Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
June 20, 2011
It’s apparent that feed shortages and the poor quality of feed are the major constraints to increased livestock productivity and it’s obvious that the availability of quality forage seed that is suitable for farmers for livestock production should be all stakeholders’ center of attention. Having this reality in mind a workshop for two and half days was held with the title of “Forage Seed Research and Development in Ethiopia” from May 12 to14 at the headquarters of EIAR.
Dr Getnet Assefa in his welcoming address said that, such an event helps us to share experiences and discuss common issues to improve the supply of quality forage seed for farmers so that forage production is promoted and in turn the productivity of the huge livestock population is meaningful.
Dr Solomon Assefa DG of EIAR in his opening remark stated that, despite suitable climatic conditions and wide range of agro-ecologies for forage seed production, Ethiopia is not self sufficient in the area. He also said that, in line with the overall political and economic policy of the country and reform the country has gone through, there is a need to look in to what can be done at different levels to fulfill the national demand in forage seed supply. He further said that forage development is one of the key interventions in transforming livestock sector as feed cost accounts for major share in the cost of livestock production and such an occasions are expected to build consensus on what has been done so far and come up with clear strategic directions, actions points and tasks to be shared towards attaining national goal in terms of forage seed supply.
Dr Sara Mubiru from ASARECA in her closing remark explained the value of forage seed production in livestock production and the importance of the workshop in delivering significant knowledge on forage seed production, distribution, supply and marketing. She further said that since the workshop deliberated in detail on the way forward and indicated action plans, all stakeholders should play their part in the area of training younger professionals, in the implementation of forage seed production.
In the workshop, papers were presented by different stakeholders including EIAR, regional research institutes, regional bureaus of agriculture, genetic conservation institutes, experiences of forage seed projects implemented by other non-state actors including ILRI, ASARECA, JICA, ACDI/VOCA and private seed producers along with valuable discussions on priority issues in the research and development and future directions on forage seed research and development.
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