by Mamusha Lemma, Abule Erbo and Addissu Abera

Lomi Kordofa, a LIVES-supported dairy farmer (photo credit:ILRI\Addisu Abera).

Lomi Kordofa is a small-scale farmer at the Illu Aga peasant association in Ejere District of West Shoa Zone in Ethiopia. Ten years ago, she started keeping dairy cows with training support from a local non-governmental organization. She started by keeping 14 local-breed cows, which she later sold to buy five crossbred dairy cows.

Small-scale farmers like Lomi face challenges in improving milk production because of lack of knowledge and skills in dairy farming. But coaching and mentoring support from the Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project is helping them improve animal feed preparation, frequency of feeding and watering, barn design and construction and the use of locally available feed sources.

Lomi now uses hay to feed her cows in the dry season and better feeding, watering and housing of the animals (which are now housed in well-designed sheds with sleeping mats) has led to increased productivity of the animals.

‘Milk production has increased from 8–14 litres on average from each of my cows,’ she says. Lomi sells a litre of milk at ETB 12 in the local market. In addition to getting more milk, she also now has well-conditioned heifers, which come into heat relatively early.

After seeing these benefits, Lomi has allocated more land to fodder production and is cultivating alfalfa and Desho grass using fertigation to further boost the productivity of her animals to further increase her income.

by Mamusha Lemma, Abule Erbo and Addissu Abera

Fufa Keneni lives in Reji Mekoda peasant association (PA) of Ada’a Berga District of Oromia region. He is engaged in apiculture and dairy production. His apiculture experience dates back to some 15 years.

A former soldier in the Derg regime, Fufa started to operate a small shop with ETB 500 capital, after the fall of that regime. But, his business did not break even. He then decided to venture into apiculture starting  with two traditional beehives. The Office of Agriculture of the district supported him to buy some 20 modern beehives but his hives suffered a high rate of bee colony absconding, which can lead to losses of up to 50 colonies a year.

A course on improved beehive management offered by the Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project at the Holeta Agricultural Research Center turned his life around. ‘It healed my pain’, says Fufa. Using a mixed group training approach, the course targeted development agents, producers and local carpenters from various PAs.

After the training in 2014,  Fufa bought 200 modern, 4 transitional and 86 traditional more beehives leading to harvests of 30kg of honey from the modern beehives, 20 kg from transitional beehives and 5kg from traditional beehives. In 2015 alone, he harvested 3 tonnes of honey, which he sold at ETB 120/kg.

He uses the traditional beehives mainly for wax production saving up to ETB 14,000 on wax purchases. Now he produces enough amount of foundation wax to construct honey combs. He is now planning to start selling wax for ETB 300/kg in his community.

With the income from the apiculture, Fufa has expanded his small shop, which now includes a small café and a boutique. He says that his experience has inspired many farmers, who have now realized that they could also improve their incomes  through apiculture business.

Fufa is now a local resource person who is regularly consulted by fellow farmers and development agents. Many of them have visited him to learn about his practices. Over the past six months, more than 70 farmers have personally visited or consulted him on telephone particularly on bee feeding during dearth periods. In addition to the learning, visiting farmers have also accessed inputs, such as bee forage seeds from him.

When Fufa started apiculture, there were only 2-3 farmers engaged in apiculture in the local PA but more than 50 farmers are now engaged in apiculture.

In addition to creating employment opportunities for five young people. Fufa has transferred practical knowledge and skills to many of his employees some of whom have started their own apiculture businesses. Two of his former employees have started apiculture production in Ada’a Berga and Meta Robi districts, which are LIVES intervention districts. These young farmers own 35 beehives. Another young farmer, who formerly worked for him, owns 18 modern beehives in Kuyu PA, Gebre Guracha district.

Fufa also influenced his friends and relatives to start bee keeping. His friend Tibebu Kumsa, who works at Muger Cement factory started apiculture business and Fufa has mentored in apiculture farming. Tibebu now has more than 40 modern beehives.

After gaining more experience and also earning more money, Fufa expanded his activities into a dairy farming where he keeps nine crossbred dairy cows which cost ETB 35,000 (USD 1600) each. He says his motivation is to help others; otherwise, his shop alone would be enough to earn a modest living.

The LIVES team has also supported his dairy farming by training him in improved housing and feeding of his dairy cows using molasses and wheat bran,which has increased milk yield from 12-18 liters of milk a day from each of his crossbred cows.

He has now expanded his dairy farm to 10 dairy cows and 16 calves (9 heifers). He has also started baling hay with his own bailing machine and has also bought a  feed chopper worth ETB 40,000. He sells a litre of milk for ETB 15 mainly to workers at the Muger Cement factory and in his village. The remaining milk is used for home consumption, turning it into cheese and butter. Fufa also provides bull service for his neighbours. He is now hoping to open a concentrate feed shop and to provide baling services to the community.

