Report on Media Training Workshop on Climate Smart Livestock Feed and Forage Innovations Kindu Mekonnen | Million Gebreyes | Melkamu Bezabih | Getnet Assefa | Aberra Adie| Haimanot Seifu and Hailemariam Mesfin REPORT Report on Media Training Workshop on Climate Smart Livestock Feed and Forage Innovations 7-8 June 2022 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Accelerating Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) June 2022 Kindu Mekonnen | Million Gebreyes | Melkamu Bezabih | Getnet Assefa | Aberra Adie| Haimanot Seifu | Hailemariam Mesfin To cite this workshop report Mekonnen K, Gebreyes M, Bezabih M, Assefa G, Adie A, Seifu H, Mesfin H. 2022. Report on Media Training Workshop on Climate Smart Livestock Feed and Forage Innovations. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). About AICCRA reports Titles in this series aim to disseminate interim climate change, agriculture, and food security research and practices and stimulate feedback from the scientific community. Contact us CCAFS Program Management Unit, Wageningen University & Research, Lumen building, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, 6708 PB Wageningen, the Netherlands. Email: ccafs@cgiar.org Disclaimer: This technical report has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions stated herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of CCAFS, donor agencies, or partners. All images remain the sole property of their source and may not be used for any purpose without the written permission of the source. This technical report is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial 4.0 International License. © 2022 CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We acknowledge the funding from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank to the Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) and USAID in Washington to Africa RISING project in the Ethiopian Highlands. R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................................................. 3 Background .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Objective of the media training workshop .......................................................................................... 6 Training participant selection ................................................................................................................ 6 Training design ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Welcoming remark and introduction on Africa RISING / AICCRA projects..................................... 7 Summary of presentations .................................................................................................................... 8 Setting the scene: livestock production and feed resources in ethiopia ....................................... 8 Getnet Assefa ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Cultivated forage production and utilization in the Ethiopian highlands .................................... 10 Aberra Adie............................................................................................................................................. 10 Fodder trees and shrubs in the Ethiopian highlands: service and product functions ............... 11 Kindu Mekonnen ................................................................................................................................... 11 Postharvest feed resource handling and utilization ........................................................................ 13 Melkamu Derseh ................................................................................................................................... 13 Forage seed business and scaling ...................................................................................................... 14 Million Gebreyes .................................................................................................................................... 14 Communicating livestock feed and forage innovations.................................................................. 15 Hailemariam Mesfin.............................................................................................................................. 15 Field visit ................................................................................................................................................. 18 List of issues identified ......................................................................................................................... 19 Training feedbacks ................................................................................................................................ 21 References .............................................................................................................................................. 22 List of training participants .................................................................................................................. 23 Program outline ..................................................................................................................................... 