of females cattle into oestrus at a short, predetermined time.

The first field trial on hormonal oestrous synchronization regime and mass artificial insemination was conducted by the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project in Tigray and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNP) regions. The objective was to improve access to improved dairy genetics by smallholder farmers and to kick-start market-oriented smallholder dairy development in Ethiopia. Following the field trial, the synchronization technology was adopted and scaled up by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and regional Bureaus of Agriculture (BoAs) in collaboration with the IPMS and Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) projects of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)) and the national research system. Performance of the scaled up project was inconsistent in the application of the technology and the results achieved.

This working paper synthesizes results of action research activities and performance of the technology at larger scale, discuss implications of the results and draw recommendations for effective and sustained application of the technology in Ethiopia.

The results of the four studies in the four highland regional states showed that farmers’ breeding methods have significantly shifted to Artificial Insemination (AI). However, availability, regularity and the effectiveness/efficiency of the service is below expectation of farmers and the current studies indeed showed that conception rates are low.

Hormonal synchronization of oestrus is well adopted by farmers who had the access to the service. However, farmers expressed low satisfaction with the service, although evaluation of the technology by farmers is confounded with low conception rates which may also result mainly from low efficiency in the AI practice. This argument could be supported by the data generated in this study that oestrous response rate per se was very high, but conception rates were very low. AI technicians’ skill on identification of functional corpus luteum (CL) and AI skill are important determinants of successful oestrous synchronization and pregnancy.

A comparison of results from action research activities and the regular synchronized AI service indicated that there is a possibility to improve the service; oestrous response can be increased by18.2% and conception rate by 46.6%. However, a strict follow up of activities, skill upgrading and consideration of the factors affecting oestrous response and successful pregnancy presented in this paper and elsewhere in the literature need to be considered for a successful oestrous synchronization and AI service. Choice of technically right and practically feasible protocol is essential for a successful breeding program.

Based on the results, it can be recommended that single dose and heat detection could be a more feasible protocol than the double dose protocol for Ethiopia. Further challenges to the oestrous synchronization and AI program are embryo loss (which was found to be high in the current study), incidence of missed AI opportunity due to failure to detect heat and wrong insemination of non-oestrous cows, and pregnancy diagnosis through rectal palpation which could be intrusive and could not be done earlier than 60 days post AI. Technological aides that use progesterone profiling (e.g. using Hormonost®) could be a solution for all the above challenges

Download the working paper:

Gizaw, S., Tesfaye, Y., Mekuriaw, Z., Tadesse, M., Hoekstra, D., Gebremedhin, B. and Tegegne, A. 2016. Oestrus synchronization for accelerated delivery of improved dairy genetics in Ethiopia: Results from action research and development interventions. LIVES Working Paper 12. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

This study aimed at developing a baseline understanding of producers, use of inputs, production performance, marketing, institutional and infrastructural environment and support services in order to identify potential areas of improvement for action research and poultry value chain system development in Ethiopia.

Download the working paper:

Hailemichael, A., Gebremedhin, B., Gizaw, S. and Tegegne, A. 2016. Analysis of village poultry value chain in Ethiopia: Implications for action research and development. LIVES Working Paper 10. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

Part I of this working paper classifies small ruminant sub-systems in the mixed crop livestock system in Ethiopia. In Part II, important determinants of small ruminant productivity and producers’ input use and marketing strategies were analysed across the six small ruminant sub-systems identified in Part I.

Classification of livestock production systems forms a useful framework for the spatial targeting of development interventions. Household and community level data collected from 497 communities and 2621 households were used to classify small ruminant sub-systems using principal components and cluster analyses.

Exploratory analysis indicated variation and a clear structuring in livestock species and small ruminant flock composition and flock size in the mixed crop-livestock system. The variations were related to agro-ecologies and cropping patterns. Cluster analysis identified six clusters which were designated as sub-systems in the mixed crop-livestock system. The sub-systems were named following the dominant small ruminant species (sheep versus goat) and the degree of intensity/extensiveness of small ruminant production. The sub-systems were spatially characterized and described in terms of producers input use and marketing practices. Small ruminant production in Ethiopia could be classified into two systems (mixed crop-livestock and agro/pastoral) with six sub-systems within the mixed crop-livestock system or into seven systems (the six sub-systems and pastoral/agro-pastoral system).

Download the working paper:

Gizaw, S., Hoekstra, D., Gebremedhin, B. and Tegegne, A. 2015. Classification of small ruminant production sub-systems in Ethiopia: Implications for designing development interventions. LIVES Working Paper 5. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

This survey explored the situation of different feed resources for ruminant livestock in two zones (central and eastern) in Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. These two zones account for the region’s 12% of the total land mass, 23% of the human population, 28% of the cattle population, and 56% of the small ruminant population.

