The Government of Ethiopia recently established a Livestock State Ministry within the Ministry of Agriculture. The State Ministry officially started  on 15 March 2013 with the appointment of State Minster Dr, Gebregziabher Gebreyohannes. In this interview, he explains the mandate and functions of the new State Ministry.

What led the government to establish the State Ministry?

In Ethiopia, livestock is the basis of the livelihood of both smallholder producers and pastoralists. The whole of our agriculture is based on livestock, either to use for farming related activities or as a livelihood. Nevertheless, the sector has not developed as much and has not helped the country to gain the required economic growth. Other countries with smaller number of livestock have benefited a lot from livestock sector. Experience from these countries shows that when a greater focus is given to livestock, greater benefits are reaped. In our case, efforts were limited, and so were the results.

With all good intentions, for many years the livestock sector was led by a Directorate under the Ministry of Agriculture, then it was merged with the Extension Department. This structural arrangement came with minimal focus in provision of resources and operationalization of strategies.

Issues with regard to improving the efficiency of the sector and its contribution to the economic development were raised in various platforms and forums, and these issues, inter alia included: The mismatch between expectations of the livestock sector’s contribution to economic growth in  the growth and transformation plan (GTP), and the actual gain; the need to revisit policy and strategy directions, building on experiences of  other countries that are gaining economic benefits even with lower resources; addressing the results of studies and analysis on the ‘wobbly’ focus towards the livestock sector. It is now anticipated that the State Ministry will carefully address these and other pertinent issues.

The mandate of the State Ministry

The mandate is to contribute towards the realization of the wider vision of the ministry of agriculture, which is to create market–led modern agriculture and a society free from poverty by contributing to the creation of a modern and a highly productive agricultural system that uses more advanced technologies.

The core activities of the State Ministry              

Activities on livestock development have certainly already been taking place in the Ministry of Agriculture. Now, there will be greater focus and emphasis on existing functions and also new ones. The core activities include;

• Scale up and out existing good practices to increase production and productivity of the livestock sector through partnership with various stakeholders;
• Prevent animal diseases;
• Support private investments and facilitate participation of the private sector in production and processing;
• Create strong linkages with private enterprise;
• Pastoral area development on issues like feeds and pastures, breeds, production and water availability;
• Collaborate with national and international research  system towards advancement of the livestock sector.

Structure of the State Ministry

There are three directorates, namely;

• Animal health: focusing on health services provision, quarantine services and regulatory services. The directorate is crosscutting in that it works with both other animal production and pastoral directorates.
• Animal production and feed: focusing on production technology adoption and feed resource development;
• Pastoral: focusing on the pastoral areas, encompassing both animal health and production issues.

There are also four autonomous institutions that operate under the State Ministry:

1. National veterinary institute
2. National artificial insemination centre
3. National animal health diagnostic and investigation centre
4. Animal feed and drug  administration and control authority

Partnership and collaboration with other institutes and programs

The State Ministry works with partner institutions (government/ non-government), research organizations, development programs/ projects) by coordinating and collaborating with the development agenda that is in line with the GTP. The Rural Economic Development and Food security (REDFS) network is an important joint platform that brings together development programs and projects in the livestock and other sectors. The State Minister leads the livestock technical committee which is one of the four pillars of the REDFS.

A partnership with international research institutions, bilateral and multilateral development organizations, NGOs, and the private sector is one way of ensuring synergy and complementarity among the diverse actors.

Human resources at the State Ministry

As the State Ministry is newly formed, it is capacitating itself with required human resources and skills that would enable the sector to contribute to economic development in greater depth and breadth.

The Minister, Gebregziabher Gebreyohannes (PhD), has a profound experience in the livestock sector. He studied animal production in the then Alemaya University, now Haramaya University, where he earned his Bsc and MSc degrees. Gebregzoabher was a graduate fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) during his MSc study and was supervised by Azage Tegegne. After gaining research experience in animal production, he did his PhD in dairy animal breeding Kasetsart University in Thailand. He has more than 25 years research experience, and he served in the Oromia and Tigray agricultural research institutes in different research and administrative positions. His most recent position was Director General of the Tigray Agricultural Research Institute.

The establishment of the new State Ministry is a major milestone worth celebrating. This institutional arrangement that we now see at the federal level will soon reach to the regions and districts, thus giving greater emphasis to the operationalization of strategies and plans of the sector.

This new beginning is promises to create a better environment for development and progress. It is a welcome opportunity for all livestock professionals to keep on contributing individually and professionally in bringing the cherished objectives of the sector to reality. Dr. Gebregziabher strongly believes that research and development should closely work hand in hand towards developing the livestock sector, which cements the important of each and every professional involved in the sector.

The annual conference of Ethiopian Society of Animal Production (ESAP) was held for the 21^st time at the headquarters of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) from August 28-30 The theme was ‘Livestock and Economic growth: Value chains as pathways for development’. The event was the first of its kind to be officially addressed by the very first Ethiopian Livestock state minster, Gebregizabhier Gebreyohannes, a senior livestock researcher for the past 25 years.

Some 350 participants, new and old society members and invited guests attended the three-day event. Topics covered included: approaches and experiences of different projects and programs on livestock value chain development in Ethiopia, an update on the county’s livestock master plan (process spearheaded by ILRI), the livestock investment plan in the Ethiopian Climate Resilient Green Economy, and the contributions of livestock market information systems.

THe livestock value chain development concept and approaches aim to stimulate the contribution of the livestock sector in the economic growth and development of the country at large and gender equitable wealth creation at smallholder level. The Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains (LIVES) project was well-represented with its focus, approach and implementation modalities discussed and debate. During a brown bag lunch on day one, value chain concepts, gender mainstreaming strategies and knowledge management approaches of the project were presented. Dirk Hoekstra reported on the LIVES dairy value chain development strategy that distinguishes between fluid milk and butter channels.

