IPMS project updates shared with steering committee

The Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project held its semi annual steering committee meeting on April 17, 2012 in Addis Ababa. Representatives from the Oromia, SNNP and Tigray bureau’s of agriculture/research; IPMS rural development officers; CIDA representatives; and IPMS headquarters staff attended. Iain Wright chaired the meeting.

The main agenda of the day was to: i) survey results of the IPMS project impact, ii) report on IPMS activities in the past six months, and iii) review proposed activities for the coming nine months (April – December 2012).

Berhanu Gebremedhin, senior economist of IPMS, presented the project impact on each commodity IPMS intervened on crosscutting issues like HIV/AIDS and gender mainstreaming. Valuable experiences and lessons learned both by smallholder farmers and IPMS researchers and development practitioners over the years were highlighted on Berhanu’s presentation. View the presentation.

One of the highlights of IPMS activities in the past six months is training and execution of mass insemination of dairy cows in the four regions. This intervention, which is an action research area for IPMS, attracted a lot of attention and commitment from the regional governments. Tigray region has moved quickly in scaling out this intervention by allocating a huge budget (20 million birr) for mass insemination. In the past two months, a rigorous mass insemination campaign was carried out, which resulted in the insemination of 12,500 cows of smallholder farmers in Tigray. Oromia, SNNP and Amhara regions are actively moving on this.

The afternoon session started with a visit to the mobile cattle crush (animal handling facility), constructed by ILRI’s physical plant unit with very close supervision from Dirk Hokestra (IPMS project manager) and Azage Tegegne (IPMS Animal scientist). The cattle crush is designed and constructed in such a way that it increases the efficiency of the service delivery by technicians and reduces stress on the animals during the process.

In the remaining nine months of IPMS, further work on capacity development in the education and extension system on issues of mass insemination and other IPMS interventions; promotion and documentation of results; and other knowledge management activities are planned.

Story by: Fanos Mekonnen

 

An innovation story: Livestock fattening in Metema, Ethiopia

This innovation story narrates the experience of the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project on livestock fattening in Ethiopia.

The video documents how a 2005 alliance between the local government office of agriculture, the IPMS project, and local livestock farmers and traders in western Ethiopia took advantage of livestock market opportunities in neighbouring Sudan.

Through dialogue with local actors, the team worked out a “new way of doing business.” This brought knowledge to farmers, connected them to animal health providers, encouraged shopkeepers to sell feed for fattening, and reached out to farmers through community institutions like the church.

What went right in Metema? First, farmers were empowered through sharing of new ideas – on fattening and on market opportunities. Second, the team addressed issues beyond production, reaching out to input providers and others. Third, the team worked with farmers and input suppliers who volunteered to try fattening, with their own resources.

Some of the critical building blocks to sustain and scale out this approach include: Effective partnerships among all actors in the value chain; appropriate knowledge for farmers on many topics; stronger input supply systems; stronger support systems for farmers to get hold of services; and efficient market information systems.

View a poster

Watch the video:

 

East Africa Dairy Development – Tackling the Ethiopian challenge and the ‘white revolution’

Extending a project into a new phase is always a perilous exercise. The East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project is (re-) learning this lesson.

In the stakeholder consultation workshop that took place from 27 to 29 February, the project team sought feedback from participants regarding initial ideas for the extension of the program (a so-called ‘EADD-2’). The workshop aimed to pave the way for the development of a proposal which will be submitted in June 2012 to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This extension is a delicate balancing act between, on the one hand, the legacy from the Phase I of EADD and on the other, the challenges (and opportunities) of the new context i.e. Ethiopia and Tanzania (in addition to the current EADD countries: Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda).

EADD – the legacy

The extended project builds on strong credentials from the first phase of the EADD project which is taking place in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

By relying on demand and opportunities for potential beneficiaries, working through dairy cooperatives and ‘dairy hubs’ and by providing technical assistance, EADD-1 has achieved significant results that led Moses Nyabila, regional director of EADD, to state “we know that it works”:

• Over 170,000 farmers were mobilized into more than 4.000 active producer communities;
• Almost 70 producer companies have been set up or revitalized;
• Farmers involved in EADD-1 are earning about a third of the retail price (US$ 33 million in 2011);
• US$ 5 million was achieved in farmer investment and savings;
• About a quarter of these dairy companies are led by women.

