Using FEAST to Characterize the Farming and Livestock Production Systems and the Potential for Enhancing Productivity through Improved Feeding in Walmara district, Ethiopia By Sinana Agricultural Center Dawit Abate, Sisay Belete, Teklu Wegi and Sultan Usman

Introduction  Feed for livestock is often cited as the main constraint to improved productivity in smallholder systems  The FEAST tool offers a systematic and rapid methodology for assessing feed resources at site level to develop site specific strategy to improve feed supply and utilization  The FEAST tool was conducted in June 2012 at Robe Gebeya kebele of Walmara district.

Objectives  To obtain the general picture of the farming and livestock system  To find out if feed is likely to be a major limiting animal production, if it is recognized by farmers and what farmers seed as potential solution  To identify potential feed interventions for the area

Methodology Study site  The study was conducted at Gaba Robi of Warmera district, West Showa zone of Oromiya region  The study site is located at 36km from the capital city of the country on the western direction  The altitude of the area is 2400m asl with monomodal rainfall pattern with peak raining time from late June to August Sampling methods  The study site was purposively selected by district MOA expert in collaboration with researcher from Holota research center and ILRI  Farmers were selected based on the land holding from different age and sex group  After completion of group PRA discussion, one key informant farmer was selected

Survey structure and format  PRA discussion was held with 5 farmers to obtain insight information of qualitative data on farming and livestock system, constraints and possible intervention options  One key informant was interviewed using questionnaire to obtain quantitative data Data analysis The collected data was fed in to the excel FEAST template and analyzed for descriptive statistics

Major Findings

Characteristics of farming system  Crop livestock mixed farming system is the dominant  Rainfall distribution is erratic and not adequate especially with in the previous four (4) years probably due to climatic change.  Farmers indicated that only in the months of June, July and August (Gana season ) the obtain adequate amount of rainfall.  In the past, short rainfall was known especially in the Belg/ Arfasa (March, April and May) season but there is no rain at this days

Characteristics of farming system Farm Size  The farm size usually vary among the farmers (with an average of 1.5 ha)  Farm land mainly used for crop production  Number of family size range from small (2-10) with average of 4-5 people living in each household

Labour There is a shortage of labour availability especially during planting and harvesting. The price of daily laborers is also expensive. It ranges from 35 birr for local daily laborers to about 100 birr for daily laborers coming from the other area. Characteristics of farming system

The livestock production system The livestock population in the area is generally low. Even though the number of the animal found per house hold is very low, the majority of the households raise the main livestock species ( dairy cows, draught cattle, sheep and pack animals)

Credit Credit provider is available but the farmers are not efficiently utilized the advantages mainly due to the inefficiency of the farmers in organizing themselves, trust themselves, unable to repay the interest timely, and the like. Hence, farmers usually fear to take any credit due to the above reasons. Generally those farmers taken the credit have used to purchase animals, farm input and used as starting petty trade.

Agricultural inputs The availability of farm inputs is not a problem for the farmer in the study area. MOA and other cooperatives have been involving in input provision. But due to high cost of most of the input items, farmers have not as such interested Livestock management Most farmers practice shelter at home, housing not as such practiced Treating crop residue with salts and concentrated feed (such as fagulo) is also well practiced Better feed resource is available in Birra (sep, oct, nov) season. In Gana (jul, Aug) the feed source is not adequate. Where as in Bona (oct, nov, jan, feb,mar..) season there is high feed shortage problem.

Veterinary service Veterinary service is not easily accessible, it is far from the village, unavailability of clinic, expert, high price ( birr/animal) Artificial insemination AI is not timely available (probably due to semen shortage, distance from the village, availability of technician in the village etc). Improved bull service not commonly used. Price of AI is also about 18 birr/service

Problems (rank) Problem identified Possible solution 1Water shortageBetter management of the existing water resource Searching/extracting for more water resource from the ground by GO,NGO and others 2Animal diseaseEstablishment of government and private animal health clinic Adequate health experts in the area 3FeedConserving/ managing efficiently the crop residues, grazing lands Cultivation of improved feed resource More awareness on production, utilization and improvement of feed resources 4FinanceCredit/cash for addition feed purchase More awareness on saving and credit 5Improved breed Provisions of improved breeds with full package is important

Possible interventions Improving the management of the existing water resource Conserving and utilizing efficiently the crop residues and grazing lands resources Cultivation of improved feed crops Awareness creation on production, utilization and improvement of feed resources Establishment of government and private animal health clinic Awareness creation to develop saving culture