This year’s ESAP conference created a platform to discuss current trends of research, development and policy in the livestock sector, within a value chain framework. Research outputs from the national research system and universities on different components of the livestock value chain (feeds, breeds, inputs, processing and marketing), as well as small ruminant value chain work of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish were discussed.

As a mark of appreciation for the support rendered to the ESAP conference and looking forward to strong future partnership in the development of the livestock sector in Ethiopia, the ESAP executive committee presented LIVES with a certificate of acknowledgement. 

A team of three researchers from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) recently joined a LIVES field mission in Tigray and Amhara regions. The team set out to familiarize the IWMI and regional LIVES teams; to discuss modes of communications and to get updated with ongoing activities and achievements. After understanding the context, the team identified potential sites to undertake participatory rural development appraisal (PRDA), and discussed planned activities with respect to irrigated agriculture value chains in LIVES.

Ongoing activities in the LIVES sites in relation to irrigation value chains include;

• Selection of intervention peasant associations (PAs) for irrigation related interventions.
• Selection of households/ groups as irrigation implies more often than not some form of collective organization that cannot be addressed by individual households.
• Demonstration of planting fodder and fruit trees in such a way that they could be inter-cropped with cereals, sowing of fodder in pasture land and planting fodder around gullies, canals and buffer zones.

The team observed considerable development in Tigray region in changing the farming systems from dominantly rain-fed subsistence farming to a market-oriented irrigated-based farming system. Tigrayan farmers told the team that approximately 70-80% of cropped land is irrigated in some of the existing schemes.

Irrigated farming systems in Tigray valley bottoms combine several technologies: river diversions, motorized pumps, small dams, and shallow wells taping in the same water resource. The farmers grow irrigated cash crops, mainly vegetables, in the dry season, and cereals in the rainy season with supplementary irrigation when need be. At valley level, community-based committees are in charge of regulating water use and distribution. For instance, pump owners can only pump water according to a schedule set by the committee. The same organizations are in charge of maintenance of irrigation infrastructure and watershed management that is strongly linked to irrigation development.

As in Tigray, farmers in Amhara increasingly produce cash crops in rainy season (such as potatoes) and strikingly chat is replacing other crops produced by irrigation in the area. The 6,000 ha Koga irrigation scheme of Amhara is another vast resource for irrigation agriculture development in the region.  With better assessment of the institutional and organizational situation of this scheme, significant intervention and impact could be seen in irrigation value chain development.

Contributed by Philippe Lempériere

Some photos from the field 

Sidama is one of the two targeted zones of LIVES in the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPR). In this zone, three districts have been selected by LIVES for value chain interventions (Arbegona, Bensa and Bona Zuria). The major livestock and irrigated crops and commodities selected for intervention are dairy, small ruminants, poultry, fruits, vegetables and fodder.

During the inception phase of the LIVES project, regional and zonal team of SNNPR realized that zonal and district level decision makers lack a full understanding of the objectives and focus areas of the project in general and value chain approach for the development of selected commodities in particular. Therefore, the regional and zonal teams of the project organized a two day field visit (5-6 July 2013) to Dale, a former IPMS learning district, for key stakeholders at Sidama zone and the three districts. The idea was to  give them a better understanding of the value chain approach within their context.

The program had two sessions: Discussion and presentations about LIVES project objectives and expected outcomes in the region in particular and the country as a whole. The group interacted with the Dale district Office of Agriculture staff who had  experience on the participatory market oriented commodity value chain development approach of IPMS. The team then visited the agricultural knowledge center of Dale that was established by IPMS to demonstrate the importance of knowledge centers (KC) for value chain and capacity development process.

The team also visited farmers who are suppliers of grafted avocado seedlings  and a village where oestrus synchronization and mass insemination of local dairy cows was carried out. Participants were inspired with the two day event and gained a better understanding of the objectives and the value chain approach  of LIVES. They have shown their interest to cooperate in the implementation of the planned interventions and their commitment to actively get involved in the process. 

Contributed by Yoseph Mekasha

Aleka Gebremedhin is an entrepreneurial farmer who is trying to close some gaps of the poultry value chain in Laelay Mayichew district of Central Tigray zone. This post explains how he got into the chicken business and some of his experiences. It illustrates how local value chains constantly innovate and evolve in response to different opportunities and solutions.

Gebremedhin started his business by engaging in pullet production of exotic breeds by buying day old chicks from Mekelle Farm, a privately owned farm. Gebremedhin gets each chick at a price of 35 birr inclusive of feed cost for the first 30-45 days from the farm. Once he brings the day old chicks to his place, he puts them in a poultry house he constructed with the help of a loan from the local cooperative, which also provided credit for the purchase of some initial inputs of his business. He got help to vaccinate the chicks from the Office of Agriculture (the private farm had connected them), and he ‘observed’ how it is done.

Recently, Gebremedhin purchased more day-old chicks from Kombolcha multiplication center, which is a government/public sector managed center. In this case, he vaccinated his chicks by himself. He learned through the “Ethiopian knowledge grapevine” that vaccines he required were available from a pharmacist in Mekelle. Putting this information to action, Gebremedhin contacted the pharmacist and purchased the required vaccines. The pharmacist, in addition to the vaccines, loaned Aleka a cool container to maintain the temperature during his travel back to the village. Then, when he travels back to Mekelle, Gebremedhin will return the container.

