This is the first of a regular roundup of news from the CGIAR Livestock and Fish research program. Launched in January 2012, the program aims to increase the productivity of small-scale livestock and fish systems in sustainable ways, making meat, milk and fish more available and affordable to poor consumers across the developing world. Download a print version

Program news

First annual report

After a period of engagement and design, the program started in January 2012. Published in April 2013 its first annual report gives insights into progress, achievements and challenges.

Patricia Rainey new program support coordinator for Livestock and Fish

On 10 April 2013, Patricia Rainey joined ILRI as program support coordinator for the CGIAR research programs on Livestock and Fish and Agriculture for Nutrition and Health.

Pathways to deliver impact: The program’s theory of change
Among the fundamentals of a good research program is the ability to demonstrate how the program will deliver the promise of creating positive change to the target population. Theory of Change defines the pathways through which a program will deliver these promises, highlighting the key assumptions and likely risks the program faces. A 2 day workshop in January 2013 helped refine the program’s Theory of Change.

Partnership critical success factor
On 27 October 2012, the program organized a pre-conference session on ‘Mobilizing AR4D partnerships to improve access to critical animal-source foods’ at the Second Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD). Twenty-five people including invited resource persons and the directors general of three of the CGIAR centers involved in the program wrestled with ways to make partnership work for the program – to answer program director Tom Randolph’s question: “What principles, processes, modalities help create healthy partnership?”

Country updates – value chain innovation

Defining best-bet interventions for the Uganda smallholder pig value chain
The Livestock and Fish team working on the smallholder pig value chain in Uganda held a two day workshop in April 2013 to identify potential best-bet interventions based on the value chain assessment work. Participants carefully reviewed the results of the in-depth value chain assessments conducted in the 3 districts where the project operates. They also reviewed knowledge available from previous research and practical experiences on pig production in Uganda and other parts of the world, like China and South East Asia.

Best-bets are interventions which better fit the prevailing conditions (constraints and opportunities) under which farmers and other value chain actors operate and have more chance to be adopted and contribute towards improving the current situation.

Austria funds Livestock and Fish project to increase the productivity of dual-purpose cattle in Nicaragua
In December 2012, the Austrian Development Agency approved a three-year research project from ILRI, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), CIAT and the National Agricultural University of Nicaragua (UNA) on ‘increasing the productivity of dual-purpose cattle in Nicaragua — More milk and meat through better breeds.’

Targeting small ruminant value chains in Ethiopia – Emerging ‘best bets’
In early April 2013 the Ethiopian partners in the program joined the last of three workshops to take stock of the results of small ruminant value chain assessments in 8 sites. Together, 67 individuals from the sites and other partners joined the workshops. These came from research, academic, NGO, private companies, as well as international research organizations.

The objectives of the workshops were to: share and validate results from the rapid VC assessment in the 8 sites; draft a vision/outcome statement for each VC site; Identify and prioritize best bet interventions for each site; develop intervention plans for each site; and Identify emerging cross-cutting issues by research components – breeding, feeding, health, gender.

Iceboxes help women fish retailers find profits

A group of women fish retailers in the Egyptian region of Shakshouk are realizing better profits from the sale of their fish after acquiring iceboxes. Iceboxes help them keep their fish fresh in the market, allowing them to sell more stock each day. The iceboxes were supplied by WorldFish and CARE Egypt as part of the larger “Improving Employment and Income through Development of Egypt’s Aquaculture Sector” project that supports women retailers who sell fish in rural markets or at the road-side. Without ice to keep their fish in good condition throughout the day, many women find they have to discard the last few kilograms of their stock at the end of the day due to exposure to heat and dust.

WorldFish has invested in Egyptian aquaculture for more than 20 years, and is committed to developing the aquaculture industry, and generating employment for the millions of men and women that depend on the sector for income and food security.
Vietnam stakeholders discuss sites and impact pathways
In Vietnam, the ILRI-led Livestock and Fish research program focuses on smallholder pig value chains. As part of the planned activities for 2013, ILRI organized a stakeholder consultation workshop in Hanoi on 22 March 2013. The workshop aimed to identify a short list of priority research sites that fit the characteristics of three target value chain (VC) gradients: Rural to rural (R2R), rural to peri-urban/urban (R2U), and peri-urban to urban (U2U). A set of GIS maps were presented to the stakeholders for discussions; these identified the list of provinces that met the thresholds for the geographical targeting (pigs, poor people, market access) and the VC gradient classification (% of province area that represent each VC gradient type).

Set of priority site selection criteria was presented and the recurring elements that stood out as important according were 1) the expressed willingness by the political leadership to engage with ILRI and its collaborators, 2) the potential for building synergies with development and other ongoing initiatives, and 3) dynamism that will enable the capture of temporal and spatial changes in the process of transformation and better contextualize the dynamics across the different VC gradients.

Uganda farmer explains smallholder pig value chain priorities
In recent months, Livestock and Fish value chain assessment activities have been carried out in Masaka district as part of the Uganda Smallholder Pig Value Chains Development (SPVCD) and Safe Food, Fair Food (SFFF) projects.

On 22 April 2013, Pastor Lukwago, one of the farmers approached by the project team, was unfortunately unavailable to meet the team when they came to collect blood samples from his pigs and administer a house hold questionnaire. However his wife shared a letter that captures the project work.

Assessing food safety and food nutrition in food chains
WorldFish, in collaboration with ILRI, is undertaking two complementary projects in Egypt to better understand the dual demands of safety and nutrition in food value chains. The Egyptian stream of the ACIAR funded Rapid Integrated Assessment project, brings together an international team of food safety and policy experts from WorldFish; ILRI; the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Kafr el Sheikh University, Egypt; and the Royal Veterinary College, University of London. It builds on work carried out under the GIZ funded Safe Food Fair Food (SFFF) project.

Adapting dairy market hubs for pro-poor smallholder value chains in Tanzania
ILRI, Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and other partners in Tanzania are embarking on a 4-year (2013-2016) research-for-development (R4D) project targeted at improving rural based livelihoods through milk. This comes after the 2012, 1-year successful inception phase of a collaborative research project titled, ‘More Milk in Tanzania’ between ILRI and SUA funded by Irish Aid. These resources support the commitment of Irish Aid to the CGIAR change process and more specifically the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish, where Tanzania’s smallholder dairy is one of the targeted value chains. A new project office for this new phase was officially launched on 12 March 2013 by the Irish Minister of State for Trade and Development, Joe Costello.

The inception of the ‘MoreMilkiT’ project enabled the ILRI-SUA partnership to have a better understanding of the policy environment and appropriate entry points to impact on the poor and marginalised; identify and consult a wide range of stakeholders; conduct a situational assessment nationally and value chain assessments within identified sites; and initiate a process for strengthening the policy environment to better support pro-poor dairying. The findings generated so far suggest the program needs to focus attention on ‘growing’ the existing informal system of milk production and marketing.

Characterizing goat genetic resources in Ethiopia
In December 2012, ICARDA and ILRI ran a training course for national partners and collaborators on methods and approaches for phenotypic characterization of animal genetic resources.

“For genetic resources to contribute to food security goals, we need to know what we have, be able to improve them, be able to prioritize to effectively utilize them, and conserve them for the next generation” – Solomon Abegaz, director of Ethiopia’s Institute of Biodiversity Conservation

The course brought together ‘trainees’ from federal and regional agricultural research centers and universities. It covered the conceptual framework for animal genetic resources (AnGR) characterization, an operational framework of AnGR, data collection, management and analysis, reporting and communication, a checklist of actions and provided a practical session in the field.

