BY GETACHEW MINAS
Empowering Ethiopian smallholder farmers through sustainable forage production systems, improved animal feed supply chains, and economic opportunities in livestock and poultry production is a sine qua non for success. The capacity to produce animal feed generates income that supports growth in livestock and poultry production, and improving food security. The formation of farmers’ cooperatives for the purpose of production, storage, distribution, transportation and marketing reduces total cost. Production cost is lowered due to reduced expenses of inputs. These inputs may include land development, labor, farming tools, fertilizers and stores. Rent is paid to land, wage to labor, prices for tools and fertilizers and storage. All these costs are minimized through organizing and empowering farmers.
Model farmers are trained on the productive use of inputs. These farmers may be organized into unions based on their activities, including livestock marketing. Pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities are encouraged to join or form these unions. They may also form credit associations to finance their farming activities. These associations may be supported by commercial and investment banks. These organizations are created on a voluntary basis in which farmers are convinced of the value of savings and investment. They have to be assisted by agricultural agencies that are responsible for the training of farmers in skills related to sustainable animal feed.
Improving animal feed in Ethiopia is justified by the size of the population engaged in livestock. About sixty percent of the people depend on livestock for their livelihood. Animal feed plays a fundamental role in livestock rearing. It comprises of a major part of the production costs. Quantity and quality of animal feed are key constraints to development of the livestock sector in the country. Recognizing these facts justifies the focus on the development of livestock feed in Ethiopia. Resources assigned to livestock feed have great contribution to growth of livestock and poultry production.
Feed-project includes sustainable forage production systems on smallholder farms and communal pastures. It comprises setting up cooperative based commercial feed manufacturing enterprises and strengthening the feed supply chain. The project also supports establishing new fattening, dairy, and poultry enterprises. It expands existing ones to create economic opportunity and to provide models of improved food animal management for others to replicate. The feed-project implements these interventions through a combination of specialized training, technical assistance, and support in kind.
The feed-project emphasizes productivity, efficiency, and economic outcomes. Its contribution to resilience and food security is also important. With greater access to affordable and consistent supplies of feed, farmers and pastoralists can maintain animals for breeding when challenged by drought. They can also avoid selling them off at depressed market prices. They can rebuild their herds more quickly once the rains return. In this way, the feed-project contributes to the prevention of food shortages, and even famine, in the face of droughts and weather extremes. The farmers are given orientation by concerned agencies on how to face the effects of natural disasters through storage of animal feeds.
Sustainable forage production for the livestock population in Ethiopia is critical for economic development. The country has the largest number of livestock on the African continent with millions of cattle, sheep, goats, and camels. Their diets consist of crop residues, straw, and native forage from communal pastures and rangelands. Such diets are low in energy and protein, which limits animal productivity and health. Traditional grazing resources continue to decline from a lack of proper management and conversion to crop production. Droughts also become more frequent and severe. In such environment, the feed-project rehabilitates and expands existing nurseries and establishes new ones in collaboration with cooperatives, district extension offices, and the private sector.
By producing seeds of alfalfa, grass, elephant grass, pigeon pea, nurseries boost availability and affordability of forages with high productivity and nutritional value. When combined with the skill intensive training of the feed-project, farmers can “raise” forage for animals on their farms that can produce more meat and milk. They can also preserve it for use as hay during the dry season or drought, or sell it commercially for income. Farmers can acquire seeds by purchase or through borrowing, which they pay back with seeds harvested from their own land. New farmers may receive that seed in turn. Model smallholder farmers and agro-pastoralists trained in sustainable forage production may now rely less on outside feed and still improve livestock productivity.
Seed nurseries established or rehabilitated by commercial enterprises may support sustainable forage production. The feed-project may also intervene and help farmers during a critical period of challenge. Its trained smallholder farmers may adopt better ways to grow and preserve forage on their own land. The feed-project may continue supporting livestock and poultry sector growth through “feed resource” development. After checking its response to the major drought that hits the country, the project may be extended further, to mitigate the impact on farmers and their livestock. This helps farmers to recover and strengthen food security and household resilience.
