Livestock and Irrigation Value chain for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) Project
2ndPROGRESS REPORT
APRIL 1, 2013 – SEPTEMBER 30, 2013
Table of Contents
Abbreviations
Executive Summary
1100 Improved Capacity in the Project Areas
1110 – Capacity gaps identified
1120 – Capacity interventions identified and reviewed
1130 – Extension staff ToT & specialist trainings
1140 – MSc/BSc education of public sector staff
1160 – Training educational institutions in gender sensitive VC approaches & interventions
1170 – Trainings/mentoring suppliers of inputs & services
1180 – Training/mentoring of farmers
1190 – Training/mentoring of other value chain actors
1200 Increased Access to Knowledge in the Project Areas
1210 – Knowledge gaps identified
1220 – Knowledge interventions identified and reviewed
1230 – Knowledge centers and extension system equipped
1240 – Knowledge capturing, sharing and learning events
1250 – Project website and social media
1300 Increased Access to Project Results Beyond Project Areas
1310 – Promotion interventions developed & reviewed
1320 – Promotional interventions and distribution of materials
1330 – Promotional activities – Regional, National & International
1340 – Content of EAP further developed/expanded
1350 – Video, radio programs on interventions, VC approaches and lessons learned, prepared and broadcasted
2100 Increased Availability of Value Chain Interventions in Project Areas
2110 – Value chains, target areas, actors and service providers identified
2120 – Value chain interventions identified and reviewed
2130 – Potential value chain interventions introduced
Dairy value chain
Large ruminants (beef) value chains
Small ruminants (meat) value chain
Poultry (eggs and broiler) value chain
Apiculture value chain
Irrigated Fruits value chain
Irrigated vegetables value chain
Irrigated fodder value chain
Credit
Environment
Gender
2140 – Demonstration materials for value chain interventions provided
2200 Increased Documentation of Project Results/Lessons
2210 – Research priorities identified and reviewed annually
2220 – Diagnostic studies completed
2230 – Action studies completed
2240 – Commodity impact studies completed
2250 – Project RBM
Project management
Reports
Recruitment of Staff
Establishment of Offices
Procurement
Project Coordinating Team Meetings
Regional Project Implementation Committee (RPIC) Meetings
Project Steering Committee Meeting
Preparation of Quarterly Financial Reports
Abbreviations
AGPAgricultural Growth Program
AIArtificial Insemination
ATVETAgricultural Technical Vocational Education and Training College
BoABureau of Agriculture
BoWBureau of Water
CAContribution Agreement
CIDACanadian International Development Agency
CRPsCGIAR Research Programs
EAPEthiopian Agricultural Portal
EIAREthiopian Institute of Agricultural Research
EADDPEast Africa Development Project
EMDTIEthiopian Meat and Dairy Technology Institute
ARDPLACAgricultural and Rural Development Partners Linkages Advisory Council
FTCFarmer Training Center
GDPGross Domestic Product
GISGeographic Information System
GoEGovernment of Ethiopia
GOGovernment Organization
GTPGrowth and Transformation Plan
HABPHousehold Asset Building Project
HHHousehold
HQHead Quarter
ICARDAInternational Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas
ILRIInternational Livestock Research Institute
IPMSImproving Productivity and Market Success
IWMI International Water Management Institute
LALivestock Agency
LIVESLivestock Irrigation Value Chain for Ethiopian Smallholders
MoAMinistry of Agriculture
NGONon-government Organization
PAPeasant Association
PARSParticipatory Agricultural Radio Series
PIPProject Implementation Plan
PMFPerformance Management Framework
PSNPProductive Safety Net Project
RARIRegional Agricultural Research Institute
RBM&EResults Based Monitoring and Evaluation
SLMSustainable Land Management
SNNPRSouthern Nation Nationalities People’s Region
ToTTraining of Trainers
WBS Work Breakdown Structure
Executive Summary
This second progress report covers the period April 1, 2013 to September 30, 2013.During this reporting period LIVES has progressed in many aspects. Interventions and activities on capacity development, knowledge management, promotion, value chain development and research have all kicked off at all project levels. The level of implementation of project activities however varied by commodity & district which was related to recruitment of staff. The project team is now almost all on board with quite a few staff members who joined the project in this reporting period.