Farmers feed their livestock a variety of feed resources that range from crop residues to non-conventional feeds.The overall contribution of crop residues exceeds 50% of the livestock feeds currently used by smallholder farmers, and this reflects the level of integration between crop and livestock farming.

Wheat residue is by far the most dominant and accounted for about 41% of the total residue. About 66% of the 146,890 qts pulse residue produced in the two zones is from the eastern zone districts, with faba bean dominating all pulses across the seven districts. Storage conditions for hay are generally poor. Most farmers store it in open fields which leads to rapid deterioration in the feeding quality.

Cultivated forage crops growing in the study districts are sesbania, leucaena, Napier grass, alfalfa, tree lucerne, vetch, cowpea, lablab and pigeon pea. Of these species sesbania, leucaena, and Napier grass are frequently used for feeding livestock. Forage productivity is generally low, on average about 430 kg/ha, and this contribution is less than 25%. About 39% of the surveyed peasant associations (PAs), 11 out of 28, used improved forages for feeding dairy cows and fattening of oxen and small ruminants. Lack of access to forage planting materials, land and water shortages are among the main problems hindering forage development.

The availability of agro-industrial by-products (AIBP) as feed supplement varies across districts. According to the
respondents, AIBPs were more available in the eastern zone than in the central zone. The most pervasive AIBP is wheat bran. About 63% of the discussants in the eastern zone rated it as medium. Non-conventional feed resources used in both zones include atella, vegetable leftovers and cactus. Urea treatment of crop residues, silage making, and UMMNB as a source of protein and energy supplements are not usually used by farmers. Lack of finance, limited knowledge and stable supply of molasses were mentioned as reasons for not widely using such technologies.

Overall, the management and utilization of crop residues with particular attention to collection and
transportation is constrained by factors such as labour shortage, distance from harvesting field to animals and delayed harvest in the project districts. Grazing land management and improvement is seldom considered by farmers or the extension system. Acute shortages of AIBPs supply from the sources and high price fluctuation in the main towns of the districts are discouraging smallholder dairy and small ruminant farmers from using them on a regular basis. The contribution of improved forage plants is not as expected and forage genetic material multiplication sites are operating with insufficient budget and manpower, and not supported by proper research. The overall feed supply to demand ratio in four districts in the eastern zone is not enough to cover the annual maintenance requirements of the present stock.

Download the working paper:

Tesfay, Y., Gebrelibanos, A., Woldemariam, D. and Tilahun, H. 2016. Feed resources availability, utilization and marketing in central and eastern Tigray, northern Ethiopia. LIVES Working Paper 11. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

This paper reviews the animal health services in rural areas in the highlands of Ethiopia, particularly those areas of
intervention by ILRI’s LIVES Project in Oromia, Tigray, Amhara, and Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples’
(SNNP) regional states.

Ethiopia has established animal health services by both the national and regional governments, and private service providers, some of which are supported by non-government organizations. The numbers of veterinarians seem large, there is evidence of professional capacity, and the country was a leader in the national and international program of eradication of bovine rinderpest. However, many authors quote the inadequacy of animal health services.

Recommendations to improve service delivery would include more budget (re)allocation across departments, reasonable treatment of clinicians, increased liaison and activity between regional veterinary laboratories and field livestock agency/departmental staff, review into the effectiveness of regional veterinary laboratories, effort to increase
the accuracy of diagnoses by clinicians and effectiveness of some vaccines, and the liberalization of the provision of animal health services.

Download the working paper:

Hooper, P. 2016. Review of animal health service delivery in the mixed crop-livestock system in Ethiopia. LIVES Working Paper 18. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

This study focused on the impact of motor pump-based smallholder irrigation in input use and production as compared to rain-fed production systems and investigated the financial viability of such investments.

Data used in this study came from the baseline and motor pump surveys of the Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project conducted in five districts of four LIVES intervention zones conducted in 2014, but in reference to the 2012/2013 production season.

Results showed that as compared to rain-fed agriculture, the use of motor pump-based smallholder irrigation leads to significantly higher and financially viable input use and production.

Based on different scenarios, the estimated net present values (NPV) computed at 8.5%; 13.9%; 25.9%; 28% and 30% interest rates showed investment in motor pump-based smallholder irrigation is financially viable and robust even at high interest rate and volatile market conditions. The data also suggested that an increase in irrigated land leads to a higher profit margin/ha as a result of lower cost/ha and higher gross production values/ha.