24 R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S Background The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works for better lives through livestock in developing countries. ILRI is co-hosted by Kenya and Ethiopia, has 14 offices across Asia and Africa. ILRI is one of the CGIAR research centres, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services. Its research is carried out by 15 CGIAR centres in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. Africa RISING is a USAID funded program that operates in six African counties (Mali, Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Ethiopia). The program aims to contribute to Feed the Future goals of reducing hunger, poverty and under-nutrition by delivering high quality research outputs that are relevant to these goals. In Ethiopia, the main aim of the project is to identify and validate solutions to the problems experienced by small-holder crop–livestock farmers. Africa RISING takes an integrated approach to strengthen farming systems. It conducts participatory research that identifies technologies and management practices that work for farmers and take account of contextual issues like markets for inputs and outputs, community and other institutions and policy environments that influence farm households. AICCRA is a three years (2021-2023) project that operates in six African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Senegal, Mali and Ghana. The project is supported by a grant from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank and enhances research and capacity-building activities by CGIAR and its partners. AICCRA in Ethiopia aims to strengthen the capacity of targeted national partners and stakeholders of CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) East Africa to access and implement at scale validated climate-smart agriculture technologies, climate information services, and climate-informed digital ag-advisories to build the resilience of agri-food systems. The AICCRA project in Ethiopia has eight research activities. Livestock feed and forage options value chain contributes to four of the eight activities, which include capacity building to support implementation of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technology packages; identification of climate- and gender and social inclusion-smartness of CSA packages; prioritization and R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S awareness increase of best-bet CSA options and approaches for key value chains; and integration of climate-smart options and tailored CSI advisory systems for specific value chains. In line with this, ILRI contracted a consultant to undertake media and communications related activities including media assessment, training of radio journalists on livestock feed and forage innovations and also impact assessment. As part of this, the consultant travelled to three regions of Ethiopia (Amhara, Oromia and SNNPR) and made an assessment to identify appropriate regional radio stations. Following the assessment three media institutions are identified in the three regions and a partnership agreement was signed between ILRI and the media institutions to produce and broadcast radio programs on livestock feed and forage innovations. A two day media training workshop on climate smart feed and forage innovations were organized in Addis Ababa before starting working on the radio program production. Objective of the media training workshop - To increase the awareness of journalists on various livestock feed and forage innovations suitable for the Ethiopian highland mixed farming systems. - To enable journalists, appreciate the importance of feed and forage innovations for livestock development. - To help journalists identify issues / topics and develop contents that would help them produce and broadcast radio programs focusing on livestock related issues in general and feed and forage innovations. Training participant selection After the signing of partnership agreement with the identified media institutions, the consultant conducted discussions with the identified media institutions heads and ILRI / Africa RISING –AICCRA team to identify relevant training participants. Accordingly, the consultant in collaboration with the media institution identified 4 participants from each region (Head of the media institution, Editor and two radio program producers). In total 12 participants from the three regions attended the training workshop. Training design The initial assessment report from the three regions; Amhara / Debre Birhan, Oromia/Bale and SNNPR/ Hossaenna showed that journalists’ awareness on livestock feed and forage innovation is very limited. Many of them also responded that they have never produced stand-alone programs on both livestock R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S and livestock feed and forage technologies. Thus, they requested an awareness raising training for them to understand the sector very well. In line with that, a two-day media training workshop on climate smart livestock feed and forage innovations was designed as follows: • Day One: Livestock production and feed and forage sources in Ethiopia; cultivated forage production and utilization in the Ethiopian highlands; fodder trees and shrubs in the Ethiopian highlands: service and product functions; post-harvest feed utilization; forage seed business and scaling; and issue identification and content development for the radio programs. • Day Two: Field visit to one of the project implementation areas, Debre Birhan / Amhara region. The training was jointly delivered by Africa RISING/AICCRA team and the consultant. The first day training combines presentation and a documentary film show entitled “improved livestock feeding yields positive results for Ethiopian’s