To operationalize planned interventions, the project stimulated the formation of livestock and crop commodities. This was followed by intensive coaching & mentoring for commodity interventions.
Priority was given to establishing interventions on the ground over formal training activities which have been postponed to the second half of the year. However, many coaching & mentoring activities have taken place in order to transfer skills to service providers, farmers & other value chain actors. A total of 392 extension staff (342 male & 60 female), 179 farmer input suppliers (144 male & 37 female) and 294 farmers (225 male & 69 female) were coached/mentored during the reporting period. Demonstration of fodder & fruit interventions also took place in a total of 33 FTCs in SNNP, Amhara & Oromia Regions.
Selected public sector staff have started enrolling at universities for their MSc degrees and developing their concept notes for research; knowledge centers are being set up; and an action research on use of ICT tools for better extension (e-book readers) has started. Promotion of experiences and lessons from partners; commodity value chain development especially in fodder and irrigated fruits and vegetables has progressed. To increase the participation and collaboration of value chain actors, commodity platforms were established at the different levels. Various study tours have also taken place at national level and one to Kenya for the Project Steering Committee members.
LIVES continues to move ahead by working with partners to contribute to the enhancement of income and wealth for smallholders and other value chain actors (both male and female) through increased and sustained market off-take of high value livestock and irrigated crop commodities.
Linkages were also established with several projects and programs with whom learning can take place over a long period of time including zonal and national programs such as AGP/LMD, GRAD, EDGET, AfricaRising, theFeedSeed Project & AgriProfocus. The LIVES project was also a major partner in the World School Milk day which was organized by the Oromia Livestock Agency and will also be organized in other Regions over the coming year.
Identification/refinement of value chain interventions continued during this reporting period and interventions were operationalized based on what was happening on the ground. In the process, key input/service providers and value chain actors were identified for implementation of the first year intervention plan. Important production interventions included the introduction and management of fodder and improved fruits and vegetable varieties and improved crop & livestock management while key input/service interventions focused on production of important inputs such as forage seeds/planting materials in FTCs and private farms. The various marketing channels for the targeted products were assessed and linkages with producers were initiated/improved. In terms of documentation/research activities, during this reporting period, environmental assessments of major commodities were initiated in the regions. The International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a major LIVES partner, also submitted project proposals which are being reviewed by LIVES HQ staff.
In terms of Project Management, the LIVES team is now almost complete and many new staff members have come on board during the reporting period. Offices have been established at the Regions, procurement of vehicles was completed and technical reports have been submitted by Regional and Zonal staff on a regular basis. Focal persons have been established at District, Zonal & Regional levels and the four Regional Project Implementation Committees (RPICs) have also been formed.
1100 Improved Capacity in the Project Areas
Improved capacity of (♀♂) livestock and irrigation agriculture VC actors and input/service suppliers to participate in improved gender sensitive and environmentally sustainable VC development models in project areas
In the past six months, the project gave priority to establishing interventions on the ground, rescheduling most formal training activities to the second half of the year. To compensate for the formal training, project staff/partners coached and mentored the service providers, farmers and other value chain actors.
Some special training was conducted for extension staff on the use of e-readers and the project also provided resource persons for specialized training on request by partner institutions.
To equip project staff for their coaching and mentoring activities, a familiarization workshop on basic concepts and interventions was organized from April 22 – 24, 2013 in Adama, Ethiopia. Another workshop on gender and environmental assessment was organized in Adama for project staff from August 19 – 22, 2013.
Identification of MSc/BSc sponsorships was initiated and regions have started submitting their list of candidates.
