Fodder Leaflets from Ethiopia

Feed scarcity in smallholder systems is a key constraint to improved livestock production in developing countries. However, development efforts which have taken a narrow technology-focused approach to dealing with feed scarcity have had limited success.

The IFAD-supported ‘Fodder Adoption Project’  ran between 2007 and 2010 and aimed to address issues around inadequate livestock fodder at  nine sites in Ethiopia, Syria and Vietnam, with a particular focus on the use of innovation systems approaches.

The project recently published 5 technical advisory notes drawing on the various country experiences:

• Credit through traders – enabling the poorest to engage in cattle fattening in Vietnam

• How can farmers move from being “cattle keepers” to “cattle producers”? A case from Vietnam

• Planted forage as an entry point to catalyse stakeholder action on broader livestock value chain issues – experiences from Ethiopia

• Building on local pockets of success: Some lessons on the process of up-scaling fodder and cattle development in Vietnam

• Building local stakeholder networks for livestock development – a case study from Syria

In addition, lessons and experiences from the countries were discussed at the end of project meeting in December 2010: view the discussions and reports online