Most would agree that feed is a key constraint to improving livestock productivity in smallholder systems. So the development community often attempts to deal with the feed issue through introduction of new ways of feeding animals (technologies). These may include improved forages and dual purpose crops, methods for processing crop residues, or introducing high quality supplementary feeds.
But how do we decide which feed technologies will work and be beneficial to smallholder livestock keepers in specific situations? The decision making process surrounding technologies seems to often be ad hoc and rather narrow. Aspects such as labour availability, cost-benefit, availability of inputs, aspects of risk, and the level of knowledge required for successful implementation are often not systematically considered. This has led to increasing distrust and repeated failures.
With all this in mind, next week a group of scientists, development practitioners and representatives of the private sector will meet in Dehra Dun to begin to develop a methodology to help people screen and prioritize feed technologies for different situations.
Why this workshop?
The objective is to develop and field test an analytical framework tool that can be used to: (i) collect (ii) structure (iii) screen and (iv) prioritise possible feed technologies and interventions using a set of general approaches, generic classifications and critical parameters from multiple angles (technical, institutional, policy, social and economic) in various contexts…
The results of the workshop and the field testing will be condensed into a booklet suitable for wider distribution and application. It will contain the justification, the approaches/methodology and some application examples of how the technology prioritisation tool can be used.
The aim is to move beyond a mere concept but rather develop a prototype tool, which can then be tested and further improved in the various upcoming research activities.
You can read more about the rationale for the workshop and the process we intend to use here:
The workshop is hosted by the “Enhancing livelihoods through livestock knowledge systems (ELKS)” project.