Proper formulation and processing maximize the use of feed. Good animal nutrition supports higher levels of productivity, efficiency, health, and profitability, particularly of animals with improved genetic potential. Studies show that the geographic distribution and large memberships of cooperative unions in Ethiopia make them uniquely positioned to “connect” smallholder farmers to products and services. By introducing feed manufacturing into cooperative unions, the feed-project increases smallholder access to, and affordability of, high-quality animal feed. The project established commercial feed enterprises in the regions and in the outskirts of Addis Ababa.
These union-led feed enterprises have increased national “final feed” production capacity by large numbers. The feed-project offers support in kind and builds capacity for feed manufacturing. Technical training is given to farmers in business formulation, quality control, and equipment operation and maintenance. The project provided support through grants to farmers to buy equipment and build facilities. Despite many challenges, sales grow as new facilities come online and smallholder farmers acquire the skills on how to benefit on products. Farmers are normally “hesitant” to use or apply techniques that are new to their communities. But, once they are cleared of their hesitation through repeated experience sharing and value gains from the new tech, they become excellent producers using new animal-feeds.
Feed ingredient supply chain is a condition for boosting productivity. Enterprises that manufacture animal feed also create their own sales outlets. With any commercial enterprise, feed manufacturing depends, in part, on those who provide needed inputs and services. This includes laboratory services for feed analysis, formulation, feed equipment manufacturing, maintenance, and repair. Most of all, these enterprises require reasonably priced feed ingredients to maintain productivity, profitability, and good service to the farmers. Feed-project invests in establishing or expanding businesses, such as those that convert plant processing “byproducts” into valuable animal feeds. The farmers use simple methods for timely and affordable byproducts for animal feeds.
Rural development agencies facilitate marketing of feed ingredients for use by the farmers. They conduct “hazard” analysis and critical control of animal feed and veterinary drugs for the benefit of farmers. They also promote practices that improve feed quality and safety. The feed-project also assesses risk of drugs and animal feeds to the health of live stocks owned by farmers. The feed project works with donors on fodder production and drought resilient feeding systems. The feed ingredients take a large share of the cost of producing feed-concentrate. Low supplies of these ingredients result in high prices and limit the growth of the livestock sector.
Adverse climate events can also drive market prices high. Seasonality in supplies causes large price fluctuations. The feed-project addresses some of these uncertainties by increasing supplies and access to ingredients, byproducts and molasses. The project also trains feed processors in strategic procurement and inventory management. It introduces and expands new enterprises in Ethiopia such as livestock fattening, dairy, poultry, and forage production. These can be profitable enterprises and a means to increase the incomes of smallholder farmers. Investment in these projects is encouraging as it is profitable for entrepreneurial farmers. It stimulates economic activity and boosts incomes by creating good feeding practices and business management that others can emulate.
Through their cooperatives, smallholder farmers pool resources and apply training and technical support for those starting new agribusinesses. They benefit from commercial activity on a scale larger than they could achieve individually. Other cooperative unions complement their feed activity with cattle fattening projects. Investing in the private sector also benefits smallholder farmers. Dairy farms in some regions of Ethiopia connect smallholder farmers with larger, but distant markets. In so doing, they improve milk safety and shelf life through small-scale pasteurization and packaging technology. This contributes to improving the incomes of small holder farmers engaged in dairy production.
Small farmers in Ethiopia may benefit from cooperatives that introduce and expand new tech in animal feed production. They may fully benefit from improved forages and proper feeding and management of livestock and poultry. Field demonstration is an integral approach to sharing knowledge and maximizing adoption. This begins with the training and upgrading of the knowledge of district agricultural extension agents. These agents in turn train model farmers who “share” their newly acquired skills with their neighbors. After training, farmers are provided with forage seeds and seedlings to try different types and identify what works best for them. Extension agents and technical experts follow the farmers, offering them technical support for lasting impact. Improving quantity, quality, and management increases the sustainability of animal feed production in Ethiopia. Currently, the government is providing farmers with farming tech that raise their income and the GDP of the country.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD JULY 8/2021