The second phase builds upon the lessons and experience from the first phase. EADD-2 promises to be more participatory (with a much stronger emphasis on scaling up and out and engaging a variety of dairy value chain actors from the start), more learning-focused (through ongoing documentation of the work undertaken to inform implementation along the way) and more attuned to stimulating enabling environments to develop better market access and enhance dairy productivity.

These factors fuel the hope that the extended project will double household dairy incomes by 2018 for an estimated 300,000 to 589,000 families. Ethiopia has a crucial role in this agenda, provided that some limitations are turned into opportunities.

Limitations and opportunities in Ethiopia

The choice of Ethiopia as one of the additional target countries in EADD-2 is justified by the great many challenges ahead. The Ethiopian dairy sector indeed leaves much room for improvement, as explained by Dr. Zelalem Yilma from Heifer International:

• Africa accounts for less than 5% of the world’s milk production but on the continent, Ethiopia, despite an important cattle population, lags behind Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Sudan;
• An Ethiopian cow is approximately 33 times less productive than an Israeli cow;
• In the USA, numbers of cows and dairy farms started to decline and the production (and thus productivity) of dairy products to increase from the 1950’s onwards. In Ethiopia, both curves (dairy cattle population and production) are rising in parallel;
• A lot of dairy enterprises in the country are operating sub-optimally, sometimes as low as half capacity;
• Inseminations are also sub-optimal, leading to lower rates of pregnancies (around 40%);
• A very poor documentation system does not allow public authorities to review their statistics and approach on a realistic basis;
• Linkages among actors in the dairy industry are weak, e.g. between the private sector and the Ministry of Agriculture, between researchers and farmers, between non-governmental organizations and the private sector, between training service providers and farmers and generally with financial institutions.

In general then, Ethiopian dairy farm inputs (feeds, artificial insemination and veterinary services), labor, area and environment can be much improved. This is all the more crucial as the Ethiopian dairy sector is estimated to have created almost 600.000 full-time on-farm jobs in 2010. The limitations are also gaps that can be filled by initiatives that know how to join up the dots.

Embracing the challenge and embedding change

EADD-2 is tackling the challenge and determined to embrace the ‘white revolution’ hailed by Dr. Yilma in his inaugural presentation. The knowledge, capacity and experience assets of EADD-1 are precious. They can become instrumental in meeting the EADD-2 challenge if they are combined with the firm intention to build on existing initiatives and related projects such as the Agriculture Growth Program – Livestock Growth Project (AGP-LGP, funded by the United States Agency for International Development), the Livestock and Irrigation Value-Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (‘LIVES’) project, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency and led by the International Livestock Research Institute or the Market-linked innovation for dairy development (MIDD) Programme of Wageningen UR and SNV.

The Ethiopian dairy might be in for major change. The intention of the EADD team is clearly to embed this change into ongoing policies and processes.

Will the “transformation, determination and synergy” hoped for by Dr. Yilma be enough to overcome the black holes in the Ethiopian white revolution?

More information on EADD.

 

East Africa Dairy Development consultations in Ethiopia

From 27 to 29 February, the East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project is holding a stakeholder/investor consultation meeting in Ethiopia. The specific objectives of this workshop are: To share the vision of EADD2 with key dairy stakeholders in Ethiopia; to obtain views of key dairy sector stakeholders on the current state and development opportunities for the sector in Ethiopia; and to identify need and priority areas for EADD2 for Ethiopia and outline what an appropriate design and implementation arrangement might look like.

East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) is a 10 year regional dairy industry development program managed by a consortium of partners led by Heifer International with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Currently in its last year of 4 year pilot phase (EADD1) of implementation; the program is running in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

EADD is in the process of developing a proposal for a proposed 6 year scale-up and scale-out phase, commonly referred to as EADD 2, that envisions to increase its coverage within the 3 countries (Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda) as well expand to 2 more Eastern Africa countries (Ethiopia and Tanzania). EADD 2 will be built on a foundation of enhanced Public Private Partnership (PPP) that will include country/milk-shed level alliances of dairy processors; commercial and development banks; insurances; local and national governments; private, bilateral and multilateral donors; universities; research institutions; and NGOs. The proposal will be tailored to the unique market oriented needs, aspirations and realities of each country and/or milk-shed.

More information on EADD

 

No bees, no honey: Apiculture value chain experiences in Ethiopia

‘No bees no honey’ presents the experience of the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project on apiculture value chain development in Ethiopia. IPMS together with the district office of agriculture, farmers, input suppliers and other stakeholders worked in the district to produce high quality honey by using integrated commodity development approach. The video shows various value addition activities and processes employed by the project – such as production, where queen splitting was a major intervention, input supply, and marketing interventions.