Once they are ready, Gebremedhin sells his pullets to other farmers in his district who are interested in raising exotic layers. He is helped in this by development agents (DAs) working in the Office of Agriculture. The DAs collect money from interested farmers and buy the pullets from Gebremedhin. Afterwards, the Office of Agriculture facilitates transportation and distribution of the pullets to the farmers who purchased them. In addition to this, farmers had recently organized themselves in “purchasing groups” which directly contact Gebremedhin and purchase pullets in bulk on behalf of their group members.

Supply of inputs, such as feed and drugs is one of the core activities in a livestock commodity value chain.  However, this component is poorly developed in Ethiopia. One reason for this is lack of awareness of the business opportunities. Previous experience from projects like IPMS show that the development of effective input supply systems will undoubtedly improve livestock productivity and market success in Ethiopia.

Alemitu is a female dairy farmer and small scale trader in Arbegona district of Sidama zone, SNNPR. She retails food items and other necessities for the township.

In late 2012, she attended a stakeholder meeting of Sidama zone value chain actors and service providers organized by LIVES project. She represented dairy farmers in her district (Arbegona) – a LIVES intervention site. She learned that concentrate feed supply could be a business opportunity in her district, considering the reasonable number of  crossbred dairy cows in the town and that other local small shops and kiosks only sell small quantities of wheat bran or furushca.

So, after the meeting, she set out to start up a feed shop to sell concentrates for other dairy cow owners. She established contacts with Alito farmers union in Hawassa (the only plant that mixes concentrate for commercial purposes in the region) and some other private traders who bring oil seed cake from Adama in Oromia region.

Several months after starting her new business, Alemitu also started to supply concentrate for fattening animals in her township. Her stock has turned over 6 times and now she estimates it to be around Birr 10,000 in value. She has regular customers and several occasional ones. She plans to expand her business even further.

Creating local access to animal feeds such as concentrates, as Alimitu is doing, and developing linkages among actors and service providers is an important step in livestock value chain development.

This short story illustrates how value chain actors like Alemitu, when exposed to new ideas through stakeholder meetings, can really feed on the knowledge they pick up from projects like LIVES.

 (Contributed by Yoseph Mekasha) 

October 8, 2013 was a lively day in one elementary school in Sululta town near Addis Ababa. The Oromia Livestock and Health Development Agency, together with the LIVES project, SNV and Plan International, celebrated world school milk day in Oromia region. Around 700 school children from surrounding elementary schools; men and women dairy farmers, milk processing companies and individuals, government officials and other invited guests attended the event.

The half-day event entertained many activities in relation to the importance of milk in the diet of school children. Other activities such as best dairy cow show, different types of milk churning equipment, displays of traditional food made of milk and milk products, preference taste test of three different milks were part of the celebration activities. Entertainment; music, sports and songs by the children made the event lively.

Bensa district, one of the LIVES project sites in Sidama zone is constructing a new building to be an agricultural knowledge centre (AKC).

The decision to build a centre emerged from a visit to Dale district where experiences of an existing IPMS-supported knowledge centre were seen first hand and convinced decision makers to replicate the approach.

The visitors were convinced that an agricultural knowledge centre offering offline and online resources, print materials, and spaces for discussion and learning is instrumental in imparting knowledge and building capacities.

Officials from Bensa immediately allocated fund to construct a new building to be an agricultural knowledge centre. Couple of months after the visit to Dale, the building is almost complete (see picture). This story demonstrates that awareness and peer-to-peer learning does influence decision making.

Like Bensa, other districts and zones where the LIVES project operates are setting up their own knowledge centres as mechanisms to  reinforce skills and capacity development of the public sector staff and act as platforms for knowledge sharing and learning.

LIVES knowledge sharing activities are not confined to the centres. The project is also distributing e-book readers (kindles) to front line extension staff and other regional decision makers. The readers are loaded with selected research and extension resources in local languages and English. These are expected to help extension personnel acquire the knowledge they need to support value chain actors and better deliver extension services. A study on the efficiency of these devices is underway and will be finalized in 2014.

Related post  Seeing is believing: Field visit reveals benefits of value chain approaches in SNNPR

The traveling workshop to Kenya by the LIVES steering committee in early October brought many insights related to horticulture and livestock. These sectors are more advanced in Kenya than Ethiopia and steering committee members described the visit as an “eye opener”.

Committee members observed some striking differences between Ethiopia and Kenya. They visited Thika and Nyeri districts, which belong to high potential agro-ecological zones and are located close to Nairobi.The major difference is the predominance of the private sector in Kenya with the State limiting its role to developing and implementing regulations and economic interventions related to national interests, such as smart subsidies for maize growers. The group also visited highly intensive farming systems combining vegetables, fruit, maize, coffee, fodder and dairy on smallholder farms with a size ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 ha. The farm owners use manure to maintain soil fertility and crop production and made limited use of chemical fertilizers.

During the discussions with Kenyan farmers, the participants noticed the crucial importance of collective action in areas like bulk marketing, savings and credit cooperatives and farmer to farmer extension activities. The freedom of farmers to organize themselves is quite a new idea in Ethiopia where most farmers’ organizations like cooperatives are actually established by the State.

Given the differences between the two countries, committee members  concluded it would not be possible to simply ‘copy and paste’ to Ethiopia what they saw in Kenya.

(Contributed by Philippe  Lemperiere)

Read this related story on a banana cooperative

LIVES UPDATES is a quarterly newsletter that is electronically published by the LIVES  project. The updates constitute activities, observations, reflections, and major events carried out by the project and its stakeholders. Updates on the project management are included as well. LIVES UPDATES  is available on Mahider.

Additionally, limited printed copies are distributed to LIVES sites and knowledge centers.

Don’t forget you can subscribe to email alerts from LIVES!

Download LIVES UPDATES

Two years ago, hormone assisted estrus synchronization and mass artificial insemination of dairy cattle was a new technology for farmers and experts of Mecha district, Amhara region.

