Characterization of the Farming and Livestock Production System and the Potential for Enhancing Productivity through Improved Feeding in Wolmera District, Ethiopia Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center M. Yami, T. Etana, T. Teklehaymanot, E. Lemma

Objectives The general objectives of the studies is to describe the farming and livestock system of the study areas. To obtain a general pictures of the livestock system and to understand the main purpose of keeping livestock. To assess the major livestock production constraints in the farming system and find out if feed is likely to be a major factor limiting animal production.

Methodologies We used PRA tools (FGD and proportional pilling techniques) with 5 farmers in Wolmera district Bukusami Gebarobi kebele, the number of respondent comprises of 3 males and 2 females. The age structure of the FGD partcipants can tell us that the participants catch all the age ranges from the young to the old. The mean age of the participant were 35 which reveals that they have adequate farm experience and the information from these group is reliable for the purpose of inference in agricultural activity. Total time consumed to conduct the survey is 2:10 which is near to the proposed time schedule.

Rainfall pattern & cropping season The main rainfall season in the study areas is from June to August, but even if the amount reduces there is also a minimum rainfall amount during the months of September and October. There is only one cropping season in the areas which start from first week of April till harvesting time in November. During this rainy season farmers grow different crops like staple crops like food barley, faba bean, teff, wheat and cash crops include oil crops, malt barley and vegetables.

The farming and livestock system The average land size of the surveyed areas is 3 ha/hh, with the range of 0.25 up to 10 ha of land. Whereas, the average family size were 5 per/hh.

Irrigation Surprisingly, despite the very good land available for crop production in the study areas, the current land covered under irrigation is very minimal; this is only 2.5 ha of land which is currently cultivated by 10 farmers. Labor availability Most of the farmers for farming related activities rely on their family labor source, but during peak seasons they need to hire labor for harvesting and weeding. According to farmers’ response hired labor is not easily available at the time of peak seasons. The price of labor varies from different months, during peak season the price becomes 200 ETB/ha including launch and other costs. On average about 20% of the population of the study areas leave their areas for the prime purposes of searching for better education in other parts of the country.

Credit availability Credit is easily available from both formal and informal sources but most of the farmers rely highly on credit sources which come form the informal source because the formal source requires some procedures. Livestock management Livestock managements encompass stall feeding (w/c is separated from human residents), tethering, open grazing, feeds delivered for animals in the form of chopped and mixed with linseed cakes. Farmers occasionally get veterinary service form government agents but most of the time the service is inefficient and farmers complain the high costs of the services b/c the service providers come from long distance to give service and the farmers asked to pay unreasonable price for the service. Individual farmers pay 300 ETB per cattle for the veterinary service. Even though it is not satisfactory, farmers get vaccinations and AI services. Farmers on average travel 2 hour to get the AI services from the BoARD office but farmers complain that the problems of insufficient availability of medicines and trained man powers. On average farmers pay 20 ETB per/ cow for one time bull services.

Livestock species and their use The major livestock species raised in the areas include local and improved dairy cows, oxen, shoats and equines. Household in the study areas mainly kept local cattle’s for the purpose of draft power, manure, milk production (mainly for household consumption ) and in some cases they used as a status of wealth indicator. Likewise, improved dairy animal’s raised mainly for the purpose of milk production that provides income source for the family and production of crossed calves which uses as draft or dairy animals. Whereas, equines mainly used for transportation purposes, in the same way poultry production raised for the purpose egg production and income generations.. The average number of animals kept per household is listed below on the fgure1.

Contribution of different feeds to diet of animal

Major constraints in livestock production Pair wise matrix ranking WATCFGZHSLMPScoreRank Shortage of water(WAT) WAT HSWAT32 High price of feed(CF) CFHSCF23 Shortage of grazing lands(GZ) HSLMP15 Inadequate health service(HS) HS41 Low milk price (LMP)

Cause and solution analysis tables RankProblemCause of the problem Farmers suggestions to overcome the problems 1 st Inadequate animal health service -Lack of trained manpower -Insufficient medicine materials -Inaccessibility -Absence of clink service at kebele level -Establishment of animal health post at kebele level 2 nd Shortage of water -Climate variability, like seasonal shift of rainfall, long dry season -Expansion of water points from different sources 3 rd High price of feed -Few number of private traders who supply concentrate feeds -Shortage of grazing land -Use of improved crop residues, -Use of backyard forage development, like elephant grasses 4 th Low milk price -Few market outlet -Low market promotion -Use to sale for cooperatives -Establishment of milk collecting units 5 th Shortage of grazing lands-High population pressure -High number of livestock population -Tries to decrease the number of livestock population and focus on quality improved breeds -Efficient utilization of the grazing fields by improving its productivity by applying manures and chemicals (urea treatement)

Possible Interventions Based on the result of paired wise matrix ranking inadequate health facilities is the major problems, so any interventions which aims to increase productivity of the livestock species needs to consider this situations by availing accessible health service facilities with required man power. For high price of commercial feeds the suggested interventions needs to be use of alternative feeding system like development of backyard forage development and use of the grazing land efficiently by applying manure and over sowing legume species. Improvement of crop residues using urea molasses treatemet.

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