Watch the video:

See related posters

 

Multi-stakeholder innovation in Africa: Dairy and beef cases feature in new report from FARA

The Forum on Agricultural Research in Africa just published a new report on agricultural innovation in sub-Saharan Africa: experiences from multiple-stakeholder approaches.

The report draws together case experiences across Africa with an ‘integrated agriculture research for development (IAR4D) approach’ that brings together multiple actors along a commodity value chain to address challenges and identify opportunities to generate innovation.

Included in the cases are assessments of dairy development in Kenya and Uganda as well as the beef sector in Botswana.

On Kenya, the report observes: ‘The development of a successful smallholder industry requires two complimentary elements. Firstly, increased productivity requires improved livestock breeds, strong disease control and veterinary services and improved quality and quantity of feeds. Given the need to encourage many smallholder dairy producers, delivery of support services remains dependent on local institutions and their development. Secondly, expanding market institutions with facilities for milk bulking and collection, and group organisational structures are essential and can be most effectively supplied by the private sector. Although formal licensed markets based on processed milk products are important, informal markets selling raw milk, informal dairy products with low-cost processing remain an essential component of a successful dairy industry.’

On Uganda, the report observes: ‘A key lesson is the need for ongoing discussions and coordination efforts by stakeholders along the value chain. This includes smallholder farmers and traders, development agencies, and policymakers. Although the dairy industry and its supporting services were liberalised, there is a need to coordinate business development services, involving farmer organisations, while avoiding direct subsidies that are known to stifle markets.’

On Botswana, the report observes: ‘Understanding the role the private sector plays in facilitating change at local, regional, and national government levels is important when considering changes to the enabling environment for value chains. It is essential that the private sector is able to speak with an informed and unified voice and is able to engage with Government.’

Overall:

The case studies demonstrated that successful innovation is dependent on a wide range of factors and interventions, the most important being the existence or creation of a network of research, training and development stakeholder groups drawn from public, private and NGO sectors.

Download the report …

 

Livestock production and marketing in Ethiopia

Livestock is an important sub-sector within Ethiopia’s economy in terms of its contributions to both agricultural value-added and national GDP. Between 1995/96 and 2005/06, it averaged 24% of agricultural GDP and 11% of national GDP.

At the household level, livestock are crucial to the lives of pastoralists, agro-pastoralists, and smallholder farm households; they help to cope with shocks, accumulate wealth, and serve as a store of value in the absence of formal financial institutions and other missing markets. They also provide nutritious food, additional emergency and cash income, transportation, farm outputs and inputs, and fuels for cooking food.

This working paper from the Ethiopia Strategy Support Program (ESSP) of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) characterizes the livestock subsector, assesses livestock and livestock product value chains based on primary data and analyzes the trends in marketing and trade of live animals and animal products.

Visit the ESSP slideshare account for further presentations from its livestock work:

• Consumption patterns of livestock products in Ethiopia

• Livestock sector policy analysis

 

Livestock reduce poverty in Asia – Stories from IFAD

TagCloud from the International Fund for Agricultural Research (image credit: IFAD).

An Asia and Pacific newsletter published by the International Fund for Agricultural Research (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations that works to eradicate poverty and hunger in developing countries, has published a new edition, on the topic of livestock. IFAD projects supporting poultry mini-hatcheries in Bangladesh, biogas in China, native poultry breeds in India, microfinance in Mongolia, dairy cows in Pakistan, mohair production in Tajikistan, and cattle value chains in Viet Nam are described.

Livestock contribute 40 per cent of the global value of agricultural output, and support the livelihoods and food security of almost a billion people according to the 2009 report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)—The State of Food and Agriculture: Livestock in the Balance. It is one of the fastest growing sectors of the agricultural economy. The growth and transformation of the sector offer opportunities for agricultural development, poverty reduction and improved food security.

‘According to the IFAD Rural Poverty Report 2011, livestock are a valuable risk-mitigating and risk-management asset for poor families. They often serve as collateral for credit, a buffer against shocks and a safety net in times of crisis. Livestock can be sold when families need to cope with increased prices of food and other expenditures, and reduced incomes. Animal products, such as eggs and milk, can be produced, processed and sold throughout the year without seasonal restrictions.

