Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) have been implementing a Partnership Program (PP) funded by Swedish Development Cooperation (SDC) which supports the improvement of community’s and households’ food and nutrition security to boost resilience to the frequent drought in the IGAD region through various interventions.
The action supports cross-border communities to have enhanced trade opportunities, improved access to natural resources and increased productive capacity to build pastoral resilience to drought. The workshop conducted from April 11-12, 2018 in Kenya, Niavasha and reviewed the overall the performance of the regional feed and range platform, discussed the possibility of establishment of national feed reserves to support survival of livestock in arid and semi-arid lands in the region during drought emergencies and commercialization of fodder The workshop was attended by participants from the line Ministries of livestock production from IGAD member states, some projects working on feed and resilience; NGOs and the private sector such as East African Farmers Federation (EAFF), East Africa Grain Council (EAGC), Jubilee feed manufacturer, Ethiopian Animal Feed Industry Association and ICPALD.
The workshop was officially opened by Fredrick Aloo on behalf of the Director of Livestock Production, Kenya. He reiterated the importance of promoting commercial production of pasture and fodder crops to cope with the increased frequency of drought. He informed the participants that private sector investment is increasing gradually after realizing the good economical returns from feed processing and pasture/fodder production. Dr. Solomon Munyua, the Director of IGAD/ICPALD also made welcome remarks and emphasized the importance of enhancing feed security in the region. The workshop participants made the following recommendations:
IGAD /ICPALD and member states to advocate for policy makers’ buy-in on establishment and operationalization of national feed reserves with a lesson from the national food reserves for humans
- Member states to develop concept notes on enhancing scale up of successful interventions for resource mobilization at national levels. IGAD/ICPALD also to develop regional proposal to complement the efforts of member states
- MS to create an enabling environment in trade policies in agricultural raw materials for feed manufacture
- Member states to develop clear data utilizing available tools (FAO tool, FEAST/ FeedBase- ILRI) on yearly animal fodder and feed demand, available supply and deficit and carry out awareness creation in order to enhance resource allocation by government, attract private sector investment and development partners support
- IGAD /ICPALD to develop a regional rangeland strategy upon which MS will review /develop national strategies
- IGAD /ICPALD to create dedicated page for the platform under ICPAD web where member states will post their best practices and achievements in promoting commercial fodder production, rangeland and feed processing at national levels
IGAD/ICPALD expresses appreciation to Swedish Development Cooperation for financing this event through the IGAD /FAO implemented Partnership Programme.
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