Back then, farmers had little knowledge about this technology; some even brought sterile animals for estrus.

Last week (beginning of November), a similar campaign was organized in the same district. More than a thousand cows were brought by local farmers to the temporary synchronization site. Now, the farmer’s interest for this technology  regardless of gender and age was observed to be incredible.

AI technicians from the livestock agency of the districts and region tested 934 cows  on the first day alone.

To appreciate this work, the district administration office awarded a certificate of appreciation to the LIVES project and to Azage Tegegne for introducing and demonstrating this useful technology in the district.

In the meantime, the Amhara region livestock development and promotion agency is scaling this estrus synchronization technology.

(Contributed by LIVES regional team, Amhara)

In a visit LIVES team to Tanzania, we came across a farming system which included crops and livestock components: rice, sunflower, dairy and meat cattle. There are also sunflower oil processors and rice mills in the nearby town that sell by-products (oilcake and rice bran) to traders outside of the district we visited. During our discussions with dairy farmers and pastoralists, we learned that possible uses of rice bran and oil cake for dairy or animal fattening is unknown. This reminded me of two similar situations we had come across in IPMS sites in the past.

The first case was in Goma District, where we introduced short term fattening of sheep with supplementary feeding. At first, through a rapid assessment of the input/service supply system in the District, we learned that a cotton seed oil processing factory operated in Agaro, the District capital. The assessment also showed that traders purchase this oil cake and sell it to pastoralists hundreds of kilometers away. In subsequent discussions with the factory manager and a group of farmers interested in sheep fattening with supplementary feeding (cotton seed cake), the IPMS partners made arrangements to link these producers and the factory for bulk supply of the oil cake; and facilitated payment with group loans provided by the local micro finance institute (see this sheep fattening case study).

The second case is from the rice value chain development in Fogera District, where the rice production acreage dramatically increased from 5,000 to 15,000 ha over a 5 years period, resulting in more rice straw. Consequently, rice processing also increased resulting in more rice husk from rough grinding for household consumption, and rice bran from polishing rice for sale of white rice in and outside of the District. More and more farmers in the district became aware of the value of the rice bran and started purchasing it from the grinding mill owners. Still, traders purchase a significant amount of rice bran and sell it to dairy farmers elsewhere in the country (see this rice value chain case study).  In a recent visit to Fogera, we saw that rice straw is now also exported to a particleboard factory, thus reducing its use for livestock in Fogera.

So why are feed resources right under farmers’ noses not used more intensively in the same farming systems? There are several reasons, including perhaps simple ignorance of the possibilities ranks high. Other reasons are that use of the resource outside the District may be more economical and therefore fetches a higher price,  or it may be that farmers who are not market-oriented don’t want to buy inputs, or perhaps the volume available is not worth commercially exploiting, or factory owners may prefer bulk sales rather than individual retail sales. It was for the latter reason that IPMS introduced bulk purchase/payment for “fatteners” in Goma.

The lesson from all this is that value chain practitioners should map and rapidly assess/understand the feed value chain supply system of locally produced feed resources and identify potential interventions for the benefit of livestock producers in the farming system that produces the resource.

On November 21, a news analysis on TR4′s transcontinental leap was posted on the ProMusa: Mobilizing banana science for sustainable livelihoods website. The analysis indicates that  tropical race 4 (TR4) strain of Fusarium wilt (also known as Panama disease)  has been confirmed in Jordan, a location much closer to Ethiopia than other countries where the disease has been seen.

TR4 is a serious soil-borne disease that has the potential to cause a major agricultural catastrophe in a country. Ethiopia’s banana sector could easily be a victim of this disease if necessary precautions are not taken by the concerned bodies.  The analysis elaborates further on measures that need to be taken to control the disease from entering the county – by designating TR4 as a quarantine pest  and other means.

Considering the extent of damage that this disease could cause, Bioversity International has released recommendations to prevent the entrance of quarantine plant diseases of major economic importance for banana. See the recommendations 

(Contributed by Kahsay Berhe) 

Ethiopia produces about 24,000 tons of honey per year, which accounts to about 23.6% of total African honey production and 2.1% of total world production. Local consumption of honey, which accounts to about 80% of the total produced, is mainly for making ‘tej’ (a local honey wine) and as a food where both the honeycomb (during harvest time) and extracted honey is used.

Reports say Ethiopia is the fifth biggest beeswax exporters to the world market, amounting to 3,200 tons per year. This beeswax is largely collected from traditional hives. However, the extraction technique, which is mostly traditional, incurs high wastage.

Beekeepers usually get beeswax from an already existing traditional hive or they buy it from the market. ‘Tej ambulla’, the residue of Tej has a huge amount of beeswax, but not many know about this. This residue is usually accumulated in dirty containers and thrown away by the owners of the Tej bets where most Tej is consumed. It it’s not considered of much value.

In November 2013, the Capacity Building for Scaling up of Evidence-based Best Practices in Agricultural Production in Ethiopia (CASCAPE) project at Jimma University organized a two day training course on improved beekeeping practices and the extraction of beeswax from ‘Tej ambulla.’ Held in the Omo Nada district near Jimma, some 25 beekeepers took part in the training. It included making of transitional hives using local materials, colony splitting, and the process of separating beeswax from Tej ambulla.

