Robson Mutandi, Country Portfolio Manager, Ethiopia

Transcription

1 Recipient GRIPS ID IFAD grant originator (name and title) Originating Division(s) Proposed IFAD grant US$ Co-financing US$ (and donor) Total programme cost US$ Duration Grant goal, objectives and outcomes Themes addressed (see GRIPS) Links to grant policy, country programme and planned / ongoing projects 2 Improving the Performance of Pro-Poor Sheep and Goat Value Chains for Enhanced Livelihoods, Food and Nutrition Security in Ethiopia International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and Regional Research Centers (OARI, TARI, ARARI, SARI) Robson Mutandi, Country Portfolio Manager, Ethiopia Ethiopia Country Program US$ 1,199,911 US$ 62,700 in-kind contribution from Ethiopian NARS US$ 526,230 in kind from CGIAR Livestock and Fish Program US$ 120,000 cash contribution from CGIAR Livestock and Fish Program US$ 1,908,841 1 January December 2017 (3 years) Goal: To improve livelihoods and assets, particularly of women, through increased incomes, reduced risk and improved market access in selected sheep and goat meat value chains. Overall objective:to improve the performance of sheep and goat meat value chains in Ethiopia through a 25% increase in herd productivity (meat offtake), 30% increase in producers incomes and a 50% increase in meat quantity produced by 16 target communities. Specific Objectives To create a consensus for pro-poor transformation of the target value chains among research and development stakeholders and partner projects in Ethiopia, To test and implement interventions with the potential to increase productivity and to enhance participation by the poor and women along the value chain, To design site specific intervention packages based on the evaluation of individual interventions and identified impact pathways; To design a framework for up-scaling of interventions and packages with development partners including the IFAD investment projects; To document and communicate lessons learnt in Ethiopia. Outcomes: 1. Sheep and goat value chain performance, governance and institutional frameworks in Ethiopia understood and policy-makers made aware of constraints for sectoral growth and of gaps in institutional support 2. First set of interventions adopted by target producers, both women and men, and ready for up-scaling through a network of development partners developed by the project. Pastorialism; Value/Supply Chain; Dairy activities; Knowledge Management; Marketing; The project will contribute to three development objectives of IFAD s strategic framework, namely objectives: 2 (Access for poor rural women and men to services to reduce poverty, improve nutrition, raise incomes and build resilience in a changing environment), 3 (Poor rural women and men and their organizations able to manage profitable, sustainable and resilient farm and non-farm enterprises or take advantage of 1 See 2For CS grants, should read: links to grant policy, country programme and planned / ongoing projects

2 decent work opportunities) and 5(Enabling institutional and policy environments to support agricultural production and the full range of related non-farm activities). The project will make a significant contribution to four of the eight strategic thematic areas of IFAD (3, 5, 6 and 8). Beneficiary country Project Executive Board Date Grant target groups and number of beneficiaries (identify direct and indirect; women and men; and individuals and households) Main components Countries where activities will be implemented Implementation arrangements (including links to other IFAD interventions in the country, region if relevant) Supervision and knowledge management Ethiopia December 2014 The project targets (resource-) poor actors along selected Ethiopian sheep and goat value chains from producers to consumers. Poor sheep and goat keeping households (1150 in 16 villages) will benefit from productivity enhancing interventions ensuring that women and other vulnerable and disadvantaged groups benefit equitably, and that benefits include enhancing household food and nutritional security and incomes. Other beneficiaries along the value chain will include: small-scale traders (about 40) and feed manufacturers (2 to 3), as well as other input and service providers (about 15 veterinary service suppliers). Rural and urban consumers will benefit from more affordable and safer sheep meat due to increased supply and better animal and public health measures. Seven VC sites have been selected as part of the CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on small ruminant value chains in Ethiopia, including 4 sheep and 1 goat value chain in the highlands and one goat and one mixed sheep/goat site in the lowlands. The project will use these sites as pilot and model sites and benefit from and build on the initial research that has been done on these sites. 1. Analysis of sheep and goat value chain performance, governance and institutional frameworks 2. Design, implementation and evaluation of technology and institutional intervention and integrated intervention packages to improve VC performance. 3. Facilitation of an enabling environment for value chain transformation (VCT) 3 and for upscaling interventions 4. Design and implementation of data and knowledge management systems and a communication strategy for documenting and sharing evidence, outputs and lessons as a basis for upscaling. Ethiopia The project will be implemented by ICARDA in collaboration with ILRI and the Ethiopian national and regional research institutes. ICARDA will be responsible for reporting to the donor. It will also closely collaborate with IFAD country program, in particular with the Pastoral Community Development Project III, and the Rural Financial Intermediation Programme II. Joint supervision and evaluation by ICARDA and ILRI and the IFAD Ethiopia Country Office. 3 Working Definition for L&F: A process through which new and enduring forms of inclusive participation, governance and power relation and efficient resource use emerge such that pre-commercial actors and poor consumers generate and benefit from increased availability and quality of ASF