farmers”. At the end of the first day, a Telegram group was created where all presentations and relevant materials were shared with the training participants/journalists. On the second day, the training workshop participants also visited one of the Africa RISING project implementation areas in Debre Birhan, Amhara region. Welcoming remark and introduction on Africa RISING / AICCRA projects The training workshop started with a brief welcoming remark by Kindu Mekonnen (Dr) who is the leader for the Africa RISING project in Ethiopia. In his welcoming remark, he mentioned that the training workshop on climate -smart livestock feed and forage innovations is supported by Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING) and Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA). He added that, Africa RISING is a research-for-development project supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The program is working in six African countries, including Ethiopia. In the last 10 years, Africa RISING has been working in four regions of Ethiopia (Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, and SNNPR). Dr. Kindu also noted that in the first five years of the project (phase one), Africa RISING conducted a series of action research to evaluate different technologies on crops, livestock, and natural resources. In the second phase of the project implementation period, Africa RISING has been promoting and scaling technologies to different areas that were tested and validated in the first phase of the project. Currently, the number of woredas where the technologies scaled have increased from 4 to 31 and the Zones from 4 to 9. R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S Regarding the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA), Dr. Kindu mentioned that the project is supported by World Bank and works in six African countries, including Ethiopia. The project is implemented in three regions in Ethiopia: Amhara, Oromia, and SNNPR. As he concludes his remarks, he reminded that the two projects have organized and supported the media training workshop on climate-smart livestock feed and forage innovations to create the awareness of the media personnel on various feed and forage innovations suitable for Ethiopian highland mixed farming systems, and to encourage journalists to produce and broadcast radio programs on feed and forage innovations. He finally noted that the two projects have targeted to reach a minimum of 10,000 beneficiaries through radio programs. Summary of presentations Setting the scene: livestock production and feed resources in ethiopia Getnet Assefa Dr. Getnet started his presentation by highlighting some facts about the role of Livestock in the livelihood of most Ethiopian farmers and pastoralists. Ethiopia has the highest livestock population in Africa. Livestock provides food for the family, ploughing the land for crop production and provides manure. They are the source of fuel to cook, a source of income and social prestige, and transport goods and for human beings, they are the source of skin for clothing and shoe. Dr. Getnet also stated that the livestock sector contributes about 47% of the Agricultural GDP of the country. According to the presentation, livestock feed scarcity, genotype (breed); animal health; traditional management practices, and marketing are major challenges to the livestock sector in the country. Dr. Getnet also highlighted major feed sources available in the country. R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S Increase efficient use of available feed resources, develop or adopt the successful practices and demonstrate and scale up / out of good practices are the possible strategies to alleviate feed problems in the country, He added. It was also noted that improved feeding is very crucial to transform livestock productivity. However, availing adequate and quality feed remains as a major issue. Forage crops are the most appropriate feed source in most parts of the farming system in Ethiopia. Dr. Getnet also highlighted some of the comparative advantages of forage crops which include: - Farmers can produce around their vicinity. - Productive and high in quality. - Could be integrated with Natural Resource Management (NRM) practices and many other options - multiple functions. - Diversified species and means of production. - Relatively cheaper. - Positive contribution to climate change - carbon sequestration. About available forage production packages, Dr. Getnet stated that many varieties/species are registered and recommended, productive and profitable agronomic practices are available, integration methods developed, major quality parameters are known and feeding strategies are available. He also said that intensification is a must to increase productivity due to the rapid changes in population, production practices, and investment. Demand for improved forage crops is increasing but still adoption is very low. This is because the dominant livestock production practice is still subsistence, scarcity of land, scarcity of seed and planting materials, and also traditional production practice. R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S Finally, Dr. Getnet completed his presentation by recommending the following forage promotion approaches: 1. Linking forage production to market-oriented livestock systems 2. Linking forage production to the current farming practice, NRM, marginal lands, etc. 3. Strong extension