Tej ambula, when left in a dirty container and ignored for weeks, turns muddy, is full of insects’ larvae, and has worms and wax moths. It has a strong smell and seems totally without value. However, trainers from Holetta research center and Jimma University demonstrated otherwise. The trainers showed the beekeepers how to extract beeswax from the residue by a simple technique comprising:

• Boil the muddy ambulla
• After boiling, allow the residue to cool for about five minutes
• Transfer the content into a jute bag that will be used to strain the beeswax from the impure materials
• Two people squeeze the jute bag holding the two ends of the bag and turning in different directions for maximum straining
• The tiny holes of the jute bag strain the beeswax from the impure materials and give pure beeswax

This process of boiling and straining should be repeated two or three time to get pure beeswax from the residue (see some pictures of this process)

This is a simple technique that anyone can do. The challenge is to bring this knowhow to beekeepers and Tej makers so beekeepers can buy beeswax at better prices and Tej bet owners could generate income  from their leftovers.

Contributed by Gemeda Duguma,  LIVES zonal coordinator, Jimma zone, Oromia

The Estephanos Monastery is on an island in Lake Haik, part of Tehuledere district in South Wollo where LIVES has one of its project sites.  The first church was built in 862 AD; in 1262 AD a monastery was established.

Since then, it delivers spiritual, social and development activities for the inhabitants of the surrounding area. The monks and hermits started agricultural activities to feed  themselves and  then continued to set up a farm enterprise that produces various irrigated fruits (papaya, sugarcane, mango, guava, banana, orange and coffee) and vegetables (cabbage, carrot, and pepper, tomato, onion, potato and spices) both for themselves and the local markets.

The monks also produce livestock – fattened cattle, dairy, poultry and apiculture. They produce forage crops under the fruit trees and feed fruit and vegetable wastes to their dairy and beef animals. They also apply litter from their poultry farm and manure from their dairy and beef animals to fertilize their croplands. They do not apply any inorganic fertilizer for crop production. The monastery’s beekeeping is integrated with fruit, vegetable and forage crop production, both by using the flowers as bee forage and having the bees pollinate trees for better fruit and seed setting.

Ecological restoration of the lake, environmental protection, soil conservation and soil fertility management are major sideline activities carried out in the monastery. Cattle manure is used for biogas production and the biogas is used to cook food. The monks therefore do not cut trees and they do not collect crop residue for fuel. They have constructed soil conservation structures on their farmland to reduce soil erosion as well as siltation of the lake. They compost whatever is left over and apply it to their farmland. They practice intercropping and multistory cropping systems to increase the productivity of their farmland.

These practices are useful to recycle nutrients, protect the lake from pollution and siltation, and for sustainable farming.

The other innovation in Haik monastery is how they plan land use according to its capability. Despite the undulating topography, there is no wasteland in the monastery. Monks constructed the church, congregation rooms, animal barns, poultry houses, residences, museum, training center, and water reservoir on the upper parts of the landscape and planted relatively less water demanding fruit crops such as mango, citrus, guava, and coffee in the middle of the landscape. More water-demanding crops such as banana, papaya, sugarcane, vegetables, and forage crops are towards the bottom of the landscape.

The monastery also has a well-designed irrigation infrastructure. There are two motor pumps, a water reservoir with a capacity of 63,000 m³ and pipes to irrigate the farm. Monks use motor pumps to pump the water from the lake to the top of the landscape, where the reservoir is located, they irrigate their crops from the reservoir using a gravitational system. As a result, each piece of land of the monastery is utilized according to its capability throughout the year.

Apart from their spiritual life, the monks spend all their time on crop, livestock and environmental protection activities. Their (free) labour contribution is estimated as 750-1000 ET birr/day.  Annual gross income from the sale of agricultural produce is about 600,000 ETB. Gross expenses are estimated about 200,000 ETB. So they get a net profit of about 400,000 ETB a year.  Profit from sales of agricultural produce goes to the construction of additional barns, testing of new technologies, improving their farming practices and expanding their land use.

The local market is the main outlet for their produce as they prefer to keep the serene environment of the monastery for spiritual activities. The main challenge they face in the market is getting a fair price for their high quality produce. Wholesalers and traders usually give low prices, especially for perishable products such as milk and vegetables. As a way to solve this challenge, mobile phones are used to get price information in nearby places. The monastery also constructed a shop in the compound that sells its produce to tourists and pilgrims.

Aba Tesfamariam and other monks visit different farms and market places and attend training workshops to gain experience on production practices and market demands. He uses these visits to gain inspiration and find innovative ways to improve the monastery’s production and align its produce to the market. To further capacitate themselves and others, the monastery joined forces with the tourism office to establish an agricultural training center outside of the monastery – so that women too could take part in training programs and activities.

This story provides a practical experience of integrated livestock and irrigation agriculture. The monks believe that diversification is the key for successful sustainable development. They are proud and confident in what they are doing and eager to share their passion for farming with extension workers, farmers, researchers and practitioners. The Monastery is a local role model for market oriented livestock and irrigation agriculture production.

The LIVES project works closely with these monks involving them in its familiarization and platform meetings. As part of its value chain intervention activities, the project has also introduced forage crops such as pigeon pea, alfalfa and Napier grass and vegetables (three varieties of tomato and two varieties of potato) for demonstration purposes.

Contributed by Mesfin Tefera ( LIVES  Zonal Coordinator, South Wollo Zone) and Yigzaw Desalegne (LIVES regional coordinator, Amhara region)

In a country where specialized forage seed marketing is either absent or still at an infant stage, it strange to hear and see smallholder farmers allocating their arable lands to forage production.

Recently, we talked to a smallholder dairy farmer who challenged traditions and decided to cover his arable land with alfalfa. This may sound strange given the tradition of using arable land to produce food crops.

Ato Mengistu Abay is a smallholder dairy farmer living in Guila Abenea at the outskirts of Sinkata (Firewoini) in Saesi Tsaeda Emba – one of LIVES project’s action districts in Tigray. Ato Mengistu is an active member of the dairy platform initiated by LIVES. He developed a special interest in green forage and seed production as a business after participating in the LIVES facilitated platform meeting in the summer of 2013. Since then, he confidentially allocated his entire arable land to alfalfa production.

