Presented by M. Bezabih, A. Adie, D. Gemiyu, B. Zeleke, P. Schmitter and M. Blümmel at The second Amhara Agricultural Forum, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 16 January 2018

1. Lessons from small-scale irrigated forage
production trials: Potential of annual oat-vetch
mixtures
M. Bezabih, A. Adie, D. Gemiyu, B. Zeleke, P. Schmitter, M. Blümmel
The second Amhara Agricultural Forum
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 16 January 2018
SARI

2. • Livestock feed - a major constraint in the
highlands
• High seasonality in the availability and
quality of feed resources
• Price of feed resources increasing
• Improved forage cultivation has become a
necessity
Introduction

3. Objective
• A pilot trial conducted to explore the potentials
of irrigated forage cultivation to:
• Improve on-farm meat and milk production for
improved household nutrition and income
• Serve as cash crop, livelihood and employment
strategy
• Support diversification, intensification and
sustainability of crop-livestock systems

4. Approach
• Trial site - Angacha and Lemo
districts of Southern region
• Assessment of feed resources,
importance and demand for
planted forage, and forage
preference
• Selection and training of farmers
who showed interest
• Testing production of annual oat-
vetch mixture forage
• A total of 87 farmers participated

5. Cont.
• Each farmer allocated 100m2 plot of
land, planted oat-vetch mixture
• Irrigated the plots once weekly,
weeded twice in the growth cycle
• The plots subjected to different
harvesting treatments
• One times cutting after 85 days
• Two times cutting after 40 and
85 days
• Three times cutting after 40, 85
and 120 days
• Biomass quantity and quality measured

6. Findings
.
85 85
120
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Once twice thrice
Growingperiod(days)
Biomassyield(ton/ha)
Harvesting frequency
Yield (ton/ha) Growing days

7. Cont.
 Cutting oat-vetch three times rather than one times
increased yield by a factor of 2.3
 Time window for feeding changed from one cut after 85
days to harvests after 40, 85 and 120 days
 Two cut oats-vetch management preferred, allowing time
and land for new crop

8. Cont.
 Context on the use of oat-vetch mix: on-farm
use vs as cash crop
 Assuming all oat-vetch is used for milk
production (not for maintenance), a 100m2 oat-
vetch mix can give 280kg milk
 But the efficiency depends on the productivity
of animals

9. Cont.
.
Productivity of cows (kg
milk per day)
3 6 9 12
Days required to produce
280 kg milk
93 47 31 23
 Days required in dependence of cow
productivity

10. Cont.
 Return in dependence of cow productivity:
Productivity of cow (kg
milk/day)
3 6 9 12
Milk yield from use of single cut oat-
vetch produced from 100m2 (kg)
61 118 147 167
Return from sale of milk assuming 12
birr/kg
732 1416 1764 2002

11. Cont.
• Forages as cash crop
options:
– Fresh grass (desho) prices
for supplier: 1.5 – 2.0
birr/kg
– Fresh forage market
relatively young
compared to dry feed
(hay, straw) but emerging
Open fodder markets

12. Cont.
Return from direct sale of single cut
100m
2
oat-vetch forage
assuming 1.75 birr/kg forage on fresh matter
basis, estimated income approx. 1185 birr
Return from direct sale – more attractive
than feeding to low producing cows
Fodder market links would create
alternative opportunities for farmers

13. Cont.
• Dry fodder market
better developed with
defined actors:
– Grass hay: 90 birr/bale
– Barley/wheat straw: 60
birr/bale

14. Cont.
On-farm trial: Effect of supplementing approx. 2.0 kg
oat-vetch hay daily on milk yield of lactating cows in
Endamohomi
 Return from milk: 675-1500 birr/100m2 oat-vetch
 Estimated income from growing wheat on 100m2 , assuming
40qt/ha, and 900birr/qt, approx. 540birr/100m2

15. Cont.
On farm trial: Weight gain of Doyogena sheep supplemented
daily with 200 g DM of oat-vetch forage in Lemo and
Angacha
29
31
33
35
37
39
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Weight(kg/head)
Week of feeding
Angacha
Lemo

16. Conclusion
 Allocating land and water exclusively for forage
cultivation is a new development in Ethiopia
 Irrigated forage is a viable option for small scale
irrigation
 There is good agreement between empirical
observations and ex-ante assessments
 Feeding to own livestock may be economically
attractive where the genetic potential is high,
particularly for dairy

17. Conclusion
 Forage as cash-crop can be attractive and
more than feeding to own livestock
 Optimizing the use of land and water resources
with the application of decision support tools
 Work on feed/fodder value chain required

18. This presentation is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
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