Aquaculture conference showcases latest technologies
One of the largest aquaculture and aquarium shows in Asia, Aqua Aquaria India 2013, was held in India in February 2013. Aquaculture and Genetic Improvement scientist, Dr. Curtis Lind, made a presentation based on a WorldFish publication entitled ‘Considerations about the dissemination of improved fish strains.’ The publication summarizes key strategies, knowledge and experience related to the multiplication and dissemination of improved fish strains, and makes recommendations on how some of the practices may be improved. If implemented, these improved practices may help fish farmers increase the productivity and profitability of their farms

Adopting improved animal feeding systems in Southeast Asia
Until recently, livestock husbandry in Vietnam’s Central Highlands was not very productive. Animals were intermittently sold to free-up cash to put towards weddings or large purchases, and the rest of the time they were left free to graze on native pasture and crop residues. To help revitalize these livestock systems, researchers at CIAT have been testing different kinds of improved forages and developing improved management strategies with farmers.

Research theme updates

Planning the value chain development component
In December 2012, leaders of the various value chain development projects in the program and other team members met to coordinate their plans and priorities across the countries and chains. The meeting started with situation reports from each of the value chain coordinators: Smallholder pigs in Uganda, smallholder dairy in Tanzania, small ruminants in Ethiopia, small to medium-scale aquaculture in Egypt, smallholder dairy in India, smallholder pigs in Vietnam and smallholder dairy in Honduras and Nicaragua. Participants were updated on the rapid value chain assessment toolkit that is supporting ongoing work across the countries among others.
What, how and who, targeting component specifies deliverables
In December 2012, program partners convened a meeting of the ‘targeting and environment component’. The meeting aimed to finalize a log frame and agree on a clear set of activities, deliverables, and milestones as well as assign responsibilities to the team members.

Targeting is a process that is driven by activities such as site characterization, data collection and impact assessment. It involves the use of tools such as spatial modeling and future scenarios and working with partners to create intelligence that can be used to plan context-specific interventions. It aims to provide evidence to inform and enable those conducting research to make informed choices about what to do where. This component should be able to ensure that program staff, partners and decision makers select the most promising value chains and sites to focus their efforts and investments for significant impact and wider scaling out.

One of the key outcomes of the two days planning meeting was an agreement by the team to re-name the component ‘targeting sustainable interventions’ from ‘targeting and environment’.

Gender component refines approaches to integrate gender in the program

The gender component of the program provides “cross‐cutting analysis of development process and outcomes to ensure that the target beneficiaries of the program including women and vulnerable groups benefit from targeted interventions”. It is concerned to ensure that gender and equity are mainstreamed in a transformative way in the whole program. In November 2012, the gender component team held a planning meeting to refine and develop a final strategy, log frame and action plan.

Filed under: CGIAR, CRP37, roundup

Uganda piggery

In recent months, Livestock and Fish value chain assessment activities have been carried out in Masaka district as part of the Uganda Smallholder Pig Value Chains Development (SPVCD) and Safe Food, Fair Food (SFFF) projects.

On 22 April 2013, Pastor Lukwago, one of the farmers approached by the project team, was unfortunately unavailable to meet the team. However his wife shared the letter below, which we share here as it captures the project work so well. The emphasis on different topics by the author of the letter is retained.

A SMALL REPORT ON MY PIGGERY PROJECT – VISION BEARER (PASTOR C.B.M. LUKWAGO)

You are most welcome to our “Small Holders Piggery Project”. Due to prior commitments i.e. attending a Believers Homecoming Fire Conference in Kampala starting today, Monday 22nd till Friday 26th April 2013, I have not been able to meet you in person. However, my dear wife and the two work helpers will be able to take you around on my behalf.
Vision:

Even before the “SPVCD” came in, my aim was and still is to rear PIGS for the purpose of adding extra income to the family. My vision was boosted by the introduction of “SMALLHOLDER PIG VALUE CHAIN DEVELOPMENT” AS HIGHLIGHT BY Dr. Mayega, the District Veterinary Officer at our Day Conference on 30th November 2012 at Sennyange Public School [this was part of the project’s initial scoping activities].

In general our problems still persist:

1. Construction of permanent/ temporary structures (ours are currently TEMPORARY as we struggle to mobilize funds for permanent structures

2. We need as many LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT courses
a. To be able to cure WORMS, SWINE FEVER n’ebirwadde ebirala ebizigwira [roughly translated as ‘any other diseases affecting pigs’]
b. To address proper FEEDING and livestock HYGIENE
c. To identify proper BREEDS i.e. PROLIFIC, QUICK MATURING and MANAGEABLE BREEDS: this is still a problem
d. To identify MARKETABLE breeds both for consumption and multiplication.

3. RECORD KEEPING: proper keeping of RECORDS is still a problem to most of us yet it is very important to assess GAINS/LOSSES. To most of us this is due to ignorance and/or we assume we don’t have time.

4. MARKETING: this is negotiable (between the producer and the buyer). In most cases the producer is cheated. Marketing is not ORGANISED. PORK consumption is gaining momentum though.

It is my wish and prayer that the LINKAGE between the OMULUNZI [livestock farmer], OMUSUUBUZI [businessman], TRANSPORTER and CONSUMER be established and strengthened; and the know-how PIG TECHNOLOGY be stepped up by the EXTENSION SERVICES.

Thank you. Come again,

Pastor C.B.M. Lukwago (Farmer)

Filed under: Africa, CRP37, CRP4, East Africa, ILRI, Pigs, Uganda, Value Chains

On 1 May, Professor James Muir, formerly of the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling passed away.

Muir was a founding member of the Science and Partnership Advisory Committee of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish.

Writing on behalf of the program, ILRI director general Jimmy Smith expressed his deep sadness on learning of his passing. “James had immediately begun engaging in his role with the program and we were already beginning to benefit from his extensive knowledge and experience in aquaculture research. We will sorely miss him.”

See full announcement

Filed under: CRP37

After a period of engagement and design, the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish began in January 2012. It’s first annual report was just published giving insights into progress, achievements and challenges.

The program’s model to enhance the relevance, urgency and impact of its research is designed to bring together collective CGIAR capacity CGIAR to demonstrate how research can develop appropriate solutions as integrated interventions for pro-poor transformation of selected value chains and work towards their implementation at scale by development partners. Through a focus on transforming selected value chains, the program is committed to stimulating large development interventions that will translate research into impact at scale.

This is a new way of working for CGIAR centres that requires reoriented capacities, resource mobilization, and the establishment of new types of partnerships.

The first year was devoted to establishing the institutional and scientific frameworks within which this reorientation is taking place. Momentum has been quickly achieved in three of the nine selected value chains. Restricted projects in Tanzania, Uganda and Egypt have enabled the program to deploy its value chain approach, to engage with partners and stakeholders and create support for a joint pro-poor research and development agenda around selected value chains.