He always relies on green feed provision for his 8 head  herd of cattle. Unless limited by the absence of a market, he is able to supply up to 50 litres a day of fluid milk to the market, earning 5,000-6,000 Birr a month. Sometimes he wishes to convert the ‘excess’ milk to butter, but the absence of a manual churner in the market always frustrates his entire family, as this implies additional burden to his wife and children.

Coming back to the alfalfa, Mengistu started alfalfa green feed and seed production in 2012 when an extension officer offered him 5 kg alfalfa seeds.  Back then, Mengistu’s total land covered by alfalfa was less than 1 ha. It took him 3-4 months to harvest the golden green seeds of alfalfa. With good rains, the plots require no supplementary irrigation. However, when the rainy season is short, 2-3 supplementary irrigation from a hand dug shallow well ‘water bank’ can sufficiently offset the short summer rainfall.

Mengistu harvested 11 quintals of alfalfa seeds in 2012 and 2013, albeit he secured a market for only 4 quintals. He was able to fetch more than 100,000 Birr – a premium value that contrasts with the amount expected from any agricultural produce obtained from the same land size. Though not well connected, his marketing network includes the entire Eastern Zone in Tigray and one-time customers from the Amhara region.

The LIVES project in the Central and Eastern Zones of Tigray has been working with smallholder farmers to strengthen the supply of private forage planting materials and linking with high value livestock production and marketing in the action districts. Technically supported by LIVES, Mengistu also wants to try alfalfa hay and pellets that can be marketed and fed to dairy cows during the dry season.

Subject to further rigorous economic analysis, Mengistu has demonstrated the feasibility of using arable land to improved forage production, just as is being done for food crops. With the expansion of market oriented livestock development, the demand for green feed will undoubtedly grow and ultimately benefit smallholder farmers like Mengistu. A lot remains to be done to encourage specialized forage seed production and marketing in Ethiopia, and the collaboration of many is needed in connecting alfalfa seed producers to markets through intra and inter-regional networks.

Contributed by: 

Yayneshet Tesfay (LIVES regional expert, Tigray), Dawit Woldemariam (LIVES zonal coordinator, eastern Tigray zone) and
Gebremedhin Woldewahid (LIVES regional coordinator, Tigray)

Arbegona and Bona zuria districts of Sidama zone in the Southern Nations region of Ethiopia are agro-ecologically suitable for apple production. However, getting proper planting materials is a challenge as neither government nor private apple nurseries are available in the area. Some few farmers have apple trees that were brought from Chencha , Gamo Gofa Zone, which is more than 400 kms away. Due to the limited knowledge and experience on nursery management and production techniques, it has not been possible to set up an apple nursery at Arbegona and Bona zuria districts thus far.

In the past few months, the LIVES project joined with the Arbegona and Bona Zuria district offices of agriculture to initiate a farmer-based apple nursery management and supply intervention. To carry out the intervention, three households were selected to develop their own apple nurseries with technical support from LIVES and the offices of agriculture. Selection criteria of the households included: their interests to work in an apple nursery, previous engagement in apple production, access to irrigation, access to transportation and markets and their innovativeness.

A two day experience-sharing tour to Chencha area was organized for the selected households. Chencha is the best-known place in Ethiopia for apple production and nursery management. The group visited both private and communal apple nursery management and supply systems, observing land preparation, planting techniques, watering, layering and stooling of the root stocks, grafting, pruning, agronomic management and marketing systems.

From the tour, the group realized that apple nursery management and production requires specialized skills and intensive care. A fellow farmer in Chencha explained the importance of continuous engagement to the group: ‘you should say good morning, good afternoon and good evening to your apple orchards to get the optimum benefit’.

At the end of the tour, the group reflected on the potential of their respective districts for apple production. They have seen the impact of apples in transforming households from subsistence to semi-commercial farming in Chencha and they are motivated to do the same in their own districts. All the group members bought planting materials with their own money and brought them back to their home.

Immediately after their return, group members prepared nursery sites and planted root stock; they will continue to get coaching and support from the LIVES project and the district offices of agriculture.

As a further follow up, three extension staff from the respective districts will attend a training of trainers on apple nursery management and production in January 2014.

With the necessary skills and knowledge, the various actors hope they can disseminate apple production in Sidama zone through continuous capacity development of the service providers, knowledge management and coaching of individual households engaged in apple nursery management and production.

Contributed by Birhanu Biazin (Regional Expert, SNNPR), Yoseph Mekasha (Regional Coordinator, SNNPR) and Tesfaye Shewage (Zonal coordinator, Sidama)

One of the many challenges smallholder dairy farmers in Ethiopia face is securing a dependable market for fluid milk, especially during religious fasting periods of the Orthodox Church. Many believe that to overcome such problem, large milk processing plants serving many consumers in urban areas are essential. Very few people will risk establishing smaller capacity milk processing plants in small towns where the market for processed dairy products is untried.

Recognizing such fluctuating market demands, the assiduous and unassuming Tsehaye Reta courageously installed a small milk processing plant at the foot of the historic Mount Soloda in Adwa district, Tigray region.

Tsehaye addressed smallholder dairy farmers’ market problem through a simplified concept of ‘value chain’ whereby farmers supply their fluid milk to his plant, and supermarkets, retailers and consumers in turn buy pasteurized milk and other processed dairy products from him.

The road to realize this was neither smooth nor short. He suffered under the previous Derg regime, receiving two capital punishments. Tsehaye, however, never gave in and he joined the Tigray Peoples Libration Front.

Before and after the fall of the Derg, Tsehaye equipped himself with knowledge and skills through formal training and hands on experiences. His renewed stamina helped him start a private small-scale agro-processing business, including small capacity milk, tomato paste and fruit juice processing plants in Adwa.