During this reporting period, based on the identified gaps in capacity in year 1, plans have been finalized to conduct various trainings in the coming 6 months. 1110 – Capacity gaps identified
Capacity gaps in value chain analysis and development, market oriented extension, at regional, zonal and district level agricultural office staff were identified in year 1 (April 2012 – March 2013) during zonal stakeholder meetings and project planning meetings. Additional gaps were identified during the team’s regular visits to districts as well as during the commodity platform meetings initiated/held during the past 6 months (see 1240). IWMI conducted a rapid assessment of irrigation schemes in Amhara and Tigray Regions to develop a training program on improving irrigation water management.Assessments for Oromia & SNNP Regions will continue in the following 6 months.
The recently recruited agribusiness expert assessed business and credit proposal development skills of value chain actors and service providers in Tigray and SNNP Regions in order to develop a course on business skills/credit proposal writing.
Research partner institutions identified the need for training on research project proposal writing (ARARI) and research methods (TARI) and grazing area management (TARI).
1120 – Capacity interventions identified and reviewed
The proposed capacity development activities for Year 2 (April 2013 – March 2014) have been rescheduled for the second half of the year to give priority to the introduction of value chain interventions as this reporting period coincided with the rainy season. The emphasis is still on national and regional capacity building on market oriented approaches/extension and value chain development.
The proposed capacity development interventions were further qualified to fit to the local situations (district and PA level) in consultation with focal persons, office heads, and during innovation platform meetings. Capacity development interventions will be in the form of short term trainings, experience sharing visits, and demonstrations.
Following the gender mainstreaming & environmental impact assessment workshops that took place in Adama in August (see 1130), the LIVES Regional & Zonal teams are preparing action plans to provide gender mainstreaming training as well as trainings for other identified gaps for partners & value chain actors in the districts.
IWMI prepared a hands on training program (1 month) for improving water management in selected irrigation schemes, which was reviewed during a one day meeting with the regional project team that took place in October, details of which will be included in the next 6 monthly report. Involvement of the Regional Project Implementation Committees (RPIC) in the review of the capacity development activities have been scheduled for November in SNNP, Amhara & Oromia Regions. The Tigray RPIC discussed the mechanisms of nominating MSc awards at regional, zonal & district levels and agreed that the nominations should reflect the interests of the LIVES project as well as the districts’.
1130 – Extension staff ToT & specialist trainings
Regional and zonal project staff received training on gender assessment and mainstreaming and environmental assessment during the training workshop that took place in Adamafrom August 19 – 22, 2013. (
In addition, the LIVES team also conducted trainings on the use of e-readers for 37 (7 female) targeted staff from the Regions, Zones & Woredas.
LIVES provided resource persons to conduct trainings for researchers from TARI, who were given two trainings on Livestock Research Methods & Grazing Management. These trainings took place on September 8 & 10, 2013 with 62 participants out of which 12 were female.
In the Central and Eastern zones of Tigray, public extension district experts (subject matter specialists and development agents) were trained on the job in improved fruit production. In addition, district extension experts from the two zones were trained in improved forage development. The LIVES team also provided practical and continuous capacity support on improved management of planted fruits and livestock feed.
A summary of these events can be found on Annex 1.
Coaching/mentoring of extension and staff on technical subjects required for the introduction of the selected interventions took place in all regions, zones and districts. Topics included production of inputs and advanced output production technologies.
Table 1 summarizes the staff coached and mentored in each of the Regions/Zones/District so far, including the project’s focal persons at District, Zonal and Regional levels, Zonal, District and PA level specialists/DAs.
Table 1 Extension staff coached in Regions, Zones and Districts
Extension staff coached by regionRegion / Type of staff / Male / Female / Total
Amhara / Focal person / 13 / 0 / 13
SMS / 27 / 4 / 31
DA / 31 / 8 / 39
Total / 71 / 12 / 83
SNNP / Focal person / 9 / 0 / 9
SMS / 26 / 6 / 22
DA / 13 / 5 / 18
Total / 48 / 11 / 49
Tigray / Focal person / 10 / 0 / 10
SMS / 79 / 6 / 85
DA / 19 / 1 / 20
Total / 108 / 7 / 115
Oromia / Focal person / 13 / 0 / 13
SMS / 39 / 15 / 54
DA / 63 / 15 / 78
Total / 115 / 30 / 145
Overall total / 342 / 60 / 392
1140 – MSc/BSc education of public sector staff
During the reporting period, the project initiated the MSc/BSc support program for public sector extension and research staff at federal, regional, zonal & district levels. Letters were sent out to the various offices of agriculture to request for a list of students that met the minimum criteria set out by the project (as agreed during the PSC meeting on April 30, 2013). The lists of students have now been received from all 4 regions and letters have been sent to the various universities to enroll these students. It was however, a little difficult to get qualified female students from all locations due to the low number of female employees in the offices and their failure to fulfill the minimum CGPA requirement. Annex 2 has the details of the students who will be supported by LIVES.
