Presented by Kindu Mekonnen, Peter Thorne, Melkamu Bezabih and Aberra Adie at the Accelerating the impacts of CGIAR climate research in Africa (AICCRA) Virtual team meeting, 21 August 2020

1. Proposed contributions of Africa RISING for
AICCRA small ruminant value chain project in
Ethiopia
Kindu Mekonnen, Peter Thorne, Melkamu Bezabih and
Aberra Adie
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
Accelerating the impacts of CGIAR climate
research in Africa (AICCRA) Virtual team meeting
21 August 2020

2.  The project in Ethiopia operates in four regions
(Amhara, Tigray, Oromia and SNNPR) in the highlands
of Ethiopia.
 The Africa RISING program operates in six countries in
Africa (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Ghana and
Mali).
Introduction

3. o Livestock feed and forage management and utilization
practices
o Improved crop varieties and management practices-
cereals, food legumes and oil crops
o High value horticultural crops (HVFTs)- fruits and
vegetables
o Small-scale mechanizations – 2-WD tractor with water
pump, trailer, thresher and other accessories
o Fertilizer blends
o Water lifting, delivery and application
o Landscape restoration/ SWC
Africa RISING research thematic areas

4. Oat-vetch mixture provides high biomass yields (12 t ha-1 of
DM). It is a balanced diet in terms of protein and energy. Milk
yield improvement as a result of supplementation: oat-vetch
Livestock feed and forage management and
utilization practices- Examples

5. Oat-vetch mixture
Intercropping selected faba bean varieties with improved
forage crops: The intervention provides both grain for the hh
and feed for the hh’s livestock.

6. Sweet lupin: yields up to 3 t ha-1 of grain and 8 t ha-1 of haulm.
Supplementation of 200 g of sweet lupine grain daily to
sheep results in a daily body weight gain of about 75 g.

7. Alfalfa: biomass yield of 20 t DM ha-1 can be obtained from 6 to
8 cuts under farmers’ fields and management conditions.

8. Tree Lucerne: produce more than 7 t ha-1 of dry biomass year-1.
A 1 kg supplement of dried TL leaf feed to a lactating dairy cow
can give up to 1.2 litres of extra milk.

9. Brachiaria: produce 8.5 -10 t ha-1 DM. Propagated by seed,
cuttings and root split.

10. Desho grass: produce 4-5.5 t ha-1 DM, harvesting can be done
3-4 times per year depending on the environment.

11. Fodder beet: high biomass yield= 20.2±5.26 t DM ha-1. Milk
yield improvement as a result of supplementation: up to

12. Feed trough and feed shed: reduce wastage (30-50 %), save
10-20% of labor time for feeding.

13. Fodder
FeedFeed
shed
Potential areas of contribution
1. Packaging improved feed and forage options, and post-harvest
management and utilization technologies for use in the highland
areas.
2. Working on sustainable improved forages seed production and
marketing system.
3. Facilitate wider scaling of the feed and forage options, and post-
harvest management and utilization technologies through
development partnership approach.
4. Building capacities of project partners at different levels- focusing
on the management and utilization of feed and forages, post-
harvest management technologies and feed formulation.
5. Support on the establishment and facilitation of multi-
stakeholder platforms for the small ruminants' value chain.

14. Why the proposed AR contributions are
important?
1. Cultivated forages- in combination or alone
 adaptable to multiple growing niches (backyard,
SWC structures, farm and irrigated lands)
 provide high biomass, energy and CP, and improve
livestock productivity
 play a great role to manage land resources
 useful to cope with challenges related to impacts of
CC
 are part of the pillars for CSA and livestock
transformation

15. 2. Feed troughs and sheds
 reduce feed wastage and contamination
 enable farmers to mix different feed ingredients and
feed a better-quality diet
 improve dry season feed availability
 provide economic benefit to the farmers
 gender responsive- reduce workload to women.
3. Capacity building, MSEP and facilitation of DPs for
scaling
 Enhance cross learning, innovation and partnership
 Speed up technologies scaling and impact

16. Specific Climate-Smart Outcomes from Scaling Africa
RISING’s Integrated Portfolio of Feed-related
Technologies
 Waste reduction increases resource-use efficiency
leading to reduced emissions per unit of product
 Less land is needed for feed production so on-farm
niches for the introduction of complementary, climate-
smart technologies (e.g. dual-purpose crops) are
created
 More productive feed and forage crops increase LER
for feed production leading to reduced GHG emissions
per unit land area
 Better quality feed can be used to formulate more
nutritionally-balanced rations the reduced GHG
emissions per animal.

17. Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation
africa-rising.net
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