Fufa is planning to set up a honey refinery plant to produce quality honey for export. He sees that the production volume of honey in his district and beyond is increasing due to improved apiculture production practices. He has already applied for an investment license in apiculture, dairy and fattening, and LIVES staff have advised him and facilitated the licensing process.

Fufa’s story demonstrated that farmer-to-farmer dissemination of improved technologies and management practices is successfully taking LIVES value chain development interventions to scale.

By Abule Ebro, Gemeda Dhuguma, Temsegen Minam and Yared Deribe

Participants visiting the Alama livestock  technologies shop (Photo Credit:ILRI\Abule Ebro)

A combined knowledge sharing program, that included a study tour, skill-based training and livestock technology demonstration, was organized by staff of the Livestock and Irrigated Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project and the Jimma Zone livestock and fishery development offices (JZLFD) to raise the profile of livestock farming in Jimma.

Lack of awareness of best practices/lessons in livestock production and deficiencies in livestock management skills among farmers has hampered livestock development in Dedo, Kersa and Seka Chekorsa, the three LIVES intervention districts in the zone.

Provided by staff of Alama farm and Holeta agricultural and bee research centers, the training, which took place on January 2016 in Bishoftu and Holeta , trained 27 farmers and 10 staff (experts and development workers) from Jimma on the production and management of poultry, dairy and apiculture.

Participants then visited management staff, facilities at the Holeta centres, the Alama livestock technology sale shop, a model layers farm and the Alama Kaudjis feed processing factory. The tours gave farmers and staff of JZLFD opportunity to discuss poultry, dairy and apiculture production and management with farmers around Walmara and Ejere districts of West Shoa zone. Different livestock technologies introduced by the LIVES project were also demonstrated to participants during the training.

The program helped participants to acquire knowledge, practical skill and lessons that will help them to improve their livestock production including information on the different livestock technologies, equipment and drugs available in the country.

Encouraged by what he saw, Abba Temam Abba Lulesa, bought a honey extractor (Photo Credit:ILRI\Abule Ebro)

Among the equipment purchased by farmers during the event included a queen excluder, queen cage, honey extractor, egg trays, chicken feeding and watering equipment, large quantities of medicaments for different livestock species and accessories. Abba Temam Abba Lulesa (61), a resident of Girma peasant association in Kersa District bought a honey extractor worth ETB 6075 (USD 290) for use in producing honey for sale to traders/consumers. He said he would share the extractor with his four friends who are honey producers implying further expansion of technology.

At the end of the program, farmers developed an action plan on how they will use the knowledge, best practices and skills learned. It included plans of sharing their knowledge with fellow farmers and other value chain actors in their associations.

A brief assessment of the trained farmers, undertaken 3-4 months after the program, assessed the changes that resulted from the training. The significant change was observed in apiculture (construction of transitional hives, hive shelters, nuclei box, and improved honey preparation). Improvements were also observed in construction of poultry houses, purchase of improved chicken, poultry management, construction of dairy barns, use of artificial insemination in dairy animals, improved dairy cattle management, forage development and sale, and cattle fattening. However, the findings also revealed a need for further coaching and mentoring of farmers as there was variability in how different farmers were implementing the knowledge acquired.

LIVES acknowledges the contributions of Alama farm, Alama Kaudjis feed processing factory and the Holeta agricultural and bee research centers in this initiative.

By Mamusha Lemma and Gemeda Duguma

Hussien Ahmed, a smallholder farmer, engaged in potato production in Seka Cherkosa (photo credit:ILRI\Gemeda Duguma).

In Ethiopia, smallholder vegetable farmers have very limited direct access to wholesale markets. Because of this, many of them rely on brokers to sell their produce in markets. But these brokers usually set the price, leaving smallholders no room to bargain how much they sell their own produce.

Hussen Ahmed, a smallholder potato farmer in Seka Chekorsa District of Jimma Zone, has been marketing his produce through brokers in Jimma town. He says that when marketing produce through brokers, payments are always delayed. By delaying payments, brokers pressure farmers to sell their produce at the lowest possible prices, giving the brokers nearly all the leverage in negotiating and setting prices with farmers and traders.

But Hussen, and other farmers, now have access to better information and opportunities for marketing their produce which is translating to better incomes for them. After participating in commodity platform meetings organized by the Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project, Hussen is now linking with farmers and traders in the district and beyond to sell his potatoes.

