Business model brief Nutrient-dense livestock feed pellets manufactured in Tunisia can compete with imported feed concentrates KEY MESSAGES SUMMARY · A gro-industrial by-products, which Producing animal feed pellets from agro-industrial by-products is a would otherwise be waste, can be- simple and cost-effective way to transform what would otherwise be come valuable in the livestock feed considered waste into quality, nutritional feed. sector. · A livestock feed pellet manufacturing TURNING WASTE INTO NUTRITIOUS unit can enable farmers to alter their livestock feed formulas according to ANIMAL FEED the needs of their animals. Researchers from the International Centre for Agricultural Research in · Access to subsidized feed ingredients, the Dry Areas (ICARDA), together with livestock implementing partners such as barley and wheat bran, is ne- in Tunisia, set out to locally manufacture feed pellets that would be cessary for the locally produced pel- of value to livestock farmers and that would use agro-industrial by- lets to compete with costly imported products. Olive cakes and cactus peels are examples of valuable feed feed concentrates. ingredients that would otherwise be discarded but have proven to serve as valuable, locally available, cost-effective inputs for farmers to feed their livestock. Photo caption: Pellets produced are given as a nutritious feed to livestock. This work was developed by the feeds and forages flagship of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock, which is supported by contributors to the CGIAR Trust Fund. https://www.cgiar.org/funders/ 1 - Business model brief / Nutrient-dense livestock feed pellets manufactured in Tunisia Photo ICARDA/Udo Rudiger The initiative to manufacture feed pellets stemmed from an original idea of producing feed blocks. A feed block manufacturing unit was developed in collaboration with a Tunisian metal manufacturer and aimed to encourage private enterprises and cooperatives to produce and sell the feed blocks to smallholder livestock farmers. The unit, which could produce up to five tons of feed blocks per day, was tested on various enterprises, including an apple farmer cooperative that wanted to add value to overripe apples, which would otherwise have been discarded. Over three years, many lessons were learnt. The idea was improved and transformed into the production of feed pellets, a nutritious supplementary feed competing with expensive imported concentrates, proving to be valuable for various farming sectors in Tunisia. Feed pellets, made from agro-industrial by-products, are thoroughly dried and are highly resistant to rotting. In addition, they are small and can be rationed accurately. The bags are easy to manage and store, and can withstand rough handling during loading and transport, which minimizes waste. An important consideration in this initiative is that locally produced pellets would compete with imported lucerne or concentrate pellets in terms of nutrient density and cost. Therefore, various pellet feed compositions were tested. Goats eating feed blocks. Photo ICARDA/Udo Rudiger Table 1. Pellet feed composition of four different formulas. Formula 1 (%) Formula 2 (%) Formula 3 (%) Formula 4 (%) Olive cake 34 45 - - Wheat bran 32 36 30 30 Ground barley - - 15 15 Faba beans 30 - - - Soy cake - 15 - - Luzerne - - 9 9 Ground date kernels - - 40 - Downgraded dates - - - 40 CMV (minerals) 4 4 6 6 Small pelleting machines. Photo ICARDA/Udo Rudiger Feed pellets, made from a range of agro-industrial raw materials, are thoroughly dried and are resistant to rotting. Photo ICARDA/Udo Rudiger 2 - Business model brief / Nutrient-dense livestock feed pellets manufactured in Tunisia Table 2. Nutritional value and costs of four pellet formulas compared to imported concentrates and lucerne pellets. Lucerne pellets Concentrate Formula 1 (%) Formula 2 (%) Formula 3 (%) Formula 4 (%) (%) pellets (%) Dry matter 75.3 71.3 87.3 90.2 93.2 91.1 Crude protein 17.6 17.6 8.9 8.4 14.3 15.4 Crude cellulose 14.1 18.6 9.8 8.6 28.5 4.9 Fat 3.9 6.0 3.8 2.0 - 5.2 Ash 10.6 10.6 10.1 9.9 9.9 9.4 Phosphorus 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.3 - 0.5 Calcium 1.4 1.3 1.1 0.3 - 1.8 Costs (US$/ton) 195 180 NA NA 255 206 Formula 1 and formula 2, which have been formulated with faba South Tunisia, where there are abundant dates. Date kernels and beans or soy cakes as the source of protein, not only have a substandard dates can be valuable by using them to produce higher protein content than imported pellets, but they are less pellets. However, both these two formulas would need to be expensive. Formula 3 and 4 are suitable for livestock farmers in improved to increase protein content. CASE STUDY: saving costs and improving quality Abdellah Jajili is a livestock farmer in El Fahs, in central Abdellah started out with a small pelleting machine with a Tunisia, who owns 350 small ruminants and 35 cattle. He capacity of 100 kg/hour then later purchased a larger one with produces his own feed pellets from locally available material. a capacity of 500 kg/hour. He prefers the pellets because they are nearly half the price The machines are produced in China and distributed by an of feed concentrates from the shops and they are fresher than importer who also provides spare parts and servicing. imported feed, which are sometimes old and rotten. Table 3. Pellet ingredients per animal species used by Abdellah. Barley grains Soybean or faba Maize Wheat bran Olive cake Minerals and beans vitamins Small ruminant 60% 20% 5% 13% 0 2% Young cattle 60% 10% 