The small milk processing plant started with 9 Holstein cows (6 purchased and 3 donated), a 500-liter capacity pasteurizer and a mini milk packaging plant. Although the demand for fluid milk varies, with the current capacity of the plant, he can collect milk from 100 smallholder dairy farmers. The habit of consuming pasteurized milk is just being popularized to consumers in Tigray through supermarkets, cafés, and hotels, and with more exposure to the consumption of pasteurized milk, he will expand his fluid milk collection to a radius of 40 km and reach more dairy farmers.

Tsehaye’s 500 ml pasteurized milk is labeled ‘K.Y.K’ and sells for 8 Birr, 60% less thana similar product transported from Addis Ababa. The small milk processing plant is also helping many smallholder dairy farmers during fasting periods by purchasing large volumes of fluid milk for butter making with improved shelf life. An interesting part of this butter making business is the close link created with poor women retailers who sell the butter in small pieces to beauty salon owners and individual consumers as a hair butter cream. The processing plant also produces cream, plain yoghurt, and cheese whenever demanded by consumers.

Tsehaye’s aim is to develop a streamlined processed dairy products supply line to the growing population in Tigray and elsewhere. He will also soon upgrade from his current pasteurizer to another with 1000 liters capacity and a faster heating and cooling time, and introduce on time delivery of pasteurized milk and other milk products in trucks equipped with cooling facilities.

The small scale processing of milk into different products as currently being done by Tsehaye Reta can enormously help smallholder farmers get more reliable markets throughout the year and protect the safety of consumers in small towns. The expansion of such smaller capacity milk processing plants is also one means to realize more inclusive dairy value chain development.

Such initiatives need to be supported by strong sense of solidarity, collaboration, and effective marketing strategy development.As successful dairy value chain demands strong collaboration along all stages of the chain, the LIVES project works closely with Tsehaye and his milk supplying farmers to link processed milk products to consumers in Aksum University, Almeda Textile Factory, Saba Stones Factory, Hospitals, Schools, and other wholesalers in Mekelle.

Contributed by Yayneshet Tesfay (LIVES regional expert,  Tigray) and Haile Tilahun (LIVES zonal coordinator, Central Tigray zone)

Mecha district, a LIVES intervention area in the West Gojam Administrative Zone of Amhara region, is located about 535 kms northwest of Addis Ababa and  30 kms southwest of Bahir Dar town. The district is endowed with a number of perennial rivers and Koga, the biggest irrigation scheme in the region has an irrigation command area of 7,000 ha. The Koga irrigation scheme was finalized in May 2012 and more than 10,000 households residing in the irrigation scheme started year-round crop production. New crops are emerging in the farming system and irrigated crop production practices are continuously evolving. The number of input suppliers (vegetable seed and pesticide retailing shops), output traders, and brokers is also mushrooming in the area.

However, many of the  farmers living in this irrigation scheme are still new to irrigated vegetable crops production and post harvest handling practices. They do not know how to produce and process seeds of different vegetable crops and they thus purchase imported seed from local private vegetable seed retailers.

Imported seeds are mostly sold by legal and ethical retailers in packs but the quantity of each seed package is normally too much for what the farmers actually require. Further, the price of packed vegetable seeds can be as high as 3,000 birr/kg and is unaffordable for most smallholders. Finally, most farmers do not have adequate knowledge and skills to raise and manage vegetable seedlings.

This situation is creating a favorable environment for entrepreneurs to raise and market vegetable seedlings in the area. As input suppliers, they can also serve as alternative extension service providers, if they can also acquire necessary capacity building training and coaching.

One of a few individuals who embarked upon this business is Tilahun Metaferiya. He raises and markets cabbage, onion, and tomato seedlings to farmers mainly from the Koga irrigation scheme. He started this business in 2012 and generated 73,000 birr from a 500 square meter patch of land.

In the 2013/14 cropping season he plans to generate an income of 240,000 birr from the same plot of land. He uses the same plot four times per year to raise and sell vegetable seedlings and farmers are free to buy any quantity of seedling they want.

He prepares and supplies seedlings according to the cropping calendar of different vegetables and his customers’ preferences. Tilahun raises seedlings with care, treating them with different insecticides and fungicides. He also advises his clients about different field management practices. However, he tends to supply only a few commonly-grown vegetables, usually not the most recently-released varieties. To fill this gap, the LIVES project has started demonstrating improved varieties of different vegetable crops in collaboration with Tilahun.

Generally, the seedling raising and marketing approach has some advantages over a certified seed supply approach for smallholder vegetable producers:

1. Farmers access vigorous, healthy and productive seedlings in their vicinity from skilled private nursery operators
2. Farmers access seedlings of improved varieties of vegetable crops according to their financial resource and farm size
3. Farmers are protected from purchasing nonviable seed from unethical seed retailers
4. Farmers avoid contact with dangerous seed treatment chemicals
5. Scarce farmer resources such as labor, land and finances are protected
6. Opportunities for additional technical advice to farmers on field management of different vegetables are provided
7. Employment opportunities for youths and women from small plots of land are created

Seedling raising and marketing is an emerging approach to supply planting materials of different vegetable crops. It facilitates the adoption of improved production packages and the dissemination of improved varieties. It is also a viable business in big irrigation schemes and has several benefits to farmers (mentioned above).

However, so far it has not received much attention and technical support by development workers as an alternative input supply approach. Most of the seedling suppliers are educated and youngsters. Therefore, seedling raising and marketing is an entry point for motivating and retaining the young generation on the agriculture sector as well as to speed up the commercialization process of the dominant subsistence agriculture in our country.