In Tanzania, With support from Irish Aid and IFAD and in partnership with Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), the program conducted an initial stakeholder engagement and scoping exercise which confirmed that using dairy producer business groups and a service hub model for supporting intensification are good ‘bets’ for pro-poor dairy development. In Egypt, support from the Swiss Development Corporation allowed the program to work with CARE and the Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research to prepare roll-out of the improved Abbassa tilapia breed and improve the performance of the aquaculture value chain. Similarly, work was initiated in Uganda with IFAD-European Commission funding and in partnership with Makerere University, district governments and a local NGO, VEDCO, to characterize the largely neglected smallholder pig value chain and begin identifying entry points for intervention.

To support this new way of working, a toolkit of rapid value chain assessment instruments was successfully developed in collaboration with the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM) and is being adapted to each species and value chain. Already reflected in the toolkit is the mainstreaming of gender analysis, which is one of the main objectives defined in the program’s gender strategy.

The program’s agenda on technology research concentrates on the three main technical drivers of animal productivity: health, genetics and nutrition. These have been the core of the research undertaken in the past by the four partner centers, and much of the existing pipeline of work in these areas is being aligned to support improving productivity in the program’s selected value chains.

In health, vaccine research is focusing on the key disease constraints in the Uganda pig and Tanzania dairy value chains by improving our understanding of the dynamics of African swine fever and supporting deployment of East Coast fever vaccination of cattle with its registration in Kenya.

In genetics, the program is replicating the fish breeding approach to develop regionally specific strains of high-performing, faster-growing tilapia. In Egypt, the capacity has now been created to support sustainable introduction of the Abbassa strain—which provides 30% increases in productivity—into the small-scale commercial aquaculture system.

In feeds, the Brachiaria decumbens x B.brizantha x B.ruziiensis breeding program provides a continued stream of potential new forage cultivars in 3-year intervals, while the B. humidicola breeding program is advancing towards delivery of commercial products. The FEAST and TECHFIT tools have been validated in Ethiopia, Tanzania and elsewhere as practical field tools to identify feed-related constraints and solutions.

Download the annual report

Reports and outputs of the program

Get regular email updates on the program

See our workspace with information about ongoing activities

See photos of our activities

 

Filed under: CGIAR, CRP37, Livestock-Fish, Report, Research

The Livestock and Fish team working on the smallholder pig value chain in Uganda recently held a workshop to identify potential best-bet interventions based on the value chain assessment work.

Best-bets are interventions which better fit the prevailing conditions (constraints and opportunities) under which farmers and other value chain actors operate and have more chance to be adopted and contribute towards improving the current situation.

The two day workshop held on 8-9 April 2013 convened a rich mix of stakeholders and  partners. They represented research and academic institutions, local governments and private companies. Project staff from the Smallholder Pig Value Chain Development (SPVCD) and Safe Food Fair Food (SFFF) projects as well as CIAT and ILRI colleagues based outside Uganda also attended the workshop.

Among the partner institutions represented in the workshop were: the National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI), whose director Loyce Okedi, offered the workshop’s opening remarks, the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Makerere University, local governments officials of the 3 districts where the project operates (Kamuli, Masaka and Mukono), VEDCO, Farmgain Africa and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM).

To undertake the initial selection of potential best bet interventions participants carefully reviewed the results of the in-depth value chain assessments conducted in Kamuli, Masaka and Mukono districts. They also reviewed knowledge available from previous research and practical experiences on pig production in Uganda and other parts of the world, like China and South East Asia.

Presentations

Presentations covered the results for different projects components at district level, which were selected to represent different value chain domains: rural production for rural consumption (rural– rural), rural production targeted to urban area consumption (rural– urban), and urban and peri-urban production for urban consumption (urban– urban).

Topics discussed included:

• How the In-depth Value Chain Assessment was conducted? (D. Pezo)
• Livelihood analysis, gender roles and decision making, and social capital assessment through group membership (E. A. Ouma)
• Pig Production Systems and Seasonal Calendar (E. A. Ouma)
• Animal Health and Management Practices (M. Dione)
• Food Safety, Nutrition and Zoonoses (K. Rösel and F. Ejobi)
• Feeding and Breeding (N. Carter and D. Pezo)
• Value Chain Mapping (P. Lule and E. A. Ouma)
• Integrating Gender into Livestock Value Chains Work (K. Colverson)
• Reviews of Successes and Failures in Uganda with Promoted Technology Interventions on Animal Health and Zoonosis, Feeding and Value Chains (Z. Nsadha, D. Mutetikka and A. Tatwangire)

Power Point Presentations, as well as the outputs of working groups are available at: http://livestock-fish.wikispaces.com/VCD+Uganda.

Filed under: CRP37, Pigs, Uganda, Value Chains

Women selling farmed fish on the roadside in Egypt

In recent years, Livestock and Fish program partner WorldFish works with CARE – a leading humanitarian organization – on projects to improve livelihoods in developing countries. This collaboration includes work in Egypt and Bangladesh (with the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems).

In Egypt, linked with the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish, CARE is working with WorldFish on a project to improve employment and income through the development of Egypt’s aquaculture sector. According to CARE staff in Egypt, this collaboration between organizations has benefited from a shared vision. Susan Nour, Initiatives Manager at CARE Egypt, describes WorldFish as a “natural partner” for this reason. “In this project we have aligned around the objectives and our understanding of the approach and methodology that WorldFish is using – bottom up, poor-focused and the interest WorldFish has in listening to CARE’s point of view and the commitment to development. We also seem aligned on building capacity and empowering marginalized communities.”

CARE Egypt Country Director, Kevin Fitzcharles, and Assistant Country Director, Hazem Fahmy, agree, adding that the research element that the WorldFish brings to the partnership is of great value. “There is a rigour in the evidence-based approach used by WorldFish that makes CARE work better grounded,” they note.

Beyond this concrete collaboration in Egypt, CARE and the Livestock and Fish program have other links and connections.

In October 2012, Susan Nour contributed to a pre-conference session on ‘Mobilizing AR4D partnerships to improve access to critical animal-source foods’ at the Second Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD).

Jemimah Njuki, Global Coordinator for Pathways, CARE’s Women in Agriculture program is a member of the program’s Science and Partnership Advisory Committee

Download WorldFish annual report on its work in 2012

Filed under: CGIAR, CRP37, Egypt, Fish, Partnership, WorldFish

On 10 April 2013, Patricia Rainey joined the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to be ILRI’s program support coordinator for the CGIAR Research Programs on Livestock and Fish and Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). Rainey, a South African, has strong program management skills and a particular interest in research methods for development.

As program support coordinator, she will work closely with the head of development partnerships, value chain coordinators, theme leaders, and key finance, human resources and administration personnel at the partner CGIAR centres to successfully administer activities in both CGIAR Research Programs.

Rainey is a sociologist with a master’s degree in evaluation from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Before earning her master’s degree, she was a practicing sociologist, working on feasibility studies, baseline surveys and evaluations in the area of rural development. Since then, she has worked with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supporting work planning, budgeting, performance monitoring and reporting in Guinea and Ghana, and she managed a USAID funded Monitoring and Evaluation project in Nigeria. Most recently, she managed a similar project in Uganda for 4 years where she provided performance management support to USAID and 40 implementing partners.

She is based at the ILRI offices in Nairobi. Away from work, she enjoys horse riding and keeps four horses.

