Unlocking livestock development potential through science,
influence and capacity development
ILRI APM, Addis Ababa, 15-17 May 2013
Developing capacity
New tools to characterize feed resource availability and
identify feed management options in the Ethiopian
Highlands
This document is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence May 2013
Some strategic lessons on:
1. Tools like FEAST and Techfit package a lot of accumulated
knowledge of the workings of agricultural systems and make
it accessible to users who are closer to the front line.
2. The disadvantage of the above is that much of this
information sits in black boxes. We need to explore the
options for opening these black boxes for less skilled users
without overwhelming them.
FEAST is a useful tool for learning about the nature of feed resource use
for livestock production. The Techfit tool makes use of this information to
identify options for improving feed resource management. The main
output of Techfit is a ranked list of promising technologies for further
investigation. This is based on a characterisation of the feed resources
base and an assessment of the intrinsic characteristics of a range of
technology options. These are then weighted against an evaluation of the
circumstances under which these need to be applied.
Alan Duncan, Peter Thorne, Adugna Tolera1 and Jane Wamatu2
1. Hawassa University 2. ICARDA
Delivering science
The FEAST dataset can be used, in some very flexible ways, to
explore availability and use of feed resources. In this example
we have stratified the community into two groups. The first
comprises households with relatively strong overall livelihoods
status (assessed using the SLATE tool). The second group is
made up of households that have relatively poor access to
livelihoods assets.
The FEAST analysis shows that the “weak livelihoods” group is
more dependent on “external” feed inputs (collected and
purchased feeds), largely because they have more limited
access to grazing. Clearly the entry points for improving feed
resource use in the two groups will not be the same.
1. Systematic tools for collating and analysing data about feed
resources can help us to gain clear insights into the nature of
the problems that farmers face.
2. Once we know the problems we can look for solutions.
3. Building tools that work together (e.g. FEAST, Techfit, SLATE)
across this process towards a common aim has great potential
for identifying workable entry points in smallholder systems.
In this Africa RISING supported study we looked at the use of two
tools that are currently being developed and tested by ASSP
scientists and sociologists:
• FEAST: Summarises information collected about the availability
and use of feed resources for the different classes of livestock
kept on farms
• Techfit: Analyses the current feed resource base and proposes
options for strengthening its contribution to livestock
production by predicting the outcomes of applying new
technologies and management practices.
With our partners in Kulumsa (EIAR), Sinana (OARI) and Horro
(ARARI), we used these two tools to complete assessments of
patterns of livestock and feed resource management and the
options that might be open to farmers to strengthen these.
What are the Tools?
FEAST: Clear Information on Feed Resource Use
Techfit: What are the promising options?
Cluster
characteristics
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3
4
5
6
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Feedavailablity(%)
Concentrates Crop residues Grazing Green forage
Legume residues Others Rainfall Pattern
Rainfallscore
Figure: A typical seasonal feeding calendar generated by the
FEAST tool.
Crop residues
25%
Cultivated
fodder
12%Grazing
49%
Naturally
occurring and
collected
9%
Purchased
5%
Crop residues
23%
Cultivated
fodder
12%
Grazing
33%
Naturally
occurring and
collected
12%
Purchased
20%
Figure: Using FEAST to compare feed resource use across two
types of farm household
a. Strong livelihoods
b. Weak livelihoods
№ Technology filter Score Rank
1 Feeding of home grown legume residues 67 1
2 Re-threshing and mixing of crop residues 62 2
3 Use of weeds, cut grass, tree leaves 61 3
4 Hand chopping of crop residues 53 4
5 Generous feeding of crop residues 53 4
6
Supplement with agro-industrial by-
products
46 6
7 Fodder trees 24 11
Table: An example Techfit analysis; ranking options for
improving livestock feeding