3 ACRONYMS ARARI Amhara Region Agricultural Research Institute BecaHub Biosciences eastern and central Africa Hub BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences CBO community-based organization CGIAR Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research CRP CGIAR Research Program CSA Central Statistical Agency EIAR Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAOSTAT FAO Statistical Database GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit IAR4D International Agricultural Research for Development ICARDA International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development ILRI International Livestock Research Institute INTA Instituto Nicaragüense de Tecnología Agropecuaria IPMS Improving Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian Farmers ITC Information and Communication Technologies L&F CGIAR Research Program Livestock and Fish LIVES Livestock and irrigation value chains for Ethiopian smallholders M&E monitoring and evaluation MFI Microfinance Institutions MoARD Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development NARS National Agricultural Research Systems NGO non-governmental organization OARI Oromia Agricultural Research Institute PCDP Pastoral Community Development Project R4D research for development RUFIP Rural Financial Intermediation Programme RUSACCO Rural savings and credit cooperatives SARI Southern Agricultural Research Institute TARI Tigray Agricultural Research Institute SNNP Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region SR Small ruminants USAID United States Agency for International Development VC Value chain VCA Value chain analysis VCT Value chain transformation - 3 -

4 I. BACKGROUND In Ethiopia and many other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, sheep and goats are mostly kept by smallholders and the rural poor, including women headed households. Ethiopia is home to 96.5 million people (FAOSTAT, 2012; accessed June 30 th 2014); 30.7%are classified as poor living on less than $1.25 per day (The World Bank, 2012). With 25.5 million sheep and 24.1 million goats, Ethiopia s small ruminant population is among the largest in sub-saharan Africa and the largest in East Africa (FAOSTAT, 2012; accessed June 30 th 2014; compare Annex table 1). Sheep and goats contribute substantially to the livelihoods of smallholder households as a source of income, food (meat and milk), and industrial raw materials (skins and wool). They also serve as a means of risk mitigation during crop failures, property security, monetary saving and investment in addition to many other socioeconomic and cultural functions (Tibbo, 2006). At the farm level, sheep contribute up to 63% to the net cash income derived from livestock production in the mixed farming system. In the lowlands, goat and sheep together with other livestock are the mainstay of pastoral livelihoods (Negassa and Jabbar, 2008). The annual meat production from small ruminants (154,000 t) is relatively small compared to the large number of animals (50 million; Annex table 1). Consequently, the supply of sheep and goat meat per capita and year is low (1.6 kg) and even lower than the supply of beef (4.8 kg, FAOSTAT, 2012; accessed June 30 th 2014). Recent estimates of the average annual off-take rate from sheep and goat herds for the years 2008 to 2010 indicate values between 30% and 38% (ILRI, 2014, unpublished report) which confirm the apparent low herd productivity. Negassa and Jabbar (2008) had reported even lower off-take rate of only 7%from sheep herds in the Ethiopian highlands Demand and prices for sheep and goat meat show an increasing trend due to urbanization and increased income in the cities and increased demand from the Gulf countries. From 2000 to 2008 the price of live sheep and sheep meat increased by 157%; the increase for live goats and goat meat was slightly lower at 107% (Fadiga and Amare, 2010). A structural model of the Ethiopian livestock sector estimates the total consumption of sheep and goat meat at 182,800 tons in 2010, which exceeded the estimated small ruminant meat production in 2010 (153,000 tons, FAOSTAT, 2012) by 47%. The same model predicts a per capita annual growth rate in sheep and goat meat consumption from 2010 to 2020 by 3.4% and 1.3%, and an overall change of 41% and 14%, respectively (Fadiga and Amare, 2010). Thus, it is evident that the increasing demand for sheep meat cannot be met with the current inefficient production and marketing systems. Although Ethiopian sheep and goat breeds are well adapted to the existing production environments, their full production potential is obviously not being realized due to a combination of constraints. Reasons attributed for the apparent low productivity are: absence of organized breeding programs for smallholders, inadequate and poor quality feeds, diseases leading to high mortality, in particular in young animals, underdeveloped markets in terms of infrastructure and market information, and a lack of technical capacity in the research and extension support system. As the market systems are typically informal, individual producers have little bargaining power. Furthermore, sheep and goats have received less policy or investment attention than the beef and dairy sector. Although technologies to overcome some of these constraints have been developed, their uptake and wider adoption remains low. Development practitioners now believe that small scale producers are often unable to increase production by adopting productivity enhancing technologies unless the value chains for their products are sufficiently developed and dynamic (Rota and Sperandini, 2010). Over the past decade, more emphasis has been given, therefore, to increasing the commercial orientation of smallholders and growing the associated value chains to create pro poor value addition opportunities. The value chains should then provide both push and pull for technology uptake to justify the investment of the various actors along the value chain to increase production and productivity. Animal product value chains have particular characteristics that distinguish them from other agricultural products, such as: the asset related, cash flow and - 4 -

