By Maina Waruru (African Demystifier Contributor) mainawaruru@gmail.com
A Fresh Initiative In Livestock Development
A partnership bringing together international research organisations, charities and companies has launched a five years project meant to boost Livestock production in Ethiopia and Kenya.
The Nourishing Prosperity Alliance Forage for Animal Growth in East Africa (NPA-FORAGE) project convenes leading agricultural businesses allies to co-invest in early forage market system development in East Africa with the aim increasing production through improved forage.
With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, US company Land OโLakes Venture37 is partnering with Corteva Agriscience, Forage Genetics International (FGI), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), among other local partners to conduct research, develop and commercialize forages best suited for livestcok systems in the regions, for increased productivity.
NPA-FORAGE Livestock Project
The NPA-FORAGE project is being implemented in three regions of Ethiopia and two regions of the Central and Rift Valley Kenya targeting high-potential dairy cattle areas. It will be implemented from 2023 โ 2028.
The initiative aimed at helping intensify dairy farming in the two countries, where animal rearing supported millions of livelihoods and hundreds of thousands of households according to Chris Webo, an official of Land OโLakes.
It will in addition, help tackle challenges posed by climate to animal keeping in the East African region, and address the shortage of high quality feeds and fodder in the region, he said during the launch of the project at ILRI headquarters in Nairobi on Wednesday.
This is particularly so during the dry season when shortage of food for animals affects both the productivity and the wellbeing of cattle, negatively impacting the economic welfare of keepers, he explained.
In particular smallholder keepers in the two countries will be the main beneficiaries, and will deliberately ensure that women and youth are brought on board.
Optimism About The Livestock Project
Already trials for the forages being assessed for the project are undergoing trials at ILRI sites in Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria and India to test their suitability, said Siboniso Moyo ILRI deputy director general for research and development.
For the purpose, โfield assessment toolsโ had been developed to help in formatting feeds at farm level in the project that hopes to reduce environmental footprints of livestock keeping, she explained.
โThe NPA-FORAGE project is also about optimizing animal production while also enhancing women capacity in the sector,โ the scientist added.
โThe aim of this project is to increase livestock productivity while at the same time ensuring that emissions from the feed contribute to reduce animal-based emissions,โ said Getnet Assefa, the program director.
It will lead to sustainable animal production without harming the environment, and when successfully piloted in the two countries it will be scaled up in other African markets, he added.
According to Donald Nkurumah of Bill & Melinda Gates, Foundation, the forage project had brought on board a host of research organizations including allied to the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR) including the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture(CIAT), and ILRI who are partnering for forage breeding and development technologies.
The project partners and allies will engage in genetic and germplasm improvement science while testing different available forage material, the broader aim being to help de-risk smallholder livestock in the East African region.
Other aims of the project will include creating competitiveness in the smallholder sector in the region, with specific objectives of creating a market for forages developed, enabling supply to meet market demand for , and reforming the policy environment for the sector, explained another Land OโLakes official Dai Harvey.
He identified some of the challenges facing the sector to include poor feeding characterized by low nutrition and seasonal availability of forage.
โThrough this project we shall seek to mainstream and appreciate the place of women because we know that while men own the livestock it is who women take care of the animals,โ he remarked. โWe will also seek to digitize the sector even though we know that digitization is not everythingโ.
Ethiopia hosts the largest population of livestock in Africa, while Kenya is leader in the stallholder dairy sector.
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