Contributed by LIVES regional team,  Amhara

Chickens are the most popular poultry species used for meat and egg production in Ethiopia. Dugda district, a LIVES intervention area in Oromia region, is known nationwide for its large chicken population (more than 100, 000). When asked why Dugda is important in poultry production, locals respond that it’s because the district is large, has favourable climatic conditions for chicken production, and there are many maize and wheat growers whose products can serve as chicken feed.

Chicken rearing is part of the lifestyle of the communities of Dugda, for poor and rich alike. Eleven Peasant Associations (PAs) neighbouring lake Zeway are famous for their high chicken production; the soil is fertile and there is a lot of fish by-products available which provide excellent chicken feed. Chickens from the associations (for instance Welda Qelina) of Dugda are claimed to grow faster, maintain their body condition longer during transportation, resist diseases and have bigger and more attractive eggs that those elsewhere.

Meki, the district town of Dugda, is a centre for chicken and egg marketing in the surrounding areas; it gets its products from the Ela rural market of Dugda district and Dugda Qella of a neighbouring district of SNNPR.

Abishu is a 28 year old chicken trader in Meki town. He started his business about nine years ago after being motivated by the profit his father gets from selling chickens in Meki markets. The small initial capital cost needed to start this business, which was only 200 ETB (20 USD) was an additional motivator. Abishu buys chickens from rural villages at a reasonable price and sells them at Meki markets. In times of high demand, he gets additional supplies from the Meki market itself and supply them to his customers. Abishu also has a permanent market linkage with rural chicken traders who directly sell to him. In addition, he supplies chickens for wholesalers coming from Addis Ababa, Mojo, Bishoftu, Akaki and other nearby towns.

Abishu’s marketing strategy includes: buying chickens from three markets in a week (Thursday and Monday markets at Meki and Saturday market at Alem Tena town), supplying wholesalers coming from Addis Ababa, supplying hotels and restaurants, and selling to individuals and occasional customers. His major customers are wholesalers from Addis Ababa.

Wholesalers generally order the numbers of chickens they require and then buy in bulk. To meet these demands, he goes to rural markets. In a regular week, he buys 15- 20 chickens each market day. He says he carries 3000 to 6000 ETB to buy chickens. The amount increases during holiday seasons when wholesalers from big cities place their orders. During holiday seasons, the numbers he buys may increase to between 40 and 50 per market day. Since wholesalers buy in bulk, Abishu calculates the average price of the chickens and then determines his selling price. During dry seasons, Abishu buys and sells hens for production and reproduction as this is a god time for hatching eggs and raising day-old chicks and pullets.

Chicken handling and transpiration has undergone its own transformation since Abishu started his business.  He explains that about five years ago, to transport chickens, 5 to 7 chickens would be tied together, put upside down, and loaded on the top of a vehicle. Later, people would put 12-15 chickens in a jute sack with small airholes and then load the sacks on top of a vehicle. Nowadays, traders use plastic sacks (Madaberia). They sew two of these together and put 25 to 30 chickens into each. The plastic sacks are readily available in the market, are stronger and hold larger number of chickens than the jute sacks.

Dessie is another trader in Meki town. He is an egg trader who entered into the business 6 years ago after he completed his 10th grade education. A hotel owner in Meki gave Dessie an opportunity to supply eggs to his hotel as a business. Immediately, Dessie started his business with a starting capital of 300 ETB.  Dessie’s main egg suppliers were rural farmers along the roads of Dugda. He sells his eggs twice a week at the Meki market, on Monday and Thursday. Sometimes he has bought eggs on credit from farmers, paying them back after selling the eggs.

When Dessie started his business, he purchased 7 eggs for 2 ETB.  Now, depending on market condition, he buys an egg for 2.10 ETB and sells it for 2.25 ETB. His customers are tea shops, cafeterias and hotels and individuals during holidays. Currently, he supplies some 70 to 80% of the eggs needed by hotels in Meki town. On market days he buys 800 to 1,500 eggs.

Dessie explains that traders from other places like Addis Ababa, Bishoftu, Mojo and Adama used to come to buy eggs from Meki. They come less these days ans prices are similar across locations. They only come occasionally during holidays.

Both Abishu and Dessie say that their chicken and egg businesses have improved their livelihoods over the years. They were able to support their families and invest in their homes. They believe that chicken and egg businesses, if undertaken properly, are profitable ventures. They both have plans to expand their business and establish poultry farms, for which they need additional skills and knowledge and linkages along the value chain (hence their contacts with the LIVES project).

The availability of chicken feed in Dugda makes chicken production and marketing an ideal venture in the area. The supply of day-old chicks from Bishoftu and the introduction of exotic types through the extension service also contribute to the suitability of the area for the sector. Furthermore, farmers in the area seem to know about chicken production and marketing. The increased number of entrepreneurs in the sector, as compared to other areas, is a good indicator.

Women are also active participants in chicken and egg trading in Meki. When Abishu and Dessie started the business, there were no women involved in chicken and egg marketing. Nowadays, there are even women wholesalers coming from other places. Today, Abishu and Dessie estimate that 40 to 50% of chicken traders in Meki are women.

Though the chicken and egg value chain in Dugda is well developed, there is still a lot be done, especially with regard to planning production and marketing at different seasons. The common trend is for farmers to bring chickens and eggs on market days before holidays when supply tends to be high and demand is low. In such cases, it is only the wholesalers that benefit as they have plenty to choose from and they can set the prices. This results in losses for farmers as well as for local traders like Abishu and Dessie.

The LIVES project can contribute here by developing capacities and knowledge of farmers and traders on production and marketing strategies as well as by creating linkages with potential customers and market information sources.

Contributed by Abule Ebro (LIVES regional coordinator, Oromia)

Related stories:

Poultry value chain innovation in Tigray