Feed shortages, both in quantity and quality, are a major factor hindering the sustainable development of the livestock sectors in Ethiopia. This study assesses the availability and quality of animal feed in different livestock production systems, the feeding practices of smallholder livestock producers, and the policy actions adopted by the government to improve the availability and quality of animal feed in Ethiopia. The primary objective of this study is to identify development strategies to improve access to good-quality feed. The study is based on a desk review of the research literature and policy documents and key informant interviews to examine trends and gaps related to policy, strategies, and the establishment of an enabling environment for livestock feed development in Ethiopia. In addition, descriptive and inferential statistics, multinomial logit (MNL) models, and treatment effect models were employed to analyze the determinants of adoption of feeding regimes and their impact on milk productivity.
The results of the study show that livestock production systems in Ethiopia are largely mixed crop-livestock, pastoral, or agro-pastoral. Most are extensive in nature, relying on low levels of inputs and generating low levels of outputs. The quality, quantity, and feeding value of the major feed sources are primarily natural pasture or crop residues and are nutrient-poor, bulky, and of low density. The share of livestock producers using agro-industrial by-products and concentrates or improved forages remains negligible, with any use of such feeds concentrated in urban and peri-urban livestock production systems. The feeding regime employed by most livestock producers is only grazing (or scavenging for poultry) without supplementation of other feed types. Less than ten percent of livestock producers provide supplemental feed to their animals in addition to grazing. Very few feed their livestock using zero-grazing.
Investment to develop an adequate feed supply system for improving animal nutrition in Ethiopia would improve animal production and productivity and the livelihoods, income, and food and nutritional security of livestock producing communities. The study identified the major determinants of adoption of the various feeding regimes and milk productivity. Potential livestock feed investment options for various livestock production systems in Ethiopia were also identified. Transforming the feed industry and livestock sub-sector at large will require not only technological and knowledge-based interventions, but also institutional innovations and policy reforms. Efforts made so far in this regard have mostly been technology-push approaches, which lacked strategic marketing and value chain dimensions and have often been fragmented and inadequately implemented. Institutional innovations and policy support have generally been absent from these efforts. Tailor-made and context-specific technology packages and innovations, along with appropriate institutional and policy reforms, need to be designed and operationalized to ensure the development of the feed industry and the livestock sub-sector at large. Institutionalization of a secure livestock feed system will be necessary to make feed interventions effective in Ethiopia and elsewhere in the region.
Published as AKADEMIYA2063 – Working Paper No-012.