This post is written by Bhramar Dey (Feed the Future Global Supporting Seed Systems for Development activity, Catholic Relief Services, United States), An Notenbaert (Alliance of Biodiversity-CIAT, Africa hub, Kenya), Harinder Makkar (independent consultant, Sustainable Bioeconomy, Austria), Solomon Mwendia (Alliance for Bioversity-CIAT, Africa hub, Kenya), Yonas Sahlu (independent consultant, Ethiopia) and Michael Peters (Alliance of Bioversity-CIAT, Africa hub, Kenya

The livestock sector contributes more than one-third of agricultural gross domestic product in Ethiopia. Productivity in the sector is low, largely due to an inadequate supply of affordable, high-quality animal feed year-round. Seasonal fluctuations in feed supply lead to temporal scarcity across Ethiopia, with more acute gaps in dry periods — especially in regions prone to recurrent drought.

During dry periods, the cost of manufactured feed increases by around 20 percent due to high competition for feed ingredients in the market, resulting in shortages and reduced accessibility for livestock producers. The cost of transport of hay in the form of bales is much more expensive compared with that of grains or manufactured feed. In 2017, humanitarian partners estimated that 2.25 million households needed livestock support such as animal feed, anti-parasitic drugs and other health interventions to survive.

Under the Feed the Future Global Supporting Seed Systems for Development activity, Catholic Relief Services in collaboration with the Alliance of Bioversity International-CIAT explored the role of cultivated forages in contributing to a sustainable high-quality feed supply to the Ethiopian livestock sector. There is a deficiency of approximately 20 percent feed on dry matter, and approximately 50 percent on both energy and protein bases in Ethiopia. The increased cultivation of improved forages and their processing through innovative technologies would contribute to bridging the wide gap between the availability and the demand of feed in Ethiopia, especially during dry periods and emergency situations.

Cultivated forages are much more balanced in energy and protein compared with other conventional feed ingredients, which are either rich in protein (e.g., oilseed cakes) or energy (e.g., grains). Hence, a balanced ration can be formed containing substantial amounts of cultivated forages. This advantage of cultivated forages over other feed ingredients addresses the deficiency of not only dry matter but also of energy and protein. Feed production is both land- and water-intensive. Feeding a balanced diet increases feed-use efficiency (more production fro less feed), which in turn translated into moe efficient use of land and water for feed production.

Increased feed use efficiency and improved livestock productivity are also associated with a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions produced per liter of milk or kilogram of meat. In addition, forages do not directly compete with human nutrition as is the case with grains.

Market demand for improved forages

The adoption of improved forages is driven by market-oriented livestock production and the response of crossbreeds to improved feeding.  Though some development partners have invested in seeds and feeds, it is not common to see economically viable linkages with the output markets through sustainable business models. Forage production and use in feeding systems are interlinked with market-oriented livestock production as well as efficient marketing of livestock and livestock products. This demand-pull factor along with market linkages will increase the need for high-quality seeds for improved forage varieties (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Seeds, Forages, Feed and Markets — Interlinkages in Ethiopia

Forages in loose form have low bulk density and hence are difficult to handle, transport and store. The study proposes feed preservation technologies, such as forage-based pelleting, that also provide opportunities to increase the bulk density manifolds and decrease the cost of transport and storage. Densification enhances the shelf life of cultivated forages and is an attractive preservation technology. It can smoothen fluctuations in high-quality feed supply and prices during drought periods.

Pursuit of a balanced ration

Currently, there is limited preservation of cultivated forages in Ethiopia, except for a few cases of silage and hay production. Mobilizing high-quality feed preparation and preservation technology, such as densification of cultivated forages in the form of pellets, will create a new avenue of demand and a market for cultivated forages to cater to dairy, fattening industry and quarantine centers.