Filed under: CGIAR, CRP37, CRP4, Staff

At the recent meeting on ‘Integrating Nutrition into the ASEAN Food Security Framework and Strategic Plan of Action on Food Security in ASEAN Region’, Michael Phillips, Malcolm Beveridge and Stephen Hall made a presentation on fish and food and nutrition security; fish as food; and fish, food and nutrition security scenarios in the ASEAN region.
Key messages include:

• Fish is important for ASEAN food and nutrition security
• Fish is a preferred item in the diets of many, especially poor, people
• It is an important source of quality and highly bioavailable protein, but more importantly of essential fatty acids and micronutrients: at key life stages (e.g. the first 1000 days). Its importance should be measured in relation to consumption of other foods, intra- household food distribution
• The species we eat are changing, as is the method of production
  • the rise of aquaculture
  • intensification of culture methods
• Changes impact nutrient content; implications for food and nutrition security
• Increasing availability by aquaculture is important, but is not enough
• Gender plays an important role
• Interventions integrating fish with horticulture systems and nutrition can improve income as well as nutrition

Key recommendations are to recognize:

• value of fish in human nutrition
• fish demand will grow significantly
• wild fisheries and aquaculture are different and we need interventions in both
• Aquaculture interventions required for food and nutrition
• availability is only part of the solution
• opportunities for better integration of fisheries for human nutrition and health

Filed under: Aquaculture, Asia, CRP37, Fish, Southeast Asia, WorldFish

Until recently, livestock husbandry in  Vietnam’s Central Highlands was not very productive. Animals were intermittently sold to free-up cash to put towards weddings or large purchases, and the rest of the time they were left free to graze on native pasture and crop residues. To help revitalize these livestock systems, researchers at CIAT have been testing different kinds of improved forages and developing improved management strategies with farmers.

The ‘cut and carry’ systems introduced confine cattle to lots and provide them with high quality feed from nutritious forages such as varieties of elephant and napier grass, brachiaria and stylo. Also, farmers are encouraged to invest in more productive crossbreeds that respond better to the improved nutrition.

A recent CIAT news item tells the story of the work done by the CIAT-led Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam Livestock Project (CLVLP) which promotes the adaptation and adoption of improved livestock production systems in neighbouring provinces across the area known as the Cambodia-Lao-Vietnam Development Triangle.

The CLVLP is part of the Livestock and Fish research program and its feeds and forages platform.

See related story on this web site / See stories from a related ILRI-CIAT project

Filed under: Animal Feeding, Asia, Cattle, CIAT, Crop-Livestock, CRP37, Feeds, Forages, Southeast Asia, Vietnam

Dual purpose cattle in Nicaragua

The Livestock and Fish program director, Tom Randolph recently visited Nicaragua and Colombia. In Colombia he met colleagues in the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), a partner centre for the program, which leads forages research within the program’s feeds platform as well as the dual-purpose cattle value chain activities in Nicaragua.

In Nicaragua, Randolph together with the CIAT team working on the value chain held meetings with Edwin Perez, a former ILRI employee, who is leading a new Technoserve dairy development project in the central-northern part of the country and José Antonio Rivera, a director at a private sector dairy product maker, Eskimo, which is also involved in dairy development actions. In addition, field visits to a dairy cooperative, a dairy farmer and a cheese maker were held. These meetings and field visits were aimed at exploring potential partnership areas and additional strategic research opportunities.

The need for additional staff capacity to support this work as well as securing bilateral funding to undertake the value chain assessment were noted as priority areas to address.  Despite these challenges, the CIAT team is keen to begin implementing the dual-purpose cattle value chain development approach.  A value chain planning meeting with CIAT and ILRI staff to develop a medium-term work plan and impact pathway will be organised in the near future.

In CIAT, Colombia, the director met with the CIAT tropical forages team where he explained the Livestock and Fish program and its strategy. The questions and discussion highlighted the need for more face-to-face communication.

Dual purpose cattle systems (milk and meat) are an important economic activity for small producers in Nicaragua as well as in other parts of Central America. This value chain faces constraints such as low and highly variable productivity, seasonal feed constraints and poor milking hygiene. 

Filed under: Central America, CIAT, Feeds, Forages, Nicaragua, Value Chains

Debre Zeit workshop participants

Last week, Ethiopian partners in the program joined the last of three workshops to take stock of the results of small ruminant value chain assessments in 8 sites.

Together, 67 individuals from the sites and other partners joined the workshops. These came from research, academic, NGO, private companies, as well as international research organizations.

This is a brief report on the process and outputs of the workshops – all materials from the workshops are accessible online.

The objectives of the workshops were:

1. Share and validate results from the rapid VC assessment in the 8 sites
2. Draft a vision/outcome statement for each VC site
3. Identify and prioritize best bet interventions for each site
4. Develop intervention plans for each site (to be taken later to local VCD actors and communities)
5. Identify emerging cross-cutting issues by research components – breeding, feeding, health, gender.

Some results

Validated VC assessments

Each team presented its initial value chain assessment (VCA) report, including a table of VC constraints and potential interventions as well as a map of the market channels. The tables were validated and the elements prioritized in groups discussions involving invited people from outside the sites; they formed the basis for the subsequent identification of ‘best bet’ interventions and draft intervention plans.

Prioritized best bet interventions

For each site, the teams produced a set of prioritized ‘best bet’ interventions targeted to the constraints and opportunities already identified.

In prioritizing, groups initially looked at those that are ‘easy’ – so-called ‘low hanging fruits’ that offer quick and visible results and those that are ‘essential’ – without these, the intended VC transformation and outcomes would not happen. In the last workshop, these were called ‘killer’ interventions.

An important dimension to consider was the expected time-frame within which an intervention would be expected to produce outputs. The three time-frames used in planning were: Short term: up to 2 years; medium-term: between 2 and 4 years; and long-term: more than 4 years.

Other aspects of best bets taken into account in prioritization included:

• The phase of evolution of the VC – participants differentiated between infant, growth, and mature phases based on inputs from a colleague working for SNV.
• The VC ‘stage’ – whether the intervention mainly targets issues around inputs, production, marketing, processing or consumption.
• The types of interventions were considered important – whether they are primarily about technologies, are organizational or institutional, or are capacity developing.
• Finally, it was thought useful to pay attention to whether the intervention is primarily ‘action research’, is ‘developmental’, or involves more upstream ‘science.’

What emerged? The full tables will be part of the VCA reports produced from this exercise.  Draft outputs are at http://livestock-fish.wikispaces.com/ethiopia_vcd_bestbetplanning. The table below gives some examples.

