Livestock feeds in the CGIAR Research Programs

Alan Duncan

FAO West Africa Regional Workshop on Crop Residues, Dakar 10-13 December 2012

ILRI in the CGIAR Research Programs

ILRI leads one CGIAR Research Program– ‘Livestock and Fish’.

ILRI leads a component of one CGIAR Research Program–

‘Agriculture for Nutrition and Health’ This component works to prevent and control agriculture-associated diseases,

including food-borne diseases, zoonoses and emerging infectious diseases.

ILRI participates in five other CGIAR Research Programs Drylands

Humid Tropics

Policies, Institutions and Markets

Water, Land and Ecosystems

Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security

Livestock and Fish: More Meat, Milk and Fish, For and By the Poor

• Lead centre: ILRI• Other major centres/partners:

Worldfish, ICARDA, CIAT

Basic Idea: Solution-driven R4D to achieve impact

Approach: Solution-driven R4D to achieve impact

PIGS

AQUACULTURE

SHEEP & GOATS

DAIRY

Livestock and Fish CGIAR Research ProgramMore meat, milk and fish for and by the poor

Feed in Livestock and Fish Programme

PathwaysoValue chain framework to define a set of research areas around:

o producing more and better feedso making better use of feeds that existso processing, densification, redistribution/transfero implications of feeding systems on labour/gender/ecological

footprint etc

OutcomeoBy-product and forage based feeding systems used in VC that significantly increase per animal productivity such as doubling milk production thereby reducing the ecological footprint per unit produce through reduction in animal numbers

Example outputso Output 2.1: Prevalent feeding system for each

considered VC characterized (2012)o Major on farm feed resources in developing VC determined and

feeding regimes/feed use characterized (2012)o Key feeds/feed components on the markets and their price:

quality relations determinedo Regional (above district level) feed resources estimates

aggregated from appropriate administrative units (2013)

o Output 2.2: Feed resource basis assessed relative to production target (2013)o Quantitative and qualitative feed availability gaps quantified

relative to VC production targets (2013)

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Example outputso Output 3.1: Refined and validated tools and methods for

prioritizing feed intervention (2013)o Tools such as Techfit field tested and employed in VC (2012)

o Output 3.2: Potentially superior food-feed crop cultivars and forages for VC identified through CIAT, ICARDA and ILRI research and development work (2012)o Potentially superior food-feed and forage cultivars identified (2012)o Superior food-feed and forage cultivars made available to VC (2013, 2014)

o Output 3.3: Promising feed, fodder and forage processing optionso Simple on-farm feed processing option for increased feed intake and

decreased wastages available (2013) o Decentralized business based feed processing enterprises suggested (2014)

o Feed options/livestock productivity compared carbon foot prints

• Lead centre: IITA• Other major centres/partners: ICRAF,

CIP, CIAT, Bioversity, ICIPE, ILRI, IWMI, AVRDC

Humidtropics: Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics (CRP1.2)

Pov

erty

sta

tus

Ecosystem integrity

CRP1.2 locations Africa

Tier 1

Tier 1

Potential feed-related research topics in Humidtropics CRP

Crop Livestock integration• Manure management – labour issues - nutrient cycling

– crop –livestock integration. With increasing livestock confinement looking at options for tighter manure management.

• Conservation agriculture – livestock lens. Combining inorganic and organic manures. Turning some of the knowledge around manure management and nutrient cycling into local innovations on the ground – addressing some of the constraints to sub-optimal management.

• Modelling on nutrient cycling at different scales (from field to landscape)

Whole farm productivity

• Looking at whole farm productivity. Assess how interventions in different farming enterprises (crops, livestock, off-farm) affect whole farm productivity and environmental footprint.

• Whole farm modelling approaches. • Gender angle to this and we could develop

tools and approaches to improve women’s participation.

Simple tools for technology prioritization

• FEAST (Feed assessment tool) – rapid feed resource assessment and participatory development of intervention strategies

• Techfit – tool for prioritizing feed technologies based on availability and requirements for land, labour, cash, inputs and knowledge

• SLATE – Sustainable livelihoods assessment tool. Rapid characterization of farm typologies to help target interventions.

Looking at whole system feed opportunities

• Feed opportunities often not recognized because they are not local

• E.g. Cassava peel in Nigeria– Cassava is one of IITA’s mandate crops. ILRI has strong interest in

CR. – DM from residue in Nigeria = 1 m tonnes per year 99% of which

is left to rot. Could be recycled through animals. – Most of the labour for cassava peeling is provided by women.

Could look at mechanisms for value added in favour of women. – How to feed to animals? Wet or dry? Pelletizing? Ensiling? For

which livestock species? What moisture content allows processing and so on? Transport options.

• Links with feed component of CRP3.7. e.g. case of sorghum stover in Andhra Pradesh

Mitigating livestock bads• Environmental impacts of intensifying livestock

production. • For example

– Intensifying systems in SE Asia – backyard pigs in areas of high population density. Effects on water quality, aerial emissions etc.

– Improving livestock production efficiency to reduce GHG emissions – some desk assessments.

– ILRI has started a mitigation programme to identify mitigation options (labs in East Africa, GHG measurements, productivity and economic assessments and modelling)

Innovation (R4D) platforms

• ILRI has a lot of experience now in application of innovation systems concepts. Many projects in many locations.

• ILRI has also been experimenting with business development service hubs in East Africa Dairy Development project

• Could use this background to develop system BDS hubs - wider than dairy or even livestock e.g. crop inputs, livestock inputs, tree establishment inputs.

• Links with CRP2 – ILRI leads the smallholder value chain component.

Livestock-tree interactions

• Potential research areas– Effects of livestock on tree establishment– trees and livestock feed– implications of tree introduction on labour e.g. for

livestock feeding. – Lots of gender implications.

Dealing with biomass crisis

• Devising and assessing ways to derive more biomass from crop-based systems– improving residue quality/quantity – assessing

fodder traits of existing cereal cultivars– relay cropping/inter cropping– trees on boundaries

• Building on global study on crop residue use in smallholder systems funded by Systemwide Livestock Programme.

Links

• http://www.ilri.org/animalfeeding

• http://livestockfish.cgiar.org/