Improved fodder & feeding tech for livestock

Fodder and Feeding Technologies (FFTs) have emerged as sought-after tools to meet the growing demand for milk products and strengthen the resilience of agricultural yields and livelihoods. When appropriately adopted and scaled, FFTs enhance feed quality and availability, improve livestock productivity, and ultimately uplift the livelihoods of rural communities. Recent evidence from the BRIDGE project and the follow-up phase, BRIDGE+, in the Ahmara, Oromia, and Sidama regions shows that smallholder dairy farmers’ adoption of FFT is influenced by several factors, including training, household resource endowments, cooperative participation, education, and other access conditions. Training emerged as the most consistent driver of FFT adoption across improved forage production, crop residue treatment, and silage-making. Land availability, on the other hand, encouraged forage production and larger livestock holdings. Cooperatives were also found to play an important, technology-specific role within FFTs, supporting crop residue treatment and silage making. An economic analysis of FFTs found that the tools generate substantial benefits, including higher milk yields, longer lactation periods, positive net returns, and favourable cost-benefit ratios, particularly in Sidama. Together, the findings imply that policy and practice must prioritise investment in farmer training, extension services, cooperative-based dissemination, improved rural infrastructure, and technology-specific support packages that account for farmers’ land, livestock, education, and market access conditions.

The study was carried out by SNV in partnership with Hawassa University, Bahir Dar University, and Arsi University.