Rapid VCA – Examples of constraints and best bet interventions

Constraints included:

• Shortage of veterinary equipment, drug supply, and vaccines in animal health centers
• Shortage of skilled technicians and facilities to address the health problems in the area
• Problem in maintaining cold chain for vaccines and provision of dead vaccines
• Informal vet drug sellers availing vet drugs everywhere (regulations not enforced)
• Shortage of transportation facilities to reach farmers in areas far from clinics and health posts
• Lack of flexibility in the credit system
• Lack of livestock market extension
• Lack of supplementary feeds
• Seasonal availability of feeds
• Infectious (pasteurellosis), and parasitic diseases (liver fluke, helminthes and lice infestation)
• High incidence of disease and parasites (CCPP, PPR, Goat Pox, Senorosis, Ticks, Lice, Hemoncus, )
• Inadequate skills on improved sheep and goat production and management
• Poor/traditional housing
• Low bargaining power of producers and limited access to market information
• Lack of vertical linkage of producers with other actors in the value chain
• Weak horizontal linkages among producers
• Lack of formal livestock market information
• Non uniform method of selling (weighing scale Vs Visual estimation)
• Shortage of supply of export quality goats to the market
• Seasonality of goat supply and demand
• Backyard slaughter – public health issue
• Low level of food preparation skill in the hotels and restaurants of the area
• Poor slaughtering skills that spoil the quality of meat and skin

Potential interventions include:

• Training on the need for selection and maintenance of breeding animals
• strengthening traditional breeding practices
• Allocating more funds for procurement of vet equipment
• Provision of facilities that can enable longer shelf life of vaccines
• Identification of different strains diseases for effective vaccination example PPR
• Enforcing the government rule and regulation
• Facilitate a flexible and individual based credit services
• Conservation of available feed resources
• Demonstrate best practices of crop residues utilization
• Testing of improved forage genotypes
• Promote the use of drought tolerant browse
• Expansion and strengthening of health posts and training of vet technicians
• Training extension agents, pastoralists, community leaders etc. in disease prevention and control
• Epidemiological study of prevailing diseases
• Identification of ‘resilient’ breeding stock
• Awareness creation and demonstration on improved housing through training and demonstration
• Institutionalizing the data collection and transmission from livestock markets
• Linking the local districts with national livestock market information system
• Support establishment of primary livestock markets with all necessary facilities
• Assessment of available feeds and water resources
• Training the community on efficient feed and water utilization
• Training pastoralists on the export qualities standards and how to attain them
• Organizing stakeholders’ forum at district, zonal and regional level
• Support establishment or strengthening livestock marketing cooperatives
• Encourage and support meat processing and export to create non seasonal demand
• Support policy and development that can reduce informal cross border trade
• Train in slaughtering techniques, encourage use of municipal abattoirs
• Encourage quality based meat pricing
• Enforce regulations to discourage backyard slaughtering
• Encourage meat quality standards

Draft implementation plans

The constraints analysis and best bet interventions were combined to produce draft intervention plans per site. For each prioritized intervention, teams explained who would be expected to deliver the activity, when (short, medium or long term) and how – the approach to be used. These plans form part of the VCA reports per site; they will be taken to VC local actors/communities for further validation and implementation.

Vision statements for each site

As part of the planning process for each site, the teams developed initial vision/outcome statements for where they expect their value chain to be in 2020.  These are provided below:

• Menz: By 2020: increased income and consumption of quality sheep meat of all value chain actors through an effective and sustainable Menz sheep value chain.
• Horro: By 2020: market-oriented sustainable sheep production and sufficient meat consumption in the diets of the value chain actors
• Doyogena: By 2020: increased household income and nutrition (livelihood) of value chain actors through an efficient specialized (trade-marked) and sustainable Doyogena sheep value chain
• Atsbi: By 2020:  Sustainable market oriented sheep production system that contributes to nutrition and income of value chain actors
• Abergelle (both sites): By 2020: We endeavor to see (safe) sustainable and market oriented Abergelle goat farming benefiting all actors and satisfying consumer requirements and contributing access to balanced nutrition for all.
• Borana: By 2020: Yabello pastoralists will have improved their incomes, nutrition and health through sustainable market oriented goat production
• Shinelle: By 2020: Shinelle pastoralists will practice sustainable market-oriented sheep and goat production which contributes to improved nutrition and income

Cross cutting research issues

Alongside the site by site planning, two of the workshops also looked at cross-cutting issues across sites, to identify priority interventions and issues needing attention. These are listed in the table below.

Issue area Addis Mekelle Breeding

1. Genetics of resistance/tolerance to endoparasites in sheep

• Control of the parasites through anthelmintics has so far been ineffective because of drug resistance, and is contrary to organic meat production
• ILRI has done some work on endoparasite genetics and the results are promising.
• The activity could fit into the safe food component of the VCA project

2. Genetics of feed efficiency in sheep

• Genetic improvement has so far focused on improvement of body weights
• But where feed is scarce, efficiency of weight gain is more important
• the activity could include both quantitative and molecular genetics components

3. Mapping of stratification for breed development and utilization in Ethiopia

• Because of lack of a clear breeding policy and strategy, there has been indiscriminate crossing
• breeding strategies need to consider both resource base that can support the improved genotype and conservation of the indigenous genetic resources
• the output of the activity will serve to rationalize our breeding programs
• the output will also serve as baseline information for developing breeding policies and strategies in Ethiopia,  which is already long overdue.

4. Setting up and optimization of community-based sheep breeding programs

 

1. Identification of adaptive traits
2. Parental tracking via DNA profiling
3. Appropriate recording/identification systems
4. Appropriate and participatory breeding programs
5. Delivery of genetic improvement via reproductive technologies

  Feeding

1. Feed resource inventory and design strategies to fill gaps:

• Forage development
• Commercial feed utilization
• Crop residue improvement
• Feeding practice
• Developing feeding system

2. Research on diversifying adaptive forage species for highland area
3. Documenting and evaluation of fattening practice:
4. Feed conversion and economic terms
5. Demonstration and evaluation of crop residue improvement using effective micro organism

1. Identification, evaluation and adaptive research on local browse and grass species (improved grass and browse (feed value)
2. Development of adapted forage and food-feed crop options for arable land
3. Use of crop residues: conservation, proper utilization and documentation of existing technologies
4. Development of economical and biological efficient feeding strategies for market-oriented production (quality products)

  Health

1. Diagnose and address, raise awareness important neglected diseases (eg, ‘pink-eye’ disease)
2. Involve community animal health workers into the VC; by training them in eg preventive measures and treatments
3. Address control of zoonotic diseases and drug residues (in meat and milk)
4. Improve/extend veterinary and public health inspection in livestock markets, slaughterhouses.
5. Support the emergence of consumer associations to create awareness of health risks
6. Identification and isolation of strains (lab diagnosis) for economically important and human health relevant diseases
7. Prevention and controlling guidelines for identified diseases
8. Causes of failure of vaccination programs (strains, effectiveness of vaccines, timeliness)
9. Demo for treatment of Coenurosis in Atsbi and Abergelle: Acting on interim host (a. deworming, b. proper disposal of infected)
10. Impact assessment of transport effect on carcass quality
11. Documentation of ethno-veterinary practices, e.g. herbal treatments against endoparasites (synergies between local and scientific knowledge)
12. Delivery of animal health services

Gender

1. Build on / learn from existing programs of womens’ groups and microcredit for them
2. Identify roles, responsibilities, resource access, household decisions and ownership of men and women in VCs
3. Assess whether the contribution of women is recognized in VCs, and if not, why and the implications (eg income) of this
4. Identify the work of women in VCs more visible and valued, and ways to empower them
5. Reinforce the roles and contributions of extension/advisory agents in targeting and training women

 
Filed under: Africa, CGIAR, CRP37, CRP4, East Africa, Ethiopia, Event, Goats, ICARDA, ILRI, Sheep, Small Ruminants, Value Chains

Participants in the workshop

In Vietnam, the ILRI-led Livestock and Fish research program focuses on smallholder pig value chains. As part of the planned activities for 2013, ILRI organized a stakeholder consultation workshop in Hanoi on 22 March 2013 (see wiki for more information).

Lucy Lapar and Seth de Vlieger from ILRI’s Hanoi office wrote this report on the meeting.