system, support, and promotion 4. Establish efficient input/output supply and marketing systems Cultivated forage production and utilization in the Ethiopian highlands Aberra Adie Aberra started his presentation by highlighting feed shortage as the main constraint for livestock production in the country. Major feed resources are inadequate and poor in quality. And cultivated forage crops are potential options to increase feed availability and quality and transform livestock production. He indicated that cultivated forages are grasses, herbaceous legumes, shrubs/tree legumes, annuals, and perennials. They are easily accessible and affordable, high biomass yield, some are high-quality feed sources, and others are also very good sources of food for human beings and used as sources of firewood. They also provide ecosystem services, play a key role in integrated pest management initiatives, and are also used as cash crops. Abera also discussed the basic practices of cultivating forage crops, which are: A. Selection of appropriate forage species or varieties (guiding tools available) B. Site selection C. Land preparation D. Seed preparation E. Sowing / Planting and fertilization F. Weeding and pest control G. Harvesting and/or grazing H. Feed conservation and utilization He also talked about selected and recommended well-adapted forage species for the highlands of Ethiopia to the training participants. Oats (Avena sativa), Vetches (Vicia Species), Lablab (Dolichos lablab), Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), Fodder beet (Beta vulgaris), Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum), Brachiaria grass (Brachiaria species), Desho grass (Pennisetum glaucifolium), Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana), Tree lucerne (Chamaecytisus palmensis) and Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) are among the selected and discussed forage species by the presenter. R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S Aberra also touched up on the on-farm evaluation of the performance of some selected forage varieties and on-farm evaluation of animal responses to some selected forage varieties as indicated below (Bezabih et al, 2017). Fodder trees and shrubs in the Ethiopian highlands: service and product functions Kindu Mekonnen Dr. Kindu started his presentation with fodder trees and shrubs. According to him, they are trees and shrubs that serve as important supplementary feed sources for livestock on top of providing various product and service functions in different agro ecologies/ farming systems of Africa and other continents. Leguminous and nonleguminous, fast-growing and slow-growing, exotic and indigenous, highland, mid-land, and low land, and palatable and less palatable are types of fodder trees, He added. He also highlighted the difference between Leguminous trees and shrubs and non leguminous trees and shrubs. Leguminous trees and shrubs are trees and shrubs that have high value in terms of biological, ecological, and agronomic contributions. They are also legumes that fix atmospheric nitrogen from the atmosphere and add to the system through symbiotic associations with nitrogen- fixing rhizobia. Non leguminous trees and shrubs on the other hand mean trees and shrubs that don’t fix and add nitrogen to the system. Some trees and shrubs scavenge nutrients and recycle nutrients into the system. Dr. Kindu also presented and discussed a number of potential fodder trees across different agro ecologies in the country. R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S He also highlighted the characteristics of tree lucerne, one of the most adaptable fodder tree and shrub species in the highlands of Ethiopia. According to him, tree lucerne is one of the fewest leguminous and fast-growing exotic species adaptable in high-altitude areas. Africa RISING project has managed to undertake action research on tree lucerne with more than 250 farmers in Amhara, Tigray, Oromia, and SNNP regions. The tree is native to Spain and exotic species to Australia, Ethiopia, South Africa, Rwanda, and New Zealand, He added. He also discussed to the training participants the service and product functions, growing ecology, establishment, management, and utilization of tree lucerne. Dr. Kindu concluded his presentation by delivering important tips about tree lucerne. He noted that tree lucerne plays an important role in bridging seasonal feed shortages and serves as a protein supplement to enhance the feeding value of local feed resources. Survival and productivity of tree lucerne can be improved if we protect planted seedlings from browsing, mulch during dry periods, practice clean spot weeding, and apply organic fertilizers at early growing periods of the plant (Mekonnen et al, 2019 and Mekonnen et al, 2021) Scientific name Common/local name Geography/agroecology R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S Cordia africana Wanza/ዋንዛ Mid to highland Croton machrostachys Bisana/ብሳና Midland Ficus thonningii Chibha/ችብሃ Midland Dombeya torrida Wulkifa-Danisa/ውልክፋ/ዳኒሳ Highland Buddleja polystachya Anfar/አንፋር Highland Hagenia abyssinica Koso/ኮሶ Highland Erythrina abyssinica Korch/ኮርች Midland Ensete ventricosum Enset/ እንሰት Mid to highland Chamaecytisus palmensis Tree lucerne/tagasaste Highland Sesbania sesbana Sesbania Midland Cajanus cajan Yergib Ater/የእርግብ አተር Low to midland Calliandra calothyrsus Calliandra Midland Acacia spp Acacia/ግራር Low-mid-highland Postharvest feed resource handling