The study proposes to formulate a balanced ration in the form of pellets composed of more than 70 percent high-quality cultivated forages for different classes of animals: fattening animals, dairy animals that give up to 25 liters of milk per day. The end users need training on feeding of cultivated forage-based pellets (for example how much for 0.5 kilogram/day gain in body weight, 1 kilogram/day gain in body weight, etc. The same holds for dairy animals of different daily milk production). So far, farmers involved in fattening in Ethiopia have almost no experience in using cultivated forage-based complete diets. Most of them use concentrate feeds and straws. To shift them from concentrate-based feeding to cultivated forage-based pellet feeding (because concentrate is expensive), training is required in collaboration with extension and development agents.

 

Results indicate diets containing greater than 85 percent good-quality cultivated forages can sustain daily body weight gain of up to 1 kilogram in growing animals. Furthermore, the costs of nutrients from cultivated forages are up to 15-fold lower than those from the conventional feed resources (Table 1).  The diets based on pelleted cultivated forages decrease the cost of feeding animals during a 100-day drought period fourfold, fattening animals by 2.3 fold, and decreasing the cost of feed for milk production fourfold. The utilization of cultivated forages could significantly reduce methane emissions with abatement value ranging between $165 and $240 per 1,000 kilograms of body weight gain in the fattening sector. For the dairy sector, the abatement value would range from $1,350 to $2,400 per 1 million liters of milk production. For the drought period of 120 days, the value of methane reductions would be between $5,500 and $11,400 per 1000 animals.

Table 1. Cost per Nutrient Analyses

Feed resources	Cost $/Ton Dry Matter	Cost $/Kilogram Crude Protein	Cost $/1,000 Megajoule Metabolizable Energy
Cultivated forages	10.91 – 61.46 (Avg. 36.2)	0.097 – 0.340 (Avg. 0.22)	1.299 – 6.681 (Avg. 3.99)
Protein sources: Oilseed cakes	182.42 – 446.14 (Avg. 314.3)	0.470 – 1.030 (Avg. 0.75)	14.910 – 42.490 (Avg. 28.7)
Normal time
Hay at production site	88.0	1.38	12.57
Concentrate feed at production site	279.2	1.99	25.15
Drought time
Hay at production site	135.0	2.11	19.29
Concentrate feed at production site	349.0	2.49	31.44
Hay in drought areas*	224.0	3.50	32.0
Concentrate feed in drought areas*	374.0	2.67	33.69

*Drought areas approx. 600 kilometers from the production site

The success of forage production depends on a well-established, viable, and sustainable forage seed system. Currently in Ethiopia, there is very low supply of high-quality forage seeds (MoA, 2020). Largely, Ethiopia’s livestock sector depends on native or naturalized pastures in the low potential areas, and on some cultivated forages (grasses and legumes) and crop residues in the high potential areas. So far, cultivation of forages is not widespread and where it happens, it is often based on recycling seeds and/or vegetative planting materials.

Seed supply system needed for forages

However, for cultivated forages to play the envisioned role, Ethiopia needs a viable and sustainable forage seed supply system, where the value chain for forage seeds is strengthened by an adequate supply of early-generation seeds through partnerships between private and public seed enterprises, federal and regional agricultural research institutes (such as the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute) and CGIAR centers such as the Alliance of Bioversity-CIAT and the International Livestock Research Institute. The roles and responsibilities of the early-generation seed production need to be transparent and streamlined. In addition to the starter seeds, the system requires adequate technical capacity building of extension agents and market linkages to the livestock output markets to support the business models that would produce and distribute cultivated forages. To expand the commercialization and production of quality-assured forage seeds, the quality-declared seed protocols are inevitable. This process would also bridge the gaps between the various seed systems prevalent in Ethiopia (MoA 2020). Technical capacity building and awareness creation through tailored extension services could be conducted through developing content that is focused on forage seed multiplication and forage crop cultivation.

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Reference

 

 

Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Government of Ethiopia. 2020. National Feed Resources Development Strategy