The workshop aimed to identify a short list of priority research sites that fit the characteristics of three target value chain (VC) gradients:  Rural to rural (R2R), rural to peri-urban/urban (R2U), and peri-urban to urban (U2U).

A set of GIS maps were presented to the stakeholders for discussions; these identified the list of provinces that met the thresholds for the geographical targeting (pigs, poor people, market access) and the VC gradient classification (% of province area that represent each VC gradient type). See Table 1 below and the presentation showing the GIS maps.

Participants were divided into four groups to discuss some soft criteria to be applied for prioritizing the proposed list of provinces under each type of VC gradient.  The inputs from a diverse field of expertise and the participants’ intimate knowledge of the country and its different socio-political and economic dimensions highlighted a variety of perspectives, fostering an atmosphere for open and informative discussions.

At the plenary where each group was represented by a leader who presented their set of priority site selection criteria, the recurring elements that stood out as important according to the stakeholders were 1) the expressed willingness by the political leadership to engage with ILRI and its collaborators, 2) the potential for building synergies with development and other ongoing initiatives, and 3) dynamism that will enable the capture of temporal and spatial changes in the process of transformation and better contextualize the dynamics across the different VC gradients.

Table 1: List of priority criteria proposed

 

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 (not prioritized) 1. Geographical representation 1.  Province level 1. Target Beneficiaries Include some areas of low density but high poverty 2. Dynamism (potential for change) 2. Collaboration with pig-stakeholder (producer) 2. Capacity to scale up (political engagement) Presence of Variation of density/poverty within province 3. Cultural/ethnic differences 3. Dynamics Commitment of local government to apply priorities + resources 4. Institutional partners  synergy building) 4. Synergies Co-located with development projects

Thereafter, participants were divided in two groups. One group identified the top 2-3 provinces among the list of provinces under the R2R and R2U VC gradient; the other group identified the top 2 provinces among the list of provinces under the U2U VC gradient. The groups then came up with a short list of provinces, based on their priority set of criteria. Given the difficulty to come to a consensus on how to identify 1-2 provinces for each type of VC gradient, it was suggested that more information and consultation at the sub-province level should be conducted, in order to develop a final list of the priority research sites.

The outputs from the group discussions are summarized in Table 2 below.

Table 2: Proposed priority provinces (in descending order) for each value chain gradient

 

Proposed for Rural to Rural & Rural to Urban (provinces) Proposed for Urban to Urban (provinces) Dac Lak Thanh Hoá Son La Hoa Binh Thanh Hoa Tien Giang Nghe An Dong Nai Hoa Binh Long An Ca Mau Kien Giang

Next steps for the site selection will be to generate revised GIS maps, taking into account the comments from the stakeholders, including relevant variables in the geographical targeting exercise, and collecting sub-provincial information to refine the targeting. Sub-province consultations with key stakeholders will then be organized for ground-truthing.

In the afternoon of the same day, a smaller group of ILRI and some partners discussed the program’s impact pathway framework for Vietnam. The outputs from this discussion will be used to develop the impact pathway narrative in Vietnam. See Table 3 for a summary of impact pathway elements identified.

Table 3: List of impact pathway elements identified

Vision “A thriving and inclusive pig sector that is environmentally sustainable, efficient, and consumer friendly” Outcomes 1. Capacity developed among partners to apply tested models for smallholder pig system that demonstrate increased productivity reduce d risk higher and more reliable income 2. Uptake of productivity enhancing technologies, strategies, innovations, for improved pig nutrition, breeding and health 3. Markets actors behaving so as to reduce risks, respond to incentives, enable compliance with changing demand and standards 4. Capacity developed among targeted research partners 5. Expanded market opportunities for smallholder pig producers 6. Learning alliance functioning for continued R4D for pig systems 7. Improved opportunities for income generation by women in pig production and marketing Key Assumptions 1. Addressing whole value chain will improve uptake of innovations. 2. Prioritization will increase the probability of achieving proof at scale. 3. Work on localized solutions will generate regional and global public goods. 4. Implementation of appropriate innovations in the right value chains with partners will accelerate program’s progress towards achieving outcomes and impact. 5. More smallholders can and will respond to greater market demand, become market oriented, and intensify production. 6. Pro-poor value chains can compete and generate sufficient incentives to promote investment in intensification. 7. The poor rely on animal-source food produced locally by smallholders and from less formal marketing channels. 8. The poor will consume more ASF if availability of products improves from those systems. 9. Increased consumption of ASF will improve nutrition and health. Key Risks 1. Focusing on a few value chains might limit geographical spread of research benefits. 2. High transaction costs and or transactions investments of managing a complex network of partnerships. 3. Potential ineffectiveness stemming from managing complexity 4. Limited impact due to poor implementation, low buy-in, low capacity, disagreements in policy 5. Increased income and gender inequalities due to program implementation.
Filed under: CRP37

Contributed by Jo Cadilhon

On 27-28March 2013, I participated in the first planning workshop of the REVALTER project in Vietnam. REVALTER is the French acronym for Multi-scale assessment of livestock development pathways in Vietnam.

The objective of this project is to study the existing conditions of livestock value chains in Vietnam, with a specific focus on pig and dairy chains, so as to create scenarios of future possible developments for the livestock industry of the country. The three-year project outputs are meant to feed directly into the strategic planning of the Vietnamese Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development and of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

This project received partial funding from the French National Research Agency specifically because the project proposal demonstrated that research outputs would be used immediately by policy makers to influence livestock development outcomes.

Three French research institutes, CIRAD, CNRS and INRA, are working on the project and three Vietnamese counterparts, RUDEC, CASRAD and NIAS also hope to gain from the project’s experience and the doctoral research funding of some of their junior staff.

ILRI participation in REVALTER gives the institute the opportunity to field-test the methods and tools for value chain analysis which have been developed through the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish, and Policies Institutions and Markets.

For all research partners involved, this project is an opportunity to collaborate to an industry that is likely to see major changes in the very near future with the continued economic development of Vietnam and increased consumer demand for meat and dairy products. It will also expose the French and Vietnamese partners to research conducted and published in English. These partners already have a ten-year old French-speaking collaboration under the MALICA research consortium but for many in the room, a special effort was needed to communicate in English when the majority of participants were actually French-speaking. All recognized that they had to try and work in what had now become the most common language to share scientific expertise-English.

This collaboration will contribute to ILRI’s partnership levels and enable the institute to use or adapt already existing methods and tools. I had come to this meeting to present the methods and tools newly developed, but yet to be validated, by my CGIAR colleagues to conduct focus groups and surveys of value chain stakeholders. While at the workshop, I learned that MALICA partners had already developed similar tools that had already been field-tested in Vietnamese livestock chains. The consensus among research partners was thus to take a closer look at all the tools we knew of and to pick the most relevant questions from these different toolkits so as to achieve the REVALTER research objective of understanding the governance of current Vietnamese livestock value chains.

The lesson I have learned from this interaction is that no one research institute, including ILRI, can claim to be the only source of international knowledge and methods in agricultural research and development projects. In the strongly research-oriented REVALTER project, French and Vietnamese research partners have extremely valid contributions to make concerning how we can analyse livestock value chains in Vietnam.