5 social functions of livestock that often see people accumulate large numbers; product perishability and associated public health risks; the role played by livestock in risk management; the divergent paths of crop and livestock pricing during crises; and seasonality of feed and of demand (Upton 2004; Negassa and Jabbar, 2008). The government of Ethiopia, through its growth and transformation plan, has identified agriculture as the key driving factor for economic development with particular attention given to scaling-up of best agricultural practices and development of new technologies at all levels. This will be attained mainly by increasing the productivity of small holder farmers. The strategies to address challenges that hamper productivity improvement in small ruminants include: expansion of fattening technologies, genetic improvement, proper feeding, preventive animal health services and market linkages. Although there is a lot to be done, encouraging results have been registered (compare II. RATIONALE: RELEVANCE AND LINKAGES A. Link to outputs of Grants Policy and corporate priorities The proposed grant project aims at enabling small scale sheep and goat farmers and other poor value chain actors in Ethiopia to increase their share of the benefits from sheep and goat production and marketing. This will be achieved through developing, adapting and disseminating innovative approaches and technologies, together with enabling policies and institutions jointly with all actors along the value chains and with development partners to achieve impact at scale. Hence, joint learning and capacity building is a core element of the project approach and implementation. This is directly in line with IFAD s revised grant policy. The sheep and goat value chains in Ethiopia are one of the nine prioritized fish and livestock value chains targeted by the CGIAR Research Program Livestock and Fish (L&F) More meat, milk and fish by and for the poor ( 4 The overall goal of the program is to increase availability and affordability of meat, milk and fish for poor consumers and in doing so to reduce poverty through greater participation by the poor along animal-source food value chains. The program strategy aligns well with IFAD s goal to empower poor rural women and men to achieve higher incomes and improved food security through pro-poor interventions. As a member of the CGIAR Fund Council, IFAD endorsed the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish. B. Contribution to divisional strategic workplan (for Global/Regional grants) / Contribution to country programme and planned or ongoing projects (for CS grants) In line with strategic priorities of the divisional strategic workplan, the grant project addresses the issues related to risks and vulnerability of the rural poor associated with climate change, land degradation, and food production. At the same time, strong linkages with IFADsupported investment projects in Ethiopia with the focus on livestock and value chains and sustainable use of land resources would contribute to key objectives and programs of Ethiopia. This project complements other IFAD funded grants implemented by ILRI on goats in India and Mozambique and on pigs in Uganda, and experiences gained in the various projects will be shared. The proposed grant is planning to collaborate with IFAD s Rural Financial Intermediation Programme (RUFIP) II and the Pastoral Community Development Program (PCDP) III in Ethiopia. RUFIP II aims at providing access to a range of financial services for an estimated 4 L&F targets dairy cattle, pig, fish and small ruminants. If development focuses on sheep or goat meat or both depends on the production and marketing conditions in the selected target countries

