Fodder and feed as a key opportunity for driving
sustainable intensification of crop livestock
systems in Ethiopia
“Quick Feeds”
Alan Duncan
Africa RISING Planning Meeting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 17-18 September 2012

Purpose, objectives,
planned outputs:
 The project aimed to support more effective use of feed by
crop-livestock farmers (including supply and quality, impacts
on livestock production and product appeal and links to
markets). The project’s specific objectives were:
– To characterize the nature of crop-livestock interactions based
on feed and identify opportunities for strengthening these
through improved production, quality or augmentation with
purchased inputs.
– To assess the broad potential implications of improved crop-
livestock integration / intensification for sustainable feed supply
in the target sites.
– To assess the state of feed value chains in facilitating
improved feed use on crop-livestock farms.
– To use the above information to allow future trends to be
predicted and to support interventions to enhance smallholder-
based feed supply and trade.

Which locations?
Sheep
Dairy

Which tools?
Value chain analysis (VCA)
Feed assessment tool (FEAST)
Feed technology prioritization (Techfit)
SLATE – for livelihood scoring

Partner engagement
Inception Training Sythesis
Field work: Field work: Field work: Field work: Writeshop:
Name From Gender workshop: 7- course: workshop:
Livlihood VCA FEAST TechFit 13-16 Aug
8 May 18-21 Jun 3-4 Sep
Dawit Abate Sinana ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Teklu Wegi Sinana ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1
Sisay Belete Sinana ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1
Sultan Usman Sinana ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Aliye Kedu Sinana ARC m 1 1 1
Gemeda Duguma Bako ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Worku Temesgen Bako ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1
Kifle Degefa Bako ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Temesgen Jembere Bako ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1
Alemayehu Kumsa Bako ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1
Mesay Yami Kulumsa ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Teklemedhin Thaimanof Kulumsa ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Tarekegn Etana Kulumsa ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Eshetu Lemma Kulumsa ARC m 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Alemayehu Kumsa Kulumsa ARC m 1 1 1 1
Gerba Leta ILRI/IWMI m 1
Abate Tedla Consultant m 1
Aynalem Haile ICARDA m 1 1 1
Tadelle Dessie ILRI 1
Peter Ballantyne ILRI m 1 1
Adugna Tolera University of m 1 1 1 1 1
Awassa
Jane Wamatu ICARDA f 1 1 1 1 1
Getachew Legesse Consultant m 1 1 1 1 1
Alan Duncan ILRI m 1 1 1
Amare Haileslassie ILRI m 1 1 1
Peter Thorne ILRI m 1 1 1
Werner Stur Consultant m 1 1
Barbara Rischowski ICARDA f 1
Christopher Legg IFPRI m 1

Outputs
An understanding of feed issues and
options within 3 farming systems in
Ethiopia
Ideas for entry points for livestock
intensification
An appreciation of the wider
implications of potential feed
interventions for other system
components

What do the tools do?
 SLATE – develop understanding of livelihood
endowments of different household to help targeting of
feed interventions
 FEAST – a quick understanding of feed issues in a
locality – how they fit into the overall farming system,
what constraints to improvement are and some
suggestions for intervention routes
 Techfit – prioritization of potential feed interventions
from a basket of options
 VCA – understanding of the bottlenecks to improved
livelihoods at different points in the value chain – to
help work out the most promising avenues for
intervention at a VC level

Sample output from
FEAST

Contributors to HH income
%of income in Gitlo (Horro)
Livestock
Crops
Labour

Seasonal feed calendars
60 6
Sinana - Selka •CR based
Rainfall pattern (1-5 scale)
50 5
•Strong
Feed availablity (%)
40 4
30 3
seasonality
20 2
•Almost nil
10 1
concentrates
0 0
•V little
legume
Concentrates Crop residues Grazing Green forage
Legume residues Others Rainfall Pattern
Horro - Gitlo •Grazing
based
•Some
seasonality
•Almost nil
concentrates
•V little CR

Seasonality of sheep
prices
ETB per sheep

Constraints and opportunities
Ranks of
problems in:
Identified Suggested solutions for the identified
problems problems
Lakku
Buluq
Gitlo
Oda
Knowledge 1 1 1 Awareness raising of farmers through training on
improved animal husbandry practices in general and
market-oriented animal production in particular
Feeds 2 3 2 Improved forage production, conservation of crop
residues, establishment of backyard forage production
and reduction of number of animals owned by
focusing on productivity
Health 3 2 3 Equipping veterinary clinics with necessary
equipment, drugs and skilled technicians, and proper
feeding and housing managements to animals
Market 5 - - Cultivation of high value horticultural crops, animal
fattening, undertaking off-farm activities and devising
mechanisms to access credit on an individual basis
Finance 4 - 4 Market oriented animals’ production and organizing
farmers into cooperatives

Summary of what emerged
in the sheep system
 On the demand side, there is strong demand for
young, fat, heavy sheep from export and domestic
urban markets which the current sheep production
systems cannot produce reliably.
 Demand for sheep is seasonal and this presents both
a problem in terms of production continuity and an
opportunity to capitalize on high prices during periods
of peak demand.
 There is a strong opportunity to assist smallholder
farmers in producing fatter sheep for sale and
developing efficient sheep fattening operations. This
requires investments in improving feed supply, animal
breeding, animal health and marketing support.