See the emerging VCA toolkit

Jo Cadilhon is an Agricultural Economist with the Policy Trade and Value Chains Program at ILRI. Jo mainly works on innovation platforms and value chain analysis within the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets. He also contributes to the Livestock and Fish CGIAR Research Program with a specific focus on the study of pig value chains in Vietnam.

Filed under: Asia, CRP2, CRP37, Event, ILRI, Livestock, Livestock-Fish, Pigs, Southeast Asia, Value Chains, Vietnam

This article in the journal Animal reviews the positive and negative roles of livestock in the developing world. Authored by several ILRI staff, the paper also discusses ‘key factors that are likely to determine the future contribution of the sector to food security, environmental protection and economic growth.’ It proposes actions for improving different aspects of livestock systems so that the positive roles outweigh the negatives.

The authors argue that ‘recognising the different roles played by livestock in the developing and the developed world is essential to understand the impact of livestock on livelihoods, economic development and the environment.

‘The importance of this paper lies in providing a balanced account [for] . . . the often, ill-informed or generalized discussion on the . . . roles of livestock. Only by understanding the nuances in these roles will we be able to design more sustainable solutions for the sector.

‘We are at a moment in time where our actions could be decisive for the resilience of the world food system, the environment and a billion poor people in the developing world . . . . At the same time, . . . the demand for livestock products is increasing, . . . adding additional pressures on the world natural resources.’

More analysis of these issues in this ILRI blog post: Livestock, poverty and the environment: A balancing act–and a balanced account

Access the full paper

Filed under: Article, CRP37, Environment, Targeting

‘Aroundfish’ by Paul Klee, 1926 (via WikiPaintings)

Putting enough food on the table is a daily challenge faced by households around the world. Ensuring that the food contains enough protein and essential micronutrients is a further consideration, and animal products, such as fish and meat from livestock can go a long way to improving the diets of the world’s poor. In addition, small-scale production of animal source foods can be a pathway out of poverty for many communities.

While nutrition is often a priority for the hungry and under-nourished, food safety is also extremely important. As produce is transported from the farm to the market place, and onto the consumer’s dinner table, there are numerous opportunities for contamination. Foodborne diseases, chemicals, and heavy metals can all enter the food chain and pose a threat to human health.

WorldFish, in collaboration with its CGIAR research partner, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is undertaking two complementary projects in Egypt to better understand the dual demands of safety and nutrition in food value chains. The Egyptian stream of the ACIAR funded Rapid Integrated Assessment project, brings together an international team of food safety and policy experts from WorldFish; ILRI; the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Kafr el Sheikh University, Egypt; and the Royal Veterinary College, University of London. It builds on work carried out under the GIZ funded Safe Food Fair Food (SFFF) project which also involved the University of Ghana; the Ministry of Agriculture, Cote d’Ivoire; the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS) and the University Abobo- Adjame, Cote d’Ivoire;.

The SFFF project carried out a scoping mission in 2012, providing an overview of potential food safety risks. This included interviews with producers and other value chain actors as well as initial sampling to determine whether farmed fish poses risks to human health. The Rapid Integrated Assessment (RIA) project builds on the SFFF work and has developed a comprehensive toolkit to assess the health and safety of a range of food chains in six countries, including Egypt for fish. The second part of the RIA project puts this toolkit into practice to assess the farmed tilapia value chain in Egypt along with the milk value chain in Tanzania, the sheep and goat value chain in Ethiopia and pig value chains in Uganda and Vietnam.

In total, project staff are visiting and interviewing 100 producers, 10–20 wholesalers, 10–20 cooked fish sellers, 100 fresh fish sellers, 10–20 transporters, and 300 rural and peri-urban consumers. In addition, fish samples are being collected from producers and fresh fish sellers to test for bacterial, chemical and heavy metal contamination. Focus groups of producers and consumers are also being conducted to explore aspects of tilapia production and consumption using a collaborative approach.

Only through a thorough assessment of the role that a food product plays in the lives of all who take part in its value chain, can the need for food safety be addressed without jeopardizing the livelihoods of producers and sellers. The Rapid Integrated Assessment and Safe Food Fair Food projects are providing the tools to ensure that this is possible.’

The project started in June 2012 and will end in May 2013.

Read the whole article

Read about the SFFF scoping mission in 2012

Filed under: Africa, Aquaculture, CRP37, CRP4, Egypt, Fish, Food Safety, Livestock-Fish, North Africa, Project, Value Chains, WorldFish

Among the fundamentals of a good research program is the ability to demonstrate how the program will deliver the promise of creating positive change to the target population. Theory of Change defines the pathways through which a program will deliver these promises, highlighting the key assumptions and likely risks the program faces.  The Theory of Change is an important tool for program planning, management, and measuring the program’s progress towards achieving impact on its target population.

A 2 days workshop to refine the Livestock and Fish CGIAR Research Program Theory of Change was held in January 2013 in Nairobi. The objectives of the workshop were to:

1. Develop a common understanding of the program design and the envisaged pathways to outcomes and impact
2. Review and refine the Livestock and Fish program impact evaluation strategy
3. Clarify program monitoring & evaluation and impact assessment related activities including evaluation, impact assessment, learning, logic frameworks, impact pathways, program monitoring, outcome monitoring among others.

Defining its pathway is the first step for the program in building systematic evidence on how it will deliver the changes it promises to make, which ultimately builds to the program’s impact assessment framework. Two program impact pathways were defined by participants at workshop:

1. In the first pathway, the program will work through value chains as their “technology labs”. The program will produce research outputs that will be tested in the value chains. Once technologies are tested and shown to work, it is expected that  development partners will be attracted to invest in the technologies and help scale them out to achieve the program’s Intermediate Development Outcomes (IDOs) for which the program is accountable. For example, if the program aims to bring about nutrition change, the team will research on an intervention that once tested within the value chain will attack more partners to invest financial resources towards and this can then go to scale.
2. The second pathway represents the more conventional process by which results are expected to translate into uptake and impact more widely. The knowledge and innovation created to find solutions to the constraints in the program’s selected value chains will apply to constraints and the scientific process more generally. This will be achieved through targeted dissemination of results through publications, etc. to provide sufficient evidence and numerous platforms for widespread dissemination (at an international scale) of the technologies. In addition the program will seek to build the capacity of technology “next users” such as national agricultural research systems (NARs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and public extension providers in countries outside of the selected value chains, and so accelerate the downstream testing and adaptation of research outputs. The program will also develop a strategy for targeting specific messages and specific channels to influence policy makers, especially those who determine development investment, to promote wider deployment of program’s proven interventions. Improving international access to and use of program outputs will eventually, over a 10-year horizon and beyond, contribute to the detailed system level changes in food security, nutrition, poverty, and sustainability of natural resources.

Existing evidence that supports the above pathways is being assessed and reviewed, while additional studies to validate the assumptions of the Theory of Change are also being planned. Value chain specific impact pathways, adapted to this generic program impact pathway, are being developed to enable the design of program evaluation framework and value chain specific evaluation frameworks.

Developing clear and logical pathways is a crucial step that will be able to inform research on what to do, when to do, how to do it, who should do it, to facilitate learning, evaluation and enable the program to demonstrate achievement of impact.

Workshop outputs and photos can be accessed from here: http://livestock-fish.wikispaces.com/TOCworkshop2013

More information on the program’s IDOs and ToC

Filed under: CGIAR, CRP37, Targeting

Stakeholder discussions and planning for the Livestock and Fish small ruminant value chain development project began in mid-2012. By November, sites were selected and teams were trained to carry out rapid value chain assessments in the project’s 7 research sites (including for the safe food fair food project).