Despite over-abstraction of water and use of agro-chemicals perhaps resulting in land degradation and reduced marginal benefits due to loss of micro nutrients and genetic diversity of crop varieties, our analyses failed to capture such external costs.

Download the working paper:

Gebregziabher, G., Hagos, F., Haileslassie, A., Getnet, K., Hoekstra, D., Gebremedhin, B., Bogale, A. and Getahun, G. 2016. Does investment in motor pump-based smallholder irrigation lead to financially viable input intensification and production? An economic assessment. LIVES Working Paper 13. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

This study used a nationwide dataset of 5000 households from four regions in Ethiopia to identify important determinants of market orientation, market participation and market outlet choices.

Market-orientation was affected by productive capacity, oxen, total land area, irrigated land area, access to irrigation, and access to market information.

Market participation was affected by market oriented production, productive capacity and the availability of market information.

With respect to outlet choices, the important role of market access conditions (mainly roads and storage facilities) and services (extension services and access to micro credit) were found to be important.

Expanding the necessary infrastructure for irrigation development or creating the conditions for household
adoption of different irrigation technologies is important for market production and participation and outlet choice
decisions of households.

Provision of adequate and timely marketing information is also another entry point totransform agriculture.

Download the working paper:

Hagos, F., Haileselassie, A., Getnet, K., Gebregziabher, G., Bogale, A. and Getahun, Y. 2016. Marketing patterns of rainfed and irrigated systems: Do they differ? LIVES Working Paper 14. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

By  Ephrem Tesema, Abebe Mamo, Dereje Legesse and Worku Teka

smallholder forage seed farmers being trained near Debrezeit (Photo Credit:ILRI\Dereje Legesse)

About a year ago (August 2015), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)-led Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project in collaboration with the ILRI/GIZ FeedSeed Project organized a training on forage seed production and marketing for 21 female smallholders and five forage experts.

The event, held at ILRI’s seed unit in Debre Zeit, targeted farmers already engaged, or willing to engage, in forage seed production and marketing from Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s (SNNP) regional states were involved in the training. Most of the trainees said that capacity development support was key next to access to land, quality seeds and output market outreach.

The training gave participants practical skills on quality seed identification, agronomic practices and on selection of suitable source seed on the basis of soil types and agro-ecological zones. It also offered business and marketing skills to the women farmers.

After the training, most of the participants allocated parts of their farms to forage seed production and decided to fully engage in the feed seed marketing business and to use the forage they produced to improve the feeding of their animals.

Bringing together these female smallholders, both young and adult, enabled an exchange of lessons from across four LIVES intervention regions-Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and SNNP. The experience of these female farmers revealed that there are potential opportunities that can be capitalized on despite the constraints they face in establishing themselves as feed seed suppliers.

Neteru Takele, 32, from Maksegnit Chira Manterno, Gonder Zuria Woreda in North Gonder Zone, was one of the women who already allocated plots and decided to produce high-quality feed seeds after the training. She also decided to share the practical skills she had learned with other smallholders to help them produce feed for their livestock.

Before the training, in June 2014, Neteru had started growing Rhodes grass and Alfalfa mainly to feed her dairy cows. She had two dairy cows (one local and one crossbreed) and two heifers. At the time, she fed her dairy cows locally available feed mostly made up of treated grass traditionally called gefera.

The change in engaging to produce seed feed happened after LIVES project team and extension agents from North Gonder zone were approached her. Then after, she learnt not only to grow livestock seed to feed her own animals but also to produce feed seed to sale for other farmers and to generate income for the household. As a result, in November, 2014, she produced Rhodes grass seed for the first time and bartered the seed with 45 kg of teff[1]. The price of teff was estimated to be about ETB 560(≈ USD 26[2]). However, among 32 male farmers who bought and bartered the Rhodes grass seed from her, only 2 became successful in producing livestock feed.

During the skill training in Debre Zeit, Neteru said that the failure of the seed she sold to other farmers was likely due to seed quality problem or mistakes done by farmers in cultivating the grass such as prematurely harvesting it or harvesting it after it had dried.

A March 2016 review of the farming and business progress of these women farmers, seven months after the training, also evaluated Neteru’s progress. It showed that she was now growing Rhodes and Desho grass on 0.125 hectare of land and she also produced onions on 0.125 hectare giving her an income of ETB 2, 000. She has also started fattening oxen partly using the feed from her plot and concentrate feeds. Recently, she bought oxen with ETB 4,000 and resold it with ETB 8,000.00 after keeping the animal under improved fattening management for three months. She is currently fattening a bull bought at ETB 6,000 which she expects to sell at a profit in a few months. She has also used a cross-bred bull from a neighbour to impregnate her cow and recently got a calf.