6 6.9 million rural households. It specifically targets women-headed households, which account for about 23 per cent of all rural households and tend to be poorer than households headed by men. The Programme plans to achieve this through a nationwide network of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and 5,500 and rural savings and credit cooperatives (RUSACCOs) and RUSACCO Unions. MFIs and RUSACCOs are the major sources of agricultural finance for smallholder farmers. MFIs and RUSACCOs also provide access to savings, thus tapping into the savings potential of rural households. The rapid value chain analysis (VCA) carried out by L&F revealed that poor sheep and goat producers and other VC actors such as small traders and transporters identified the lack of accessible credits as a major challenge for improving their situation. For example small producers lack capital for fattening operations, traders need capital to improve their transporters or increase the size of their operations, and butchers to improve their facilities. Given that RUFIP operates at national level, it is suggested that the grant project will work with the nearest MFI or RUSACCO under RUFIP to facilitate credits for VC actors. This will provide useful insights for the grant project with regard to creating an enabling environment for value chain development (VCD). At the same time it will provide RUFIP with useful case studies which will evaluate if the credit services provided for small-scale producers or business are adequate and accessible. The proposed grant project will work with pilot communities in Yabelo and Shinelle lowlands which overlaps with the target areas of PCDP III. PCDP III s development objective is to improve access to community-driven social and economic services for Ethiopia's pastoralists and agro pastoralists. With its three components 1) Community-driven Service Provision, 2) the Rural Livelihoods Programme (RLP) and 3) Development learning and knowledge management, PCDP III is addressing main development challenges. In particular, investment in demand-driven social and economic infrastructure to expand and improve service delivery and build infrastructure for local development (1 st component), strengthened economic livelihoods of the pastoralist by creating enhanced access to financial services and to advisory services (2 nd component) and capacity building of pastoral groups for policy dialogues, and strategic thinking around pastoralist development issues (3 rd component) are considered as very important factors for enabling the adoption of VC interventions at scale. Thus, it is proposed to work with PCDP III at joint project sites. C. Rationale for project, for grant financing and for selected implementing agency Rationale for the project A number of factors indicate a large potential for the development of small ruminant value chains in Ethiopia including: Huge and increasing demand for sheep and goat meat within and outside the country reflected in increasing prices over recent years; domestically this is driven by population increases, rising incomes and urbanization; in addition there is a strong and growing demand from Gulf States and Ethiopia is strategically placed to meet this demand Current annual livestock and meat export potential is estimated at USD 136 million; however, the realized export earning over the past 15 years to 2003 averaged only to USD 2.5 million. Abattoirs in Ethiopia operate only at 20-50% of their capacity. High potential to raise the low flock productivity and off-take rate in smallholder flocks. The low productivity per animal is attributed to both technical and institutional challenges: breeding practices, feeding and health care are all sub-optimal, and market infrastructure and information is lacking. The uptake of existing technical solutions has been poor. Marketing arrangements are predominantly informal and there are many marketing agents along value - 6 -