and utilization Melkamu Derseh Dr. Melkamu started his presentation by highlighting some facts and figures on feed. Feed is the main input in livestock production and accounts for 40-70% of the total cost of production. Feed resources are limited and prices are increasing. Traditional feeding practices often incur large postharvest feed losses. According to Dr. Melkamu, feed losses start at harvest, continues during preservation practices, storage, feeding, and unbalanced rations. The economic and health implications of harvest and postharvest losses include increased feeding costs, the increased gap between feed demand and supply at the household level, fungal contaminations, human and animal health impacts, and labour and gender issues, He added. He also stated that improved feeding troughs and improved sheds are practical solutions for harvest and post-harvest losses. An improved feeding trough minimizes feed wastage, improves feed intake, R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S eases animal handling, and cleans barns. Improved sheds minimize contamination and quality loss. He also added that the use of improved feed stores and feeding troughs saves 30-50% of feed and reduces 10-20% of labour demand for feeding. Dr. Melkamu also highlighted other good practices in the area, including chopping and mixing before feeding, moistening dried residues with salt solution, preservation of excess feeds following recommended procedures, and harvesting crops before losing quality. As he concluded his presentation, as a key takeaways Dr. Melamu conveyed that crop residues constitute about half of the diet of ruminants in the Ethiopian highlands, feed sheds and feeding troughs play an important role in optimally using such dried, and in terms of cost it is worth investing. Forage seed business and scaling Million Gebreyes Dr. Million began his presentation by describing current challenges of producing forage seeds, separating them as technical challenges and market/institutional challenges. The technical challenges include, some forage such as grass are perineal and could be planted recurrently once farmers get the initial seed and Some seeds area easy to produce, hence, farmers save their own seeds. Market and institutional challenges include uncertainty about demand: Particularly demand at a real market value, skewed price as major buyers are government and non-government agencies and free delivery of forage seeds, creating seed dependency syndrome. Million then continued his presentation with description of the regulatory environment. The main proclamation that govern seed sector is the Seed Proclamation 782/2013. The proclamation demands formal variety release before seed production. Commercial producers need certificate of competency. Quality control an essential part of formal seed production. The Seed System Development Strategy, developed by ATA and MoA on the other hand recognizes the formal, informal and intermediate sectors. The formal seed sector includes institutionalized operation, the informal one involves armers practices and the intermediate involves the hybrid of both. Continuing the presentation on the regulatory environment, Dr. Million presented the Quality Declared Seed (QDS) guideline. The QDS guide was initially promoted by FAO and Ethiopia adopted QDS scheme. QDS could be seen as a steppingstone to certification as producers are empowered to produce seed as per set standard. R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S Dr. Million's presentation continued with major actors in the forage seed supply chain. Both ILRI and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research remain the main sources of early generation seed. Semi- formal forage is produced by various forage seed producer and supplier private businesses. Farmers also often produce their own seed on some forage crops. Dr. Million continued his presentation with contributions of Africa RISING and AICCRA works through research and development. Through research the projects contributes towards identification of forage seed production niches , testing different approaches for informal seed production and providing technical support for farmers and extension agents. Through development, the projects contributed towards technical training for Ethiopian Forage Seed Producers Association, engage in national consortiums on forage seed production and support rolling out of QDS scheme for forage seed production. Moving to scaling of feed and forage innovations, Dr. Million define scaling as a deliberate effort to expand the impact of forage innovations. As it is often difficult to go from pilot to scale, scaling requires coordinated effort of multiple actors at multiple levels. A scaling assessment guide developed by CYMMIT (called scaling scan, see https://ppplab.org/2018/11/3223/) provides a practical guide to determine the scaling potential of innovations. The ten ingredients that the framework assess include technology, awareness and demand, business cases, value chain, finance, knowledge and skills, collaboration, evidence and learning, leadership and management and public sector governance. Finally, Dr.Million highlighted the role of media in forage seed sector and forage innovations scaling. On forage seeds, media could play a great role by creating space for deliberation among seed actors, advocating for transition from informal to formal systems and creating awareness creation on forage seed