1160 – Training educational institutions in gender sensitive VC approaches & interventions
Short term trainings in value chain & agribusiness courses to take place in the next reporting period are being prepared for educational institutions. During this reporting period however, the LIVES Research Coordinator assisted in the development of a graduate program on Agribusiness and Value Chain Management (ABVCM) at Axum University. He helped find instructors, assisted in developing the curriculum, facilitated a workshop on the draft curriculum and helped finalize it as well. The MSc program has now enrolled the first batch of MSc students and is finalizing admission for the second batch. This MSc program is perfectly in line with LIVES’ market oriented and agribusiness based agricultural development approach.
1170 – Trainings/mentoring suppliers of inputs & services
Guidelines & formats for summarizing location specific coaching & mentoring activities of inputs & services suppliers were prepared and circulated to Regional staff in order to keep track of all such activities.
During this reporting period,project staffbegan coaching/mentoring producers of inputs such as fruit seedlings and forage and vegetable seed/materials, pullet and bee colony producers including individual farmers, and youth/women groups. Tables 2 provide an overview of the coached input producers.
Table 2. Farmer input producers
Type of input / Region / Male / Female / TotalForage seed 1 / Amhara / 7 / 0 / 7
Oromia / 57 / 0 / 57
SNNPRS / 13 / 9 / 22
Total / 77 / 9 / 84
Fruit seedlings / Amhara / 18 / 3 / 21
SNNPRS / 20 / 11 / 31
Total / 38 / 14 / 52
Vegetable seeds / Amhara / 10 / 3 / 13
Oromia / 7 / 0 / 7
SNNPRS / 3 / 4 / 7
Total / 20 / 7 / 27
Pullets / Tigray / 1 / 0 / 1
Amhara / 4 / 2 / 6
Oromia / 2 / 0 / 2
Total / 7 / 2 / 9
Bee colony / Amhara / 2 / 5 / 7
Total / 2 / 5 / 7
Overall total / 144 / 37 / 179
1Some of the farmers involved in forage production may also be involved in forage seed production
2 Females in male headed households are usually included in these coaching/mentoring sessions
Contacts were also made with private sector service providers in each of the selected Districts to create linkages with producers.
1180 – Training/mentoring of farmers
Guidelines & formats for summarizing location specific coaching and mentoring activities of demonstration farmers were prepared during this period and circulated to Regional staff in order to keep track of all such activities.
In Amhara region, mentoring to a large number of farmers took place in all districts on dairy, poultry, beef, small ruminants, beekeeping, irrigation water management, and on forage and fruit production.
Farmers in Tigray region were coached on improved forage development and the linkages between improved forage beneficiary farmers with available urban market were assessed. The assessment indicated that there is promising market for dairy, small ruminants, poultry, vegetables, fruits and forage products in the nearby district, zonal and regional towns. Farmers were also coached on improved fruit production.
In Oromia Region, discussions took place with farmers about capacity gaps and the farmers who will receive training on grafting & fruit management have been selected and potential trainers have been identified. In addition, the importance of developing & using forage genetic materials was explained to farmers as well as partners. Farmers in West Shoa have been selected for apple production training and also to participate in an experience sharing tour. Discussions were held with Ethio-veg fruit farm for future trainings of farmers & DAs on tomato pest control & management.
In the SNNP region, resource persons were identified for the practical training on prioritized commodities in the region (such as apple and mango grafting).