0 0 28% 2% Abdellah alters the ingredients and in the pellet machine is therefore enhanced formulation of the pellets according to by his access to low-cost feed material. the nutrition needs of his animals. When fattening young sheep more rapidly four Abdellah’s daily requirement of feed months before the Muslim holiday of Eid, he pellets is about 525 kg (350 kg for 350 uses greater quantities of soybean or faba sheep, plus 175 kg for 35 cows). To produce beans and maize in the pellets, containing the weekly pellet requirement of 3.7 tons, 15 - 20% protein. For young cattle grown he spends two half-days per week using his for red meat, they are fed a combination of 500 kg/hour pellet machine (TND 9,000/ pellets containing 13-16% protein and hay USD 3,240). and straw. To develop a large-scale pellet production As an owner of a large stock of ruminants, business, a machine capacity of at least Abdellah can avail of subsidized barley grains 3 tons per hour would be necessary. (TND 0.52/kg). He is also a shareholder of Although such a machine exists in China an olive oil factory which gives him access and could be imported to Tunisia, Abdellah to olive cakes, a by-product of olive oil says that obtaining a pellet production A farmer with his pellet machine. production, at nearly no cost. His investment Photo ICARDA/Udo Rudiger license from the government is a challenge. Business model brief / Nutrient-dense livestock feed pellets manufactured in Tunisia - 3 CHALLENGES For the local production of feed pellets to compete with Access to wheat bran and barley grains, important parts of many imported concentrates, farmers would need access to subsidized feed block formulas (20 – 30%), is very difficult for small-scale ingredients and the reliable availability of agro-industrial by- producers. products. For this reason, this feed pellet manufacturing unit Another consideration is access to subsidized feed. would be best suited to farmer cooperatives or large-scale Governmental distribution of subsidized wheat bran and barley farmers. In addition, ingredients or by-products necessary for caters to two groups: livestock farmers who obtain a certain feed pellets, like olive cakes and cactus fruit pulp, are typically amount of feed based on their number of animals, and large- only available during a certain period of the year, which reduces scale feed producers who must adhere to various regulations the production period. that are difficult for small-scale farmers enterprises to fulfil. Wood, J.F. 1987. The functional properties of feed raw materials and their effect on the production and quality of feed pellets, Animal Feed Science CONCLUSION: IMPLICATIONS and Technology, 18(1): 1-17, https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-8401(87)90025-3 AND RECOMMENDATIONS Rudiger, U. and Werner, J. 2017. Improving Feed for Increasing Smallholders Income (Blog accessed via https://repo.mel.cgiar.org/ The local production of feed pellets using machines has handle/20.500.11766/6161) the potential to compete with expensive imported feed pellet concentrates. This initiative would be best suited to farmer cooperatives and large livestock farmers who have access to subsidized barley and wheat bran and CONTACTS agro-industrial by-products that can be valuable as feed Udo Rudiger, ICARDA: Agricultural Innovation ingredients. Specialist (u.rudiger@cgiar.org) Feed pellets are easy to produce, stock, handle and Monia El Ayed, OEP: Forage specialist and Sub – ration. The pellets reduce feed loss and turn what would Director OEP (office d’elevage et des paturages), otherwise be waste into valuable feed. However, the (elayedmonia@yahoo.fr) availability of by-products is essential to produce the pellets. Zied Idoudi, ICARDA: Scaling specialist (zied.aidoudi@yahoo.com) Aymen Frija, ICARDA: Country Representative Tunisia (a.frija@cgiar.org) Acknowledgments Ali Nefzaoui: Consultant This work was implemented by the International Center for Agricultural (ali.nefzaoui49@gmail.com) Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) together with national partner OEP (Office de l’élevage et des pâturages) and the machine importing Maamoun Gharsi, Juhaina, Tunisia company, Juhaina in Tunisia. (juhaina.cooperation@gmail.com, or +216 27861537 ; +86 18529451827) This document is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Further reading Attribution 4.0 International Licence. December 2021 Gouhis, F., Moujahed, N., Nefzaoui, A. and Louhaichi. 2017. Feed Blocks: Reduce chronic feed deficits and production costs. Fact sheet https:// hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/8577 Farahat, M. H. 2015. Good quality feed pellets: Does it make sense? The solution proposed in this brief is part of a basket (Blog https://www.allaboutfeed.net/animal-feed/feed-processing/good- of solutions that can help livestock producers raise quality-feed-pellets-does-it-make-sense/) efficiencies and productivity. While there is the Vasta V., Nudda, A., Cannas, A., Lanza, M., Priolo, A. 2008. Alternative opportunity for more research, the feed pelleting feed resources and their effects on the quality of meat and milk from small ruminants, Animal Feed Science and Technology, 147(1–3): 223-246. business model can be considered a candidate model https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2007.09.020 for scaling and be adapted into an integrated model for sustainable intensification of livestock production for smallholder farmers. 4 - Business model brief / Nutrient-dense livestock feed pellets manufactured in Tunisia