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Barriers to uptake of improved feeding strategies: Reflections
1. Barriers to uptake of improved
feeding strategies
Reflections by Werner Stür
Africa-RISING Quick Feed Project Inception Workshop, Addis
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Ababa, 7-8 May 2012
2. Structure of presentation
• An agronomist’s point of view
• Why is it not so simple?
• What approach should we take?
• Which tools are available?
• Conclusions
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3. An agronomist’s point of view
Current situation
Production system (draught, capital preservation, risk
management, not used to regular income)
Condition of animals (many are thin and in poor body
condition, poor reproductive performance, low milk yields)
Feeding systems inadequate for good animal growth
(competition for scarce community grazing resources is
getting stronger, stubble grazing, crop residues, general
lack of feed and insufficient quality)
Potential for improvements
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4. An agronomist’s point of view (# 2)
Future scenario
Urbanization and rising living standards will increase
demand for meat and milk
Increasing labour cost will necessitate change to less
labour intensive practices
Mechanization will reduce need for draught animals
Livestock prices are relatively stable compared to crops
Potential for increased livestock production
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5. An agronomist’s point of view (# 3)
There are technical solutions
A little more feed per animal would go a long way to
improving animal productivity
Options: Reduce the number of animals, improve herd
structure or grow additional feed
Forages: Introduce forage legumes to improve diet
quality; or grasses to increase available feed quantity
Grow specific fodder crops
Strategic feeding of available feed resources – smarter
use
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6. Why is it not so simple?
Technologies are seldom simple
Need to identify suitable technologies (and practices) for
different situations
Often there are additional conditions for success
e.g. seed supply, fertilizer inputs, labour requirements or the
farmer needs special knowledge to be able to apply the
technology successfully
Introduction of a technology leads to changes in the
production system and leads to more innovation (and this
process requires time)
Find robust entry technologies and then work with
stakeholders to develop new, more efficient systems
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7. Why is it not so simple? (# 2)
Smallholder farming systems are diverse
Variable soils, climate, water availability
Range of crops and animals
Different feeding and livestock management systems
Technologies need to ‘robust’ to fit a wide range of
situations
People and livelihoods differ
Households differ in term of labour, capital and land
availability
People have different objectives, interests and
willingness to take risks
Technologies need to be targeted
Farmers (and other stakeholders) need to be really want
to improve animal production and are willing to invest
7 effort into doing so
8. Why is it not so simple? (# 3)
Incentives for increasing production
Will the farmer get the benefit of producing a fatter
animal? Or can (s)he sell the additional milk for a good
price?
Can the farmer access the required inputs easily and at
reasonable prices?
It is not just productivity that matters, but there may be
other important factors along the value chain that need to
be considered
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9. What approach should we take?
Need systems-oriented innovation
Production, marketing and input supply (value chain)
Work in partnership with key stakeholders
Iterative, not one-off
Build capacity of people involved (emphasis on learning)
Need to target interventions to particular situations,
farmers and livelihoods
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10. Which tools are available?
Farmer Participatory Research (FPR) Approach
Working with farmers and other stakeholders to find ways
to improve livestock production
Learning cycles over an extended period
Livestock needs to be important to farmers’ livelihood and
farmers need to be really motivated!
FEAST
A diagnostic tool to find out if there is an opportunity for
feed interventions
If affirmative, the end point is an agreement to work
farmers and other stakeholders to improve feeding
systems
It does not come up with best-bet interventions to test
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11. Which tools are available? (#2)
Techfit
Identify suitable technologies for evaluation
Entry technologies – a starting point for innovation that
provide significant results to motivate farmers and other
stakeholders (provide a vision)
Value chain analysis
Market studies; e.g. Rapid Market Assessment (RMA)
Input supply analysis
Livelihood analysis
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12. Conclusions
One-size-fits all technologies don’t work
We need a systems-oriented innovation
process that
includes all relevant stakeholders
takes account of the range of farming
system and livelihoods in the area
places innovation in the context of the
value chain to ensure that farmers reap the
benefits of innovations
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