مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

In developing countries, where most of the smallholder farmers practice mixed farming system, livestock production is the major source of household food, income, traction power and a means to accumulate assets. Smallholder farmers do not only generate cash income from sale of livestock and livestock products, but they also use livestock as a cash buffer, capital reserve, and hedge against inflation. Despite mixed livestock growth pattern observed in different regions of developing countries, in general, the productivity (output/animal) of different livestock species in developing countries is still the lowest in the world. For instance, in Sub-Saharan Africa, significant decline in milk and beef production per animal have been recorded since 1961, which has made the average contribution of the region to the world milk and beef production among the lowest (Nin et al., 2007). Broadly, this could mainly be attributed to inadequate production inputs, traditional management system, poor enabling environment and associated research and development efforts exerted to generate improved technologies (McDermott et al., 2010; Fuglie and Wang, 2012; Makkar, 2014).

Empirical findings on livestock production and productivity also show that, in most developing countries, lack of adequate quantity and quality of feed remains one of the most important constraints that smallholder livestock farmers face especially during the dry season (Thornton, 2010). Even though well-integrated and comprehensive livestock strategy is necessary to address various constraints and improve the production and productivity of livestock in developing countries, improved livestock feed and feeding system would have significant contribution by dealing with multiple challenges related with livestock nutrition, health, and husbandry system simultaneously. Improved feed technologies have better social, economic, and environmental benefits over the traditional feed types. Their contribution in improving feed supply, enhancing the health and productivity of animals, augmenting land use ef- ficiency, and reclaiming land degradation and others have been well studied and documented in different countries (Peters et al., 2001; Bouton, 2007; Koralagama et al., 2008; White et al., 2013; Yami et al.,2013: Franzel et al., 2014; Rao et al., 2015). For instance, Turinawe et al. (2012) shows that farmers who used improved feed technologies had significantly higher gross margins than those using traditional feeding methods. Moreover, using improved feed technologies like forages does not only improve animal nutrition but it also contributes to improve crop productivity by maintaining soil fertility through nitrogen fixation, reduce pressure on natural pastures, reduce soil erosion on marginal lands, and improve carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change (Peters et al., 2001; Entz et al., 2002; Rao et al., 2015).

In Ethiopia, like to other developing countries, due to inadequate feed availability and malnutrition, animals’ performance measured by birth weight, growth rate, milk yield, mortality rate, and reproductive performance are below the expected range and different animals in the country are not able to produce at their genetic potential (Shapiro et al., 2015). To address this constraint and improve the production and productivity of animals, so far a plethora research and development efforts have been exerted by national and international research institutes to generate and disseminate improved livestock feed and feeding system in the country. Various exotic and indigenous improved technologies were introduced to smallholder farmers by different strategies. For instance, improved livestock feed technologies such as forage legumes, perennial grasses, and pastures were first introduced by Arsi Rural Development Unit (ARDU) (Davis et al., 2010; Tekalign, 2014). Then through various projects such as Fourth Livestock Development Project (FLDP); Crop Diversification and Marketing Development (CDMD); and Feed Enhancement for Ethiopian Development (FEED); improved forage seeds were disseminated to smallholder farmers in different parts of the country (Tekalign, 2014). Moreover, the role of agricultural research institutes such as International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kulumsa and Melkassa Agricultural Research Centers and others in testing the adaptability and nutritional contents of various exotic and indigenous forages crops for different agro-ecological zones was very significant. As a result different improved forages and fodder crops have been released for different ecological zones and considerable efforts have been made to disseminate these pasture and forage technologies to smallholder farmers. However, despite a number of efforts that have been exerted to introduce various improved feed technologies and feeding systems, adoption and use of these technologies have been still very limited and insignifi- cant (Gebremedhin et al., 2003, Bassa, 2016). For example, based on 2014/15 livestock survey report only 0.3% of livestock holders practiced using improved feed technologies for their livestock (CSA, 2015). This can be attributed to various socio-economic, institutional and biophysical factors entailing limited household resource endowment, especially labor and land to plant forage; mismatch of farmers need’s and technologies; limited market integration and extension services provision including weak information flows and linkages to other inputs providers; and multiple bio-physical stress and shocks (Adugna et al., 2012).