issues. On scaling, awareness is one critical ingredient of scaling scan. Knowledge is also another component hence, regular coverage of feed and forage issues on media would enhance their scaling Communicating livestock feed and forage innovations Hailemariam Mesfin Hailemariam began his presentation with the question on why limited media coverage on livestock- related issues in the country? Participants shared their views and mentioned that the government does not give enough attention to the livestock sector, due to journalist’s limited awareness of livestock- R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S related areas and low attention to the sector, limited interest in livestock experts to use/engage the media as an important stockholder. They also suggested the need to do further research to understand why of limited media coverage in the country. Hailemariam noted that mass media/ Radio is considered the most effective means to reach rural communities and to create awareness about new or existing technologies and practices. Mostly, agricultural and livestock development programs in developing countries largely succeed depending on the extent to which the media/Radio are engaged/used. Despite having Africa’s largest livestock population, Ethiopia has not realized the full benefits of the sector, he said. Among the challenges includes the availability of the feed itself and also the low quality associated with feed and forage management. Under the Africa RISING projects, integrated feed and forage development showed promising results in improving Ethiopia’s livestock feed system. However, many farmers have limited awareness of these feed and forage innovations. Therefore, journalists need to promote the livestock feed and forage innovations and make farmers aware of the benefits through Radio programs, He added. The presenter also discussed the media assessment which was conducted in three regions (Amhara / Debre Birhan, Oromia / Bale, and SNNPR / Hossaenna) to identify appropriate radio stations to produce and broadcast livestock feed and forage innovation-related radio programs. Based on the assessment, Debre Birhan Fana FM 94.0, Bale OBN FM 96.5, and SNNP radio and TV agency, Hossaenna FM 95.3 radio stations were identified. Following that, a partnership agreement was signed between the media and ILRI. This journalist training workshop is part of the agreement signed to capacitate media professionals so that they produce and broadcast radio programs focusing on livestock feed and forage innovations, He added. Another important topic discussed was radio issue/topic identification and content development. As opposed to top-down approaches in program production cycles, participants were given the opportunity to identify radio program issues/topics and contents to be produced and broadcast in each regional radio station. Accordingly, 10 issues were identified and discussed in each group. Finally, each group presented the identified issues in a plenary session and agreed to continue working on the content development for day two while they visit Africa RISING/AICCRA projects implementation areas. R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S Summary of questions and answers Q1: As stated, the livestock sector contributes about 47% of the GDP of the country. But the attention of the government given to the sector is low. What is the reason behind it? A1: The attention given to the livestock sector is limited. One of the reasons, may be investment is done on agriculture/crops the output is seen within a short period of time. On the other hand, when one invests in livestock it will be difficult to see the output within a short period of time. That may be the reason behind it, however, attention should be given to the livestock sector and we all should work together for this to happen. Q2: How can we give concentrate feeds to animals? Is there any idea /calculation? A: 2 With regard to concentrate feeds, we should give it to animals based on their production capacity. For example, we give a high amount of concentrate feed to the cow which gives 10 litres of milk per day, and less amount of concentrate feed for the cow which gives 5 litre of milk per day. We will not give an equal amount of concentrate feed for all cows/cattle. Q3: There are people, who use hormones to fatten their animals, if we eat the meat of this animal will there be any side effects on us? A: 3 With regard to hormones, giving hormones to fatten cattle is illegal and when you see such activity you should inform to concerned government bodies. Eating hormone-fatten animal meat has a negative impact on health, one of it is obesity. Q: 4 Is seed available for all cultivated forage innovations for all farmers? A:4 With regard to seed availability, during the first phase of the implementation period, we had been conducting participatory research that identifies technologies and management practices, and then in the second phase of the project implementation period, in collaboration with partners, we are working R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S on scaling up the technologies to different areas. Of course, there are problems with seed availability but private seed producers are coming and we will support these private seed producers, we are also supporting farmers to produce seed by themselves. Q: 5 How can we scale up all the cultivated feed and forage technologies since we have limited land resources? A: 5 