Around 70 experts met at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to plan a new research project that aims to transform agricultural systems and improve the livelihoods of 60 million people in the highlands of Ethiopia.  Early this week, the experts stated that, as in many part of Africa, farming systems in the Ethiopian highlands are a mix of crop and livestock enterprises. The key to improving the productivity of these mixed crop-livestock systems, to increase food production and to improve the livelihoods of the 60 million people who depend on them is to produce more output from the same area of land or per animal.

This could be while reducing the negative environmental impacts and at the same time increasing contributions to natural capital and the flow of environmental services, a process which has been called ‘sustainable intensification.’

During the workshop, Shirley Tarawali (Ph.D.), an expert with ILRI, told The Reporter that an important part of the design is to bring together crop scientists from animal, environmental and socio-economic sector to work together to tackle the complex challenges associated with these mixed farming systems. Often, scientists from different disciplines are working on different components of farming systems without taking account of the inter-linkages between the different components.

“For example, crop scientists don’t often take account that crop residues such as straw are an important component of animal feed and livestock scientists don’t necessarily take account of the environmental impact of livestock,” she told The Reporter.

“We aim to bring together a multi-disciplinary research team from international and Ethiopian organizations and link the project to development partners to undertake research that can help development organizations such as government agencies and non-governmental organizations design more effective programmes for development.”

According to ILRI, the workshop provides an opportunity for a broad group of important stakeholders to learn about the project plans and to share their views on expectations from and opportunities for synergies with the project. It will be attended by representatives from government, research organizations, donors and development organizations. Following the two-day workshop, the research consortium will refine the project design.

Though the project is part of the US government’s Feed the Future initiative, the consortium is led by the ILRI and includes the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
The overall aim is to transform agricultural systems through sustainable intensification projects in three regions of Africa, including the Sudano-Sahelian zone of West Africa, the Ethiopian highlands, east and southern Africa.