Additionally, Neteru has managed to buy a house worth ETB 5,500 of which ETB 1, 500 was generated from the sale of forage harvested from her own plot. She is now preparing an additional 0.125 hectares of land in the backyard of the newly-bought house to expand the production of forages and onions.

Neteru appreciates the improved extension services given by LIVES agents in recent years who used to visit her forage plots. She says that the commitment from the project to supply source seed and to render practical and field-based training has helped improve the lives of her family members. She says farmers like her are now able to run their farm activity in line with market orientation and with cost-benefit assessment.

Neteru’s trajectory shows that capacity development of female smallholder farmers can lead to viable household-based forage seed production and marketing enterprises that improve the livelihoods of farming households in Ethiopia.

[1]  Eragrostis abyssinica – a cereal indigenous to Ethiopia

[2]   1 USD = 21.92 ETB

by Mamusha Lemma, Abule Erbo and Addissu Abera

Lomi Kordofa LIVES supported dairy farmer (Photo Credit:ILRI\Addisu Abera).

Lomi Kordofa is a female-headed household. She farms at Illu Aga peasant association in Ejere District, West Shoa Zone. Ten years ago, a local non-governmental organization taught her to keep dairy cows. She started by keeping 14 local-breed cows, which she later sold to buy 5 cross-bred dairy cows.

Lomi says the main challenge in improving her dairy farm is lack of knowledge and skills in dairy production. She has attended training, study tours and has received coaching and mentoring support from the Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project on feed preparation, frequency of feeding and watering, barn design and construction as well as growing fodder crops and conservation of locally available feed resources.

Before the LIVES training, she used to graze her dairy cows in the field, where they lost energy due to mobility. Also, they were not housed properly and were not provided with sufficient water. The cowshed she had did not have a proper floor, and it was not suitable for the cows to stand, let alone sleep. And it is difficult and time-consuming to clean the shed.

Now she has learned the importance of proper shelter, the use of hay in the off-season, the need to provide sufficient water for her cows, and the importance of forage crops for dairy feed supplements. As a result of better feeding, watering and housing of her cows, they now produce more milk.

Lomi’s participation in continuous coaching and mentoring has enabled her to set up a custom designed barn for her cows, that includes an improved floor with sleeping mats, improved feeding and watering mangers and a separate space for the calves.

She says it’s now much easier and also takes less time to clean the barn, freeing her to do other activities. The cows are now able to sleep comfortably on the mats, which have also saved her much straw, which was previously used as bedding for the cows.

‘The condition of the cows has also improved because of better housing and feeding,’ she said. She adds that this improvement has resulted in enhanced milk production for her household. Milk production has increased from 8 to 14 litres on average from each of her cross-bred cows. She sells a litre of milk at ETB 12 in the local market. In addition to getting more milk, she also now has well-conditioned heifers, which come into heat relatively early.

After seeing the benefits of proper feeding of cows, Lomi has allocated more land to fodder production. She grows alfalfa and Desho grass using fertigation.

Research has highlighted the crucial importance of the contribution of women to agricultural value chain development and governance in Ethiopia, according to scientists from the Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). As a means of publicizing the importance of genders within farm productivity, the scientists developed a poster highlighting the various techniques used to enhance the involvement of women within community farming strategies. This will enable the reduction of gender equality gaps, whilst improving livestock productivity across various regions within Ethiopia.

Download the poster: Tesema, E. 2016. LIVES gender equality strategy. Poster. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: ILRI.

Capacity development plays a critical enabling role in facilitating the adoption and scaling out of value chain development interventions and approaches by addressing attitudinal, knowledge and skills gaps in value chain actors, service providers and value chain supporters.

A recent poster by scientists at International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) highlights capacity development approaches to market-oriented expansion taken in the Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project. Increasing the skills and knowledge and increasing the sharing of this knowledge will help farmers to receive a greater income. Offering farmers, a pathway to prosperity.

Download the poster: Lemma, M., Hoekstra, D., Gebremedhin, B. and Tegegne, A. 2016. Capacity development for market-oriented agricultural development: Approaches, experiences and lessons learned. Poster. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: ILRI.

Leveraging private and public sector partners is key to helping smallholder producers establish platforms to exchange knowledge on overcoming bottlenecks in value chain, and create linkages that facilitate new businesses opportunities, such as opening of feed shops.

Download the poster: Legesse, D., Lemma, M. and Tesfaye, B. 2016. Building public-private partnerships: LIVES project approach and experience. Poster. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: ILRI.