To overcome the challenges with the limited land resources we can use different options, like planting cultivated feed and forage innovations around our garden, at the entrance of our house, etc. Q: 6 Any information about poisonous plants which killed animals when they eat them? A: 6 Animals easily identify poisonous plants and most of the time they do not eat these poisonous plants. But we treat these poisonous plants for example through drying or boiling. When we dry or boil them they will not be poisonous. However, we recommend only non-poisonous feed sources and forage plants. Q: 7 Termite is one reason for feed loss during storage, how can we prevent this problem? A: 7 Yes termites are problems, but when we build our feed troughs we always should consider termites. We can use live poles or concrete, or we can cover the lower tip of the pole with plastic. Q: 8 When we feed cattle, which one is advisable? Feeding the dry or green grass /feed? A: 8 Most of the time livestock feeds loose nutrients during drying. But there are also cases when feeding dry feed is advisable. When we prepare dry feed we should prevent it from direct sunlight exposure, which will help the feed to remain full of nutrients. Field visit On the second day the training workshop participants travelled to Debre Berhan, which is the Africa RISING/AICCRA projects implementation area in Amhara region. The objective of the visit was to share the experiences of a farmer who has been implementing livestock feed and forage technologies. Gebeyehu Tadesse, a farmer living in Debre Birhan area, Angolela Kebele provided an explanation on how he is using the livestock feed and forage innovations to improve his livelihood. The farmer shared his testimonies to journalists on how engaging in livestock feed and forage innovations have changed his family significantly. The journalists were glad to visit and gain experience on what is going on at the R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S ground level. They said that they saw everything that experts presented theoretically. They also interviewed the farmer to produce and broadcast his success story through their radio programs. After the field visit, participants continued discussing the draft contents developed during the first day and agreed to work on the following contents. List of issues identified 1. Program introduction ✓ The contribution of livestock to the national economy and its significance to improve the livelihood of farmers and pastoralists ✓ Major challenges in the livestock sector ✓ Feed constraints as challenges ✓ What Africa RISING and AICCRA are doing to tackle those challenges? With Africa RISING site coordinators • What is Africa RISING, since when has it been operational in the area? • Which of the feed and forage innovations have been experimented in the area? • Which of the feed and forage innovations are under a scaling stage? • What are some of the success stories from beneficiary farmers? • What are their messages to farmers on the adoption of feed and forage innovations? • What are their messages to farmers on the utilization of feed and forage innovations? ✓ The joint Africa RISING and AICCRA supported improved and climate-smart livestock feed and forage innovations that have been found promising to narrow feed demand and supply gaps. R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S ✓ Increase farmers awareness of these feed and forage innovations ✓ Promoting the livestock feed and forage innovations to increase farmers awareness on the benefits through regional/local radio stations. ✓ Then about the partnership agreement with the media ……. 2. Cultivated forages ✓ What does it mean? ✓ Why it is important /beneficial? ✓ Basic practices of cultivating forage crops ✓ How one cultivated forage is different from the other? Then from the cultivated forages pick three or four, even more varieties and work it as a single issue radio program. • Bale: oat and vetch, fodder beet, etc • Hadiya: oat and vetch, desho grass, fodder beet, sweet lupine, etc • North Shewa: fodder beet, phalaris grass, tree lucerne etc For example, if we select fodder beet (Beta vulgaris) we will discuss the following points in the radio program. Issue: Fodder beet Objective: To increase the level of awareness of farmers on fodder beet. Target Audience: Primary target audience - farmers Desired change: Increased farmers' awareness of fodder beet, and its benefit and encouraged them to use it. Points to be discussed in the radio program ✓ What do we mean by fodder beet? ✓ Its benefit (increasing meat or milk production, source of income, ….. ✓ Where can we get seed, Site selection / what kind of environment/soil fodder beet need, land preparation, planting, weeding, and pest control? ✓ What kind of care need for fodder beet? ✓ When and how can we harvest fodder beet /harvesting time / twice a year or … ✓ How do we feed our cattle? ✓ Feed conservation ✓ Sources of information/ Informants ✓ Agricultural experts / Mr. ✓ Farmers/model farmers R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S ✓ Publications/videos 3. Fodder trees and shrubs ✓ What does it mean ✓ Types of fodder trees ✓ Benefit/importance ✓ How they are different from cultivated forages ✓ What do we mean by Leguminous trees and shrubs and none leguminous trees and shrubs ✓ What are the potential fodder trees across different agro-ecologies ( let us pick some of these fodder trees and discussed them in detail one by one) ✓ For instance, if we pick tree lucerne we will discuss it in detail like what it means, service and product functions, growing ecology, sources of seed- local collection and from seed suppliers, management, and Utilization…… 4. Feed troughs 5. Feed formulation 6. Forage seed issues 7. Stories from selected farmer-beneficiaries: ✓ Which of the forage innovations are they using? ✓ What motivates them to use the innovations? ✓ What benefit did they get from using the innovation? ✓ What support do they need to expand their use of the innovation? 