7 chains, which present both an opportunity and a challenge. Up to date small ruminant production has been largely neglected by policy makers and investors. This project aims at assessing and utilizing the apparent potential for small ruminant value chain development in Ethiopia. It addresses particularly the opportunities for smallholder sheep and goat producers to improve their incomes, assets and nutrition by actively engaging in a more market-oriented and efficient production. Rationale for grant financing and for selected implementing agencies The proposed project will make an essential contribution to sheep and goat value chain development in Ethiopia. It will be embedded in the wider framework of value chain development as outlined in the CGIAR Research Program (CRP) Livestock and Fish (L&F). L&F is working with a harmonized approach across nine selected value chains in Asia, Africa and Latin America and thus will create opportunities of joint learning across different commodities and environments. An integral part of the L&F concept is working with research and development partners to formulate interventions to sustainably improve the productivity and participation by the poor along the whole sheep value chain, thereby enhancing livelihoods and food and nutritional security. Through targeting mixed crop-livestock and pastoralist systems in Ethiopia, it creates the opportunity to share lessons learnt with other countries in Africa. To enable communication of outcomes and potential wide-scale adoption of successful technical and institutional interventions and processes, the project will integrate joint learning and capacity development of research and development partners, public and private service providers, and farmers. The leading agency will be ICARDA in close collaboration with ILRI and the national and regional research institutes of Ethiopia. ICARDA has a long experience in improving sheep and goat production systems in dry areas with regard to breeding, feeding, rangeland improvement, market orientation and value-addition (e.g. Homann et al., 2008; Hilali et al., 2011; Tavaa et al., 2013; Gebre et al., 2014; Meier et al., 2014). In a recent project in Ethiopia, ICARDA with ILRI, Boku University and regional partners implemented sheep breeding programs ( and complimentary technical interventions at four sites in Ethiopia from (see also Haile et al., 2011;Duguma et al., 2012; Mirkena et al., 2012; Gizaw et al., 2013).ILRI has a track record in exploring and applying value chain analysis in pro poor development of value chains for animal products (Negassa, 2009; Rich et al,2009, 2011; Baker et al, 2009).Currently, ILRI is supporting the Government of Ethiopia in the development of a National Livestock Master Plan. The Livestock Master Plan includes an analysis of the major livestock commodity value chains to design scenarios for sectoral growth and to identify gaps in institutional support. Within L&F ICARDA is coordinating the development of small ruminant value chains in Ethiopia which started in June 2012.Up to now the program in Ethiopia has completed first assessments of the SR sector, the selected goat and sheep VCs, lessons learnt on potential interventions. At present the project is conducting a quantitative value chain analysis (VCA).The quantitative VCA will review the findings from the rapid VCA, serve as a baseline for the project and will be used to refine interventions and intervention packages. The data collection is expected to be completed in October Up to date, the L&F program has completed the following activities (compare - A consultative process engaging research and development actors and other stakeholders active in SR VC development (VCD) in Ethiopia to select sites and create awareness; - Systematic literature review to capture experiences successes, failures and lessons learnt from relevant or promising research and development interventions tested in the past; - 7 -

8 - A situational analysis that documents the role and competitiveness of goat and sheep value chains in animal-source food systems in Ethiopia (to be uploaded); - Assessment of selected sheep and goat value chains: development of a toolkit and implementation of rapid VCA ( and food safety assessments( seven sites which document goat and sheep production, market systems and structures, input and service supply, food safety challenges and gendered constraints and opportunities for VCD; - An additional report that analyzes gender issues as revealed by the qualitative SR VCA ( - Feed resource assessment and screening options for feed technology interventions at selected sites ( order=desc&rpp=20&sort_by=2&etal=-1&offset=1&type=dateissued); - Multi-stakeholder meetings using the findings of the rapid VCA and food safety assessments that reviewed identified challenges and bottlenecks and proposed a first list of prioritized interventions ( - Development of impact pathways for the major intervention areas through a multistakeholder workshop ( a report is under review). The proposed grant project will be essential in implementing and testing prioritized technology and institutional interventions at the VC sites, and to work on site-specific packages of evaluated interventions. It will also greatly contribute to developing an enabling environment for uptake of tested interventions and towards a framework for up-scaling through the collaboration with IFAD Rural Financial Investment Project II and the Pastoral Community Development Project III. III. THE PROPOSED PROJECT A. Strategy, Approach/Methodology The project will apply a combination of gendered value chain analysis, innovation platforms, and technology adaptation. It will also encompass areas for longer-term technology generation. A large literature already exists offering a variety of conceptual frameworks and a range of methods and tools under the general label of value chain analysis (see Webber and Labaste (2010) for a recent review).value chain analysis includes a characterization component to describe the structure and relationships within a chain, a diagnostic component to identify opportunities to increase its efficiency and equity, and a prescriptive component for designing, implementing and sequencing interventions. Key features of value chains highlighted by economists include understanding trust and cooperation, governance, market power, innovation and knowledge, and intervention points (Webber and Labaste 2010), but other perspectives of political economy and socio cultural context and dynamics also require consideration. The value chain development will be complemented by a sector and policy analysis, to understand the broader context within which the target value chain functions, and its implications for the chain s longer term viability. Economic and policy analysis tools will be adapted and applied to assess, for example, supply and demand dynamics and the competitiveness of the target value chains as compared to alternative value chains and opportunities faced by the actors. Moreover, they will consider issues related to the political economy