He has become an outgrower farmer whose marketing enterprise opens up accessible markets and improved technologies for smallholder farmers in his locality. After learning about new market opportunities, Hussen opened a roadside vegetable market shed where he collects produce from other farmers and sells it to traders in Jimma and beyond. In addition to his own produce, Hussen is engaged in sharecropping arrangements, where he provides other farmers with agricultural inputs (such as seeds, fertilizers and credit) and motor pumps. He also advises other farmers on the use of improved seeds and management practices and supports them with information on access to inputs, technologies and technical advice as well as guaranteeing a market for their produce. In other words, he has become a trusted trader and embedded service provider in his community. He has provided flexible credit and payment arrangements to smallholder farmers. As a result, farmers prefer to sell their produce to him than to the traders in town. In one production season alone, he has sold nearly 50 lorry loads of potato, which earned him about ETB 30,000 (USD 1350).

The LIVES project has participated in the Jimma Zone market linkage facilitation committee and facilitated meetings with farmers and traders in selected irrigation schemes to discuss marketing-related challenges and opportunities including ways of ensuring better prices for farmers’ produce. As a result, farmers in the zone are adopting improved inputs and production methods to improve the quality of their produce to better take advantage of new markets.

The experience from Seka Chekorsa District shows that significant change can be achieved in value chain development by properly identifying key leverage points and improving market linkages between farmers, input suppliers and traders. But success depends on involving all key actors to ensure that they understand what and how they can contribute to better develop the value chain in question. These interactions can also enable farmers to adapt improved technologies and production practices to meet the needs of the market.

By Solomon Gizaw, Tadesse Gugssa, Yayneshet Tesfay, Dawit Woldemariam and Azage Tegegne

Bovipreg cattle pregnancy test kit (photo credit: LIVES).

Effective early pregnancy detection (PD) technology that can be used by farmers themselves is key in improving dairy cattle reproduction and profitability in Ethiopia.

Delayed cattle pregnancy diagnosis lengthens calving intervals and decreases reproduction performance. Rectal palpation, the most common method of pregnancy checking, is not only intrusive but can also be performed only after 2–5 months into the cow’s gestation period by experienced technicians. The method’s accuracy also varies depending on a technician’s experience.

The introduction, a few years ago, of Hormonost® and Preg-Tone in Ethiopia by the Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project seeks to provide simple and accurate PD kits, compared to existing options. Even though the Hormonost® test is performed by trained professionals using milk samples and requires costly reagents, it has been well received and adopted by the country’s livestock development bureaus.

LIVES has now introduced an instant farmer-friendly PD technology known as Bovipreg® (pictured above). The technology detects pregnancy 18-21 days after insemination and is easily performed by farmers themselves. It uses milk, blood or urine samples.

The use of Bovipreg® was evaluated through action research under field conditions in smallholder dairy farms in Tigray state in 2016. Twenty-three cows were checked for pregnancy using Bovipreg® 21 days post-insemination (ranging from 15 to 25 days). The cows were then palpated rectally for pregnancy 128 days post insemination (ranging from 122 to 133 days). The pregnancy diagnosis results using Bovipreg® and rectal palpation were similar in 82.6% of the tests or the cows checked. Only three cows that were detected to be positive by Bovipreg® were found to be negative after rectal palpation, and two cows that were detected as negative by Bovipreg® were found to be positive after rectal palpation.  The discrepancies found between the results of Bovipreg® and rectal palpation could be due to embryonic mortality between day 21 (date of Bovipreg® test) and day 228 (date of rectal palpation). The technology was highly appreciated by the AI technicians who check pregnancy by rectal palpation.

Two action research activities are underway in Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples states to further evaluate the performance of Bovipreg®. The next step will be to promote the technology with the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries and livestock technology businesses to introduce it at larger scale.

By Mamusha Lemma, Abule Erbo and Addisu Abera

Haile Adugna apiculture producer in Meta Robi District, Oromia (photo credit:ILRI\Addisu Abera).

Haile Adugna is a farmer in the Suba Gojo kebele of Meta Robi District in West Shoa Zone of Oromia. In 2003, he started a rather traditional apiculture business with 1 modern, 2 transitional and 21 traditional beehives.

After attending a five-day practical skills-based training in improved beekeeping management, in 2014, he has expanded his business and now has more than 115 beehives including 23 modern ones each set up at a cost of ETB 1200 (USD 53) and 36 transitional beehives, which are worth about ETB 800  (USD 36) each.

The course included specifics on constructing and inspecting beehives, colony multiplication and transfer, hive inspection, dearth period feeding, and wax processing.

As a result of investing in the new hives, some of which he made after learning how to construct hives from the training, Haile increased his annual honey production from 5 kg to 10 kg per traditional hive and from 10 kg to 35 kg from a modern beehive in 2015.