8. One story with local focal persona/District and Zone ✓ What are the potentials and challenges of the livestock sector in the Zone/district ✓ What are the potentials of cultivated forages in the zone/district ✓ Which of the cultivated forage innovations are found to be particularly successful in the area? ✓ What are the critical challenges to cultivated forage production in the area? ✓ What are some of the expert advice that farmers need to know in using cultivated forages? ✓ What is expected from different actors’ farmers, farmer organizations, extension, research, and political leadership? Training feedbacks At the end of the field visit participants were asked to give comments on the training. They said that the training was so helpful and important to understand the livestock sector in general and in feed and forage innovations in particular. They said the livestock population we have is large but the benefit we got from the sector is limited. They recognized the low level of attention given by the media and other R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S stakeholders. They commit to cover livestock-related areas. They promised to give enough media coverage to the livestock sector. Debre Birhan Fana FM head said that he will push the higher media management to have a weekly radio program on his station even without expecting external support. They have also requested livestock experts to work closely with the media and engage the media as an important partner. References CSA (2019/2020). livestock and livestock characteristics. Agricultural sample survey, volume II. Federal democratic republic of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mekonnen, K., Jogo, W., Bezabih, M., Mulema, A., and Thorne, P. (2019). Determinants of survival and growth of tree lucerne (Chamaecytisus palmensis) in the crop-livestock farming systems of the Ethiopian highlands. Agroforestry Systems, 93: 279–293. Mekonnen, K., Bezabih, M.,Thorne, P., Gebreyes, M. G., Hammond, J., and Adie, A. (2022). Feed and forage development in mixedcrop–livestock systems of the Ethiopian highlands: Africa RISING project research experience. Agronomy Journal, 114: 46–62. Bezabih,M., Mekonnen, K., Adie, A., Asfaw,A., Ebrahim, M. Alene,T., Dubale, W., Thorne, P. (2017). Livestock: Africa RISING science, innovations and technologies with scaling potential from the Ethiopian Highlands. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S List of training participants No. NAME POSITION AND ORGANIZATION MOBILE 1 Silesh Haile SNNPR Radio and TV Agency 0910068825 2 Samuel Mentamo SNNPR Radio and TV Agency 0934159968 3 Tamirat Alemu SNNPR Radio and TV Agency 0913488045 4 Abirham Mugoro SNNPR Radio and TV Agency 0925151968 5 Solomon Ayele Debre Birhan Fan FM 0911777022 6 Alayu Geremew Debre Birhan Fan FM 0923044050 7 Abebe Yeshewaleul Debre Birhan Fan FM 0912942600 8 Selamawit Muluneh Debre Birhan Fan FM 0912781867 9 Umar Kure OBN Bale FM 0916992659 10 Ayana Elemo OBN Bale FM 0912207878 11 Ahimed Junda OBN Bale FM 0912800318 12 Abduljelil Abda OBN Bale FM 0912288962 R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S Program outline Day One 9:00 Arrival and registration of participants Rahel Abiy 9:10 Welcome remark and introduction about AICCRA/Africa Dr.Kindu Mekonnen RISING projects 9:30 Participant’s introduction Dr. Million Gebreyes 9:45 Setting the scene: Livestock production and feed and Dr, Getnet Assefa forage sources in Ethiopia 10:00 Q and A 10:15 Cultivated forages Abera Adie 10:30 Q and A 11:00 Tea break 11:15 Fodder trees Dr.Kindu Mekonnen 11:30 Q and A 11: 45 Post-harvest feed utilization Dr. Melkamu Derseh 12:00 Q and A 12:15 Forage seed business and scaling Dr. Million Gebreyes 12:30 Q and A 1:30 Lunch 2:00 Communicating livestock feed and forage innovations Hailemariam Mesfin 2:15 Q and E 3:00 Group work: Media issues identification Hailemariam Mesfin 3:30 Discussion on issues identified 3:45 Tea break R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S 5:00 Group work: Content development Hailemariam Mesfin 5:30 Discussion Day Two 7:00 Depart from Addis 9:00 Arrive at Debrebrhan 10: 00 Farmer visit Temesgen Alene 12:30 Local extension visit/ Visit to local nursery (Tree lucerne seedling) Temesgen Alene 1:30 Lunch 3:00 Content development continued Temesgen Alene 5:00 Return to Addis R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S Abo ut AICCRA Acce lerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AIC CRA) is a project that helps deliver a climate smart Afric an future driven by science and innovation in agriculture. It is led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and supported by a grant from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank. Discover more at www.aiccra.cgiar.org R E P O R T O N M E D I A T R A I N I N G W O R K S H O P O N C L I M A T E S M A R T L I V E S T O C K F E E D A N D F O R A G E I N N O V A T I O N S