Field implementation of the rapid value chain assessment ran through December 2012 and January 2013 with mixed CGIAR-national teams collecting data in Atsbi, Doyogena, Menz, Horro, Abergelle, Yabello and Shinelle districts (see pictures).

VCA assessment with farmers

The teams used a toolkit developed through the Program and undertook focus group discussions with farmers using checklists and participatory methods as well as key informant interviews with local experts, traders, butchers, livestock researchers, transporters, veterinarians and NGOs.

The preliminary reports from these assessments are being reviewed at three multi-stakeholder workshops on ‘Targeting Action Research on Small Ruminant Value Chains in Ethiopia’ held in March and April 2013. In these workshops, participants from research and development partners are takinge stock of the value chain assessments and formulating ‘best bet’ intervention plans for each of the sites (that will also be taken back to the communities for their involvement).

View presentations of the value chain assessments from the various workshops:

• Sheep value chains in Menz Gera district, North Shewa Zone, Ethiopia: Results of a rapid value chain assessment
• Sheep value chain development in Doyogena District of SNNPR, Ethiopia: Results of a rapid value chain assessment
• Value chain analysis of sheep in Horro district of Oromia Region, Ethiopia
• Safe Food, Fair Food: Summary of findings within sheep value chains in the Ethiopian Highlands

More information on the workshops

Filed under: Africa, CRP37, CRP4, East Africa, Ethiopia, Goats, ICARDA, ILRI, Livestock, Sheep, Small Ruminants, Value Chains

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and other partners in Tanzania are embarking on a 4-year (2013-2016) research-for-development (R4D) project targeted at improving rural based livelihoods through milk. This comes after the 2012, 1-year successful inception phase of a collaborative research project titled, ‘More Milk in Tanzania’ between ILRI and SUA funded by Irish Aid. These resources support the commitment of Irish Aid to the CGIAR change process and more specifically the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish, where Tanzania’s smallholder dairy is one of the targeted value chains.

A new project office for this new phase was officially launched on 12 March 2013 by the Irish Minister of State for Trade and Development, Joe Costello.

The inception of the MoreMilkiT project enabled the ILRI-SUA partnership to have a better understanding of the policy environment and appropriate entry points to impact on the poor and marginalised; identify and consult a wide range of stakeholders; conduct a situational assessment nationally and value chain assessments (VCA) within identified sites to identify constraints and opportunities; and initiate a process for strengthening the policy environment to better support pro-poor dairying. The findings generated thus far reinforce the validity of the need to focus attention on ‘growing’ the existing informal system of milk production and marketing that the vast majority of cattle producers are part of, so as to achieve wider impact on poor women and men.

The goal of the new R4D phase will be to use dairy market hub (DMHs) approach to allow the marginalised groups to ‘grow’ towards greater participation in the value chain. This will be a significant departure from many of the past and on-going dairy development efforts in Tanzania, that have targeted high potential areas with better-off farms (smallholder and otherwise), ideally to supply the quantities of milk to justify establishing a processing plant.

Objectives

• Develop scalable value chains approaches with improved organization and institutions serving resource-poor male and female smallholder dairy households. The outputs here will be vibrant, well organized, well governed and sustainable DMHs delivering demand-led inputs and services. The DMHs to be piloted are: a) DMHs revolving around chilling plants or just accessing them (if under-utilized) through transport arrangements that provide both outputs marketing and inputs and services through check-offs; b) hubs revolving around check-offs for inputs and services provided through milk traders (a similar one is being piloted in Uganda under the East African Dairy Development project); and c) hubs revolving around check-offs for inputs and services provided through cattle traders.

• Generate and communicate evidence on business and organizational options for increasing participation of resource-poor male and female households in dairy value chains. The key output here will be to ensure that DMHs act as platforms for generating and communicating evidence on business and organisational options for increased participation of resource poor men and women

• Inform policy on appropriate role for pro-poor smallholder-based informal sector value chains in dairy sector development. The outputs will be to generate and disseminate lessons for sustainable value chain development through evidence-based research, M&E and recommendations for scaling out

Target groups and beneficiaries

The MoreMilkiT project is primarily targeted at pre-commercial marginalised smallholder cattle-keeping men and women who do not currently participate fully in dairy value chains. Pilot sites have been identified in four districts (two in Morogoro and two in Tanga).

The pilot phase to be carried out up to 2016 is expected to benefit about 40,000 people in 6,400 households across four villages. If the project successfully establishes the proof-of-concept for this type of pro-poor DMH-based strategy, wider uptake (e.g. through the EADD project), will result in spread of benefits to the resource-poor across the Tanzanian landscape affecting about 300,000 people in 50,000 households.

ILRI engagement in the dairy sector in Tanzania

Since the 1990s, ILRI has been involved in a number of dairy R4D projects in Tanzania, mainly working with SUA, the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development and the Tanzania Dairy Board. This project as well as other smaller projects such as ‘MilkIT‘, Safe food fair food the new phase of East Africa Dairy Development and Dairy Genetics East Africa will help deliver much needed impact at scale.

Filed under: CRP37, Dairying, Livestock, Tanzania, Value Chains

Last month, the Tanzania Dairy Board (TDB), Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Heifer Project International (HPI), SNV – The Netherlands Development Organisation, Land O’Lakes, Inc., and the Tanzania Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development (MLDF) organized a national dairy stakeholders’ meeting to present the Dairy Development Forum (DDF).

The DDF grew out of the recognition that Tanzania’s dairy development potential can be further harnessed through concerted collaborative partnerships of different players. DDF is intended to be a coordination platform to facilitate such collaboration.

It is envisaged that DDF will promote:

• A more inclusive orientation in public and private investments in the dairy sector
• Professionalization and best practices in the dairy sector
• Information and knowledge sharing including, convening as an innovation platform to address systemic bottlenecks and co-create solutions in the dairy sector at national and milk-shed levels

More information

See a poster on the launch / in Swahili:

 

Filed under: Africa, CGIAR, CIAT, CRP37, Dairying, Event, ILRI, Livestock-Fish, Southern Africa, Tanzania

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided $107,800 to the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish to promote linkages with American universities.

Researchers in the four CGIAR livestock and fish partner centers – ILRI, ICARDA, CIAT and WorldFish – are invited to submit proposals.

Specific objectives for the program are:

1. Bring high-level research expertise from U.S. universities and other partners to CGIAR centers to tackle agricultural research issues of relevance to resource-constrained settings
2. Create new collaborations between CGIAR and U.S. researchers in each of the seven Feed the Future Food Security Innovation Center program areas
3. Facilitate CGIAR access to cutting-edge technologies (potentially at new partner institutions) not previously applied to international development
4. Increase the internationalization of U.S. faculty and their students and their involvement in developing-country agricultural research questions
5. Raise the visibility of CGIAR research on U.S. campuses and with partners
6. Raise USAID’s visibility as a facilitator of innovative linkages involving U.S. universities

Proposals are due March 29, 2013 (extended from March 13). Please submit proposals by email to Stuart Worsley (s.worsley@cgiar.org). Decisions will be announced by 30 April 2013.

Click here for details on the call

Filed under: CGIAR, CRP37