Unlocking livestock development potential through science, influence and capacity

development ILRI APM, Addis Ababa, 15-17 May 2013

Influencing decisions

Enabling communities to adapt to climate change through improved crop-livestock interventions in Kabe watershed, Ethiopia

This document is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence May 2013

Strategic lessons:

Partnering with local university led to skills for junior researchers, students and local communities.

Evidence from the trials led to adoption by communities and strong preference for new technologies.

Kindu Mekonnen, Alan Duncan (ILRI) and Tilahun Amede (ICRISAT)

Delivering science

In this short-term project we went some way towards showing the potential impact of crop-livestock technologies on local livelihoods through climate change adaptation.

Introduction

Communities in Kabe watershed are vulnerable to climatic variability as their livelihoods largely depend on weather-sensitive crop and livestock production systems. Improved crop-livestock related technologies were introduced to enhance the capacity of communities to adapt to climate variability.

Methodology

Improved wheat (Dinkinesh), barley (Estayish) and field pea (Adi) varieties had better grain and biomass yield and were preferred by the farmers (Table 1).

Most improved varieties matured early, a key requirement to reduce food and feed insecurity. Local ewes mated with improved rams produced more than 80 lambs (Plate 1). Improved sheep weighed on average 3.8 kg at birth (local breeds average 1.9 kg). Improved sheep were sold on average for $80 ($38 for local sheep breeds). Survival 3 months from planting was 70% for Desho grass (Plate 2); less than 50 % for tree shrubs.

Results

Community need assessments. 80 farmers trained on improved crop-livestock management. Communities planted improved wheat, barley, field pea and faba bean varieties. Improved Awassi sheep breeds introduced to 13 villages to cross with local sheep breeds. Tree Lucerne, Sesbania and Desho grass introduced. Field-days and workshops shared lessons with end users.

Crop type Varieties Duration (months)

Grain yield (t/ha)

biomass yield (t/ha)

Wheat Improved 4.3 3.7 8.1

Local 4.8 1.8 4

Barley Improved 4 4.8 11.4

Local 4.1 1.8 7.8

Field pea Improved 3.4 3.5 7.6

Local 3.2 1.2 5.8

Faba bean Improved 4.5 3.2 6

Local 4.8 0.9 5

Table 1. Introduced crop varieties in Kabe. Plate 1. Twin cross breed sheep lambs. Plate 2. Desho grass planted on SWC structures.

Partners: ILRI, UNEP, Wollo University, ARARI and Woreilu woreda Office of Agriculture

Developing capacities

Acknowledgment: We thank researchers, extension staff and farmers who contributed to this piece of work.