9 The integration of gender in the value chain analysis will be achieved by using some of the existing frameworks, including the Gender Dimensions Framework and the Women Empowerment in Agriculture Framework (World Economic Forum, 2005). These frameworks were adapted for use in the Gender Strategy of the CGIAR Research Program Livestock and Fish ( The program is developing a framework and tools for integrated and strategic gender research to systematically identify gender issues that may limit the overall effectiveness of the value chain development. Gender analysis will reveal why particular chains are dominated by men or women, in what circumstances women have been able to become successful at creating employment, and how women can be supported to make a more effective economic contribution. Gender inequalities are often critical to understanding and addressing the 'weakest links' within value chains, and the most critical areas for upgrading quality and growth as well as poverty reduction. Two reports analyze gender issues as revealed by the rapid qualitative SR VCA ( and by the food safety and nutrition assessments and will be soon available online. Another preliminary study looked asset ownership across VCs to orient a more in-depth study ( The project will actively engage in stimulating market led development jointly with other research and development partners to increase the innovation capacity of the actors in the value chains which is expected to be weak given the widespread poverty of small ruminant owners and weak linkages to markets and input suppliers observed in the rapid value chain assessments. Stimulating the development of value chains is a particularly promising area where our understanding of innovation systems can be improved and translated into practical actions to facilitate interactions between actors both within and outside (e.g. researchers) the value chain to co create solutions. Ongoing work that will be applied includes Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) through innovation platforms in which researchers facilitate interactions between actors to co develop innovation capacity (Tizikara and Kwesiga 2006; van Rooyen and Homann KeeTui 2009; New Agriculturalist 2010). Another key feature of the approach applied in the CGIAR Livestock and Fish Program is the integration of technology adaptation into value chain development. Value chain development specialists will help identify particular constraints and bottlenecks in the target value chain that emerge from rapid and in-depth VCA and validate and prioritize them through consultations and engaging with the main actors along the value chain and development partners. Technical scientists will then identify and propose potential technological solutions, interacting with social scientists to ensure their appropriateness. Both technical and social scientists will also have roles in identifying the organizational conditions and changes required for technology adoption, and this approach specifically addresses anticipated problems with top down delivery of inappropriate technology as experienced in the past. The underlying assumption for the outlined approach is that increasing the commercial orientation of smallholders and growing the associated value chain to create pro poor value addition opportunities will result in sustainable and resilient outcomes and prevent smallholder livestock keepers from being marginalized. B. Target sites and Groups As the project seeks to enhance productivity and participation by the poor along the sheep and goat value chains in Ethiopia, it is expected that all actors along the value chain from producers to consumers will benefit from the project interventions. Small scale sheep and goat keepers will benefit from more effective access to markets and improved VC efficiency, and productivity enhancing interventions, likely to include innovations to: improve the quantity and quality of feed and close feed gaps; reduce mortality and morbidity rates by making animal health services more accessible and affordable; improved selection strategies for breeding animals; and improved access to livestock markets and increased - 9 -

10 opportunities to capture added value. The CGIAR Livestock and Fish Program s strong commitment to gender and equity will ensure that women and other vulnerable and disadvantaged groups benefit equitably, and that benefits include enhancing household food and nutritional security and incomes. Other beneficiaries along the value chain will include: small-scale traders and feed manufacturers, as well as other input and service providers. Existing small-scale businesses will become more profitable; new businesses will become established to support better livelihoods and create jobs, including those for rural youth. And very importantly, rural and urban consumers should benefit from more affordable and safer sheep and goat meat and goat milk due to increased supply and better animal and public health measures. Beneficiaries will also include public officials responsible for animal disease surveillance and control, and for livestock market development and regulation. Lessons generated from the work supported by this grant will provide evidence to enable better policies to be formulated, which will allow more equitable and efficient allocation of scarce public resources to reduce rural poverty in Ethiopia. The CGIAR Livestock and Fish Program employed a consultative process to select value chain sites. Originally we proposed to target sheep meat value chains in the highlands ( Because of the strong interest of research partners and policy makers expressed during the consultations, goat meat value chains and lowland sites