Haile’s wife, Gete Adugnawho, who manages the day-to-day running of the apiculture business, learned beekeeping skills from her husband.

When asked about the benefits of the mixed group training approach (training farmers together with development agents and experts), Haile said that it was a rewarding experience both for farmers and development agents. In the training sessions, development agents assist farmers during practical sessions. The agents also become motivated to follow-up the producers/farmers, as they both have shared understanding and make commitments for learning application after the training.

The Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project has used action planning to ensure that the learning gained from such training is actually implemented in the workplace/farms. The action plans developed by farmers and development agents are used as the basis for follow-up and providing coaching and mentoring support. Using his new skills, Haile has constructed hives for other farmers in his village and influenced some of them to start beekeeping.

Cattle fattening in Meta Robi District, Oromia (photo credit: ILRI/Addisu Abera).

In 2014,  Haile also received LIVES-supported training in improving livestock production and feeding practices. He says what he learned has enabled him to better understand how to select animals for fattening, improve feeding practices, and connect with quality concentrate feed suppliers. He can now fatten animals within three months using fewer feeds than before and is now also treating locally available feed resources to improve palatability and nutritive value of cattle feeds.

Haile’s activities have positively influenced farmers in his kebele and beyond. In field days organized by Meta Robi District Office of Agriculture in 2014 and 2015, about 200 farmers and development agents from 7 kebeles visited his farm. Development agents have also used his farm as a demonstration site to train other farmers. On a study tour organized by LIVES in 2015, about 50 farmers and development agents from Ada’a Berga District visited him to lean from his experiences.

Going forward, Haile says he plans to buy a feed chopper to formulate mixed feed rations, increase his fattening cycle, and reduce his feed expenses as well as provide chopping services in his community.

In East Shewa Zone of Ethiopia’s Oromia Region, small-scale farmers use cattle fattening to complement other farming practices. But it often relies on traditional methods suffering from lack of linkage to feed suppliers, inadequate extension support, limited capacities and awareness gaps on improved beef production techniques. These challenges limit the effectiveness of fattening activities and hinder the agricultural productivity of livestock keepers.

On the other hand, farmers’ long established knowledge and experience and their proximity to key markets and availability of concentrate feeds offers opportunities to develop cattle fattening into viable businesses.

A bull calf bought for fattening in Oromia (photo credit: ILRI/Addisu Abera).

The Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project is supporting the development of ruminant fattening in the zone through technological demonstrations, capacity development for farmers and extension staff, and creating linkages with concentrate feed suppliers.

The project has trained both male and female farmers on improved livestock feeding, ration formulation, housing, and selection of animals for beef production and linked them to the feed suppliers in Bishoftu and Adama.

Alemu Defersha, a farmer in Lume District’s Shera Dibandiba peasant association (PA) is now making more money from fattening as a result of new knowledge gained which has also helped boost animal housing and feeding in his farm. Previously, in one fattening cycle in a year, he spent ETB 7800 (USD 350) on feeds, ETB 8000 for purchasing animals and ETB 1500 for labour costs. The variable cost added up to ETB 17,300 and he made profits of ETB 20,000. His gross margin was about ETB 2700 while the net margin was ETB 1350.

His new cattle shed of 30 x 30m, which cost ETB 37,700 includes waterers and wooden and plastic feeders. He has also bought more productive oxen, which are vaccinated against blackleg and foot-and-mouth diseases during the fattening period.

His experience in the project has enabled him to shift from traditional feeding practices to stall feeding using cotton seed cake, wheat bran (Frushaka), concentrate feeds (which contain by-products of flour mills and residue of bean, pea and lentil, molasses and salt). Defersha also uses crop residues and hay to provide roughage to his animals.

This year (2016), he has fattened 42 animals and despite facing challenges in accessing local markets in Mojo and Bishoftu towns, he has managed to sell them in the Kera livestock market in Addis Ababa, making a profit of 4,093 (USD 185) per animal.

He spent ETB 336,000 to purchase the animals, ETB 67,646 for feeds, ETB 10,500 and ETB 30,400 for labour and marketing costs, respectively, and gained a total revenue of ETB 624,000 (28,773 USD) in 2016. This translates to a marginal return of 130% (per animal) even though these figures do not fully capture the effect of scaling and his adoption of improved management practices.

Despite Derfesha’s gains from the improved beef production and relatively large-scale fattening activity, he and other cattle fatteners need to overcome challenges of high transaction cost resulting from the presence of middlemen in the livestock marketing chain in Addis Ababa. The market for fattened animals is also not guaranteed meaning farmers are not assured of a regular income.

By Yared Deribe, Abule Ebro, Nigatu Alemayehu and Dereje Legesse