Presented by Dirk Hoekstra, Azage Tegegne and Berhanu Gebremedhin at the 'livestock live' talk, ILRI Addis Ababa, 28 March 2013

1. Agricultural Research for Crop
and Livestock Value Chains
Development: The IPMS
Experience
Dirk Hoekstra, Azage Tegegne and
Berhanu Gebremedhin
Livestock Live Talk, Addis Ababa, 28 March 2013

2. Seminar outline
 Project design and implementation
 Commodity development within a R4D
framework
 Project results and lessons

3. Project rationale and Goal
 Ethiopian agricultural development strategy until 2000 - focused
on food security and natural resource management
 Early 2000, strategy was amended to included more commercial
oriented agriculture
 Need to (re-) orient small holder agricultural sector towards
more market oriented agriculture.
 Emergence of large scale commercial high tech farms and
infrastructure support (ECEX)
Goal - To contribute to improved agricultural productivity and
production through market-oriented agricultural development, as a
means for achieving improved and sustainable livelihoods for the
rural population.

4. Project pillars
• Commodity value chain development
• Knowledge management
• Capacity development
• Research/promotion

5. Pilots in 10 Districts in 4 Regions

6. Project design
• Research for development project conceived in the
early 2000 at the request of the MoARD and CIDA
• Impact (development) oriented project, which
included funds for development activities

7. Project implementation
 No multi location project research frame work at the start, as
development interventions varied considerable by site and over
time
 Mostly full time staff dedicated to the project
 Limited sub contracting of research components
 Outsourcing of selected development activities to development
partners/companies

8. The IPMS Commodity
Development Approach in a R4D
Framework

9. The Research Impact Pathway
Resources
(Staff time, finance,
equipment/materials,
transportation etc.)
Activities
(Problem identification,
research design,
implementation,
evaluation)
Outputs
(technologies, institutional/
Organizational/policy
recommendations,
publications, briefs etc.)
Outcomes
(Research
outputs are taken
up/adopted by
intended users)
Impact
(economic,
social and environ-
mental changes)

10. IPMS Action-oriented Research Approach
Experimental Developmental
(controlled setting) (uncontrolled setting)
 Technology
application
Focus  Technology generation
 Organizational issues
 Institutional issues
Methods  Lab-based
 Diagnostic research
 On-station
 Action research
 On-farm
 Impact research

11. The Types of Research
• Diagnostic
– Research conducted to identify, describe, quantify value chain
constraints and opportunities, and technological, organizational
and institutional intervention requirements
• Action Research
– Research aimed at generating qualitative and quantitative
knowledge on the development process and performance of a
single or combination of interventions, which can be used to
modify the interventions, and/or identify context specific
adoption factors that can be used to scale out/up best practices
• Impact research
– Research aimed at generating qualitative and quantitative
knowledge on the impact of interventions on economic, social
and environmental conditions of farm households.

12. The Value System
Consumption
Trading
Processing Research
Transportation
Trading
Govt. policy regulation
Post-harvest Communications
handling
Production input supply
Production Tech. & business training & assistance
Input Financial services
supply
Market information and intelligence

13. Value chain versus channels focus
Agro-processing
industry
(Peri-)urban
Urban
specialized fluid
consumers
milk farmers
Fluid milk traders
Rural mixed crop
and livestock Butter traders Rural consumers
butter producers

14. Commodity development in R4D framework
 Diagnostic studies and Identification of interventions
 Planning and Implementation of interventions
 Action research on interventions as follow up of
diagnostic research
 Adaptation/modification of interventions
 Impact evaluation

15. Implementation of Commodity development
interventions
 IPMS facilitated the identification of market
oriented commodities and required interventions
 Interventions were validated by stakeholders
 IPMS’s role limited to introducing and facilitating
the implementation of interventions
 ultimate implementation responsibility rested on
the value chain stakeholders
 IPMS focused on reorientation of the MOA’s
extension system, value chain actors, service
providers and the institutional environment

16. R4D outputs

17. R4D outputs along the value system

18. Promotion of R4D Outputs
 Over 70, 000 hard copy publications
 2000 DVDs distributed
 IPMS website receives 4500 unique visitors per
month

19. Results
Participatory market-oriented commodity value
chain development approach resulted in increased
agricultural production, productivity, sales value and
market participation and orientation of smallholders
in the 10 PLWs

20. Revenue from market-oriented livestock enterprises
Revenue (2009/10 prices)
Million ETB
Livestock enterprise 20054/0 2009/10 Growth Remark
6 rate (%)
Improved dairy 2.2 6.5 195 5 PLWs, excluding urban
dairy and butter-based
local system
Small ruminant 46 120 159 6 PLWs
fattening
Cattle fattening 44 207.5 867 7 PLWs
Improved poultry 1.0 3.9 291 5 PLWs
Improved apiculture 4.94 11.19 127 6 PLWs

21. Selected livestock value chain intervention
results
 Hormone assisted mass insemination
 Crossbreeding Borana with highland Zebu
 Communal grazing area development
 Pullet production by women groups

22. Mass AI with hormones

23. Initial results hormone assisted mass
insemination – Tigray & SNNPR
Variables Awasaa-Dale Adigrat-
Milkshed Mekelle
Milkshed
No. % No. %
Total animals presented for 210 - 212 -
synchronization
No. animals treated with PGF2α 175 83.3 199 93.9
No. of cows that aborted - - 6 3.0
Final No. cows synchronized 175 100 193 97.0
No. of animals that responded to PGF2α 171 97.7 193 100.0
treatment
Animals that died (after insemination) 3 1.8 - -
Animas that did show up for pregnancy 5 2.9 - -
diagnosis
Interval to oestrus, hours NA - 45.13 -
Pregnant animals 94 57.7 119 61.7

24. Suitability analysis for introduction of
Borana cattle breed in Ethiopia

25. Borana x Highland Zebu crossbred calves
in Metema

26. Grazing area improvement

27. Pullet production by women groups
 5 groups with 15-20
members each = 80
 Each group member
raised 50 day old chicks
 Vaccination by women
 Credit Birr 1300/woman
 Mortality rate 13%
 Sales price 4 month old
pullet Birr 50
 Average return/woman
farmer Birr 833/4mnts
 Loan repayment 100%

28. Lessons learned
 The nature of the value chain development approach
is that several interventions need to be combined in
order to achieve impact – no stand alone good
practices
 Value chain development is a process which is
context specific and evolves over time
 Over time, value chain development can be driven by
the actors with research and development
organizations in a supporting role

29. Lessons learned
 Participatory approach, combined with internal and
external knowledge led to identification of new
technologies and interventions
 Failures were observed however, due to market
failure and/or insufficient returns
 Focusing on the value chain as compared to a
specific channel, can bring more farmers into market
oriented agriculture.

30. Lessons learned
 The extension system can play a key role in developing
market oriented development, by developing their skills
beyond the present production skills and being
responsive
 Farmer to farmer exchange of knowledge was an
effective tool used by the project
 Use of modern IT can contribute significantly to
enhance knowledge and skills of extension staff as well
as value chin actors

31. Lessons learned
 Achieving a more gender balanced
development is a slow process, which can be
put in motion through
 awareness creation based on gender assessment,
 involvement of women in capacity development,
knowledge management activities
 Involvement of women in decision making
institutions
 Focusing on gender sensitive commodities and
value chain interventions

32. Three Key Messages
 Technology generation by itself is not enough to
achieve developmental outcomes and impact
 R4D can be combined well in a research environment
 Knowledge management and capacity development
are key elements for the extension system to be
responsive in transforming subsistence agriculture in
to sustainable economic development

33. Thank you!