‘In addition to being an important source of food energy and dietary protein, vitamins and micronutrients, livestock also play an important role in the environment. They consume waste products from crop and food production, help control insects and weeds, produce manure for fertilizing and conditioning fields, and provide draught power for ploughing and transport. Well managed livestock result in lower greenhouse gas emissions and impact on natural vegetative cover of grasslands, pastures and meadows. However, livestock are vulnerable to risks and shocks related to climate, environmental degradation, water scarcity and diseases.

‘Rural women play an important part in livestock management. However, both women and men face different livelihood opportunities and constraints in managing livestock. These constraints include: poor access to markets, goods, services and technical information; drought and disease; competing resource uses; policies that favour larger-scale producers or external markets; and weak institutions.

‘According to the IFAD Rural Poverty Report 2011, livestock production in developing countries has increased rapidly over the past 30 years. There has been substantial growth in the production of meat, eggs and milk. This has resulted from increased numbers of animals and increased yields, in Asia between 3 and 4 per cent per year. Today, production growth has been made possible by cheap inputs (including grains for feeds), technological change and gains in scale efficiency. This has resulted in lower prices for livestock products and stimulated rapidly growing demand among urban consumers.

To meet the growing demand for livestock products, the livestock sector requires appropriate institutions, research and technological innovations, development interventions and governance that reflect the diversity within the sector and the multiple demands placed upon it.

‘This newsletter provides a few interesting examples of how livestock is being managed in IFAD-supported projects and programmes in the Asia and the Pacific Region. . . .’

Read the whole article at Making a Difference in Asia and the Pacific, newsletter of the International Fund for Agricultural Research (IFAD), issue 38, Jul-Aug 2011.

 

When small-scale dairying becomes smart-scale dairying: Transformation via ‘dairy hubs’

Slide in a presentation by Moses Nyabila on progress in the East African Dairy Development Project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in which Heifer International and ILRI are two partners; the presentation was made at a USAID Bureau for Food Security Webinar on 22 June 2011 in Washington, DC (slide credit: Heifer International).

Heifer International reports that Moses Nyabila, regional director of a 5-year East African Dairy Development Project (EADD) led by Heifer and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) as a key partner, recently shared a remarkable story of transformation that’s taking place in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda through the EADD project.

Nyabila made a presentation to representatives of numerous non-governmental organizations and agencies at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) offices in Washington, DC, on 22 June 2011.

The goal of EADD is to double the income of 179,000 farming families in three East African countries over 10 years. Now in its fourth year, Heifer is analyzing the program’s results and discussing phase two of the project.

As reported on Heifer’s blog, Heifer finds the results of the project impressive. Key points from Nyabila’s presentation follow.

‘Before the program, millions of dairy farmers were disfranchized, without any say in the direction of the dairy industry in their area. Now, 142,000 farmers are mobilized into more than 3,000 active communities of producers.

‘In the past, few women were willing to take up leadership positions within their communities. After implementation of EADD, 26 percent of the program’s local leaders are women.

‘Before EADD, less than 10 percent of farmers in the three EADD countries banked or had access to credit. Now, 80 percent of the 90,000 participant farmers in Kenya have bank accounts in communities once considered too poor for sound investing or bank financing.

‘At today’s event, Heifer CEO Pierre Ferrari told the attendees about his trip this past December to visit some of the EADD projects [where he met] burgeoning entrepreneurs were selling their surplus milk and participating in the regional economy. “The rapidity at which they were learning and implementing these business practices was remarkable,” Pierre said.

‘You can join an ongoing conversation about food security and related issues at USAID’s new Agrilinks Blog. There, you can also view and download today’s presentation.’

Read the whole article in The Heifer Blog: In East Africa, farmers become entrepreneurs, 22 June 2011.

 

Dairy farming in East Africa: Key economic performance indicators

This brief from the East Africa Dairy Development Project highlights key results of a baseline survey of the economic performance analysis of dairy farms in project sites in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The focus is on production and marketing aspects to establish a benchmark against which future economic performances of the project beneficiaries will be assessed during the project monitoring, review and final impact evaluations.

Download the paper

The East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project is implemented by a consortium of partners led by Heifer International. It is currently being piloted in 18 sites in Kenya, 8 in Rwanda and 27 in Uganda. The overall goal of the project is to transform the lives of 179,000 families, or about 1 million people, by doubling household dairy income in 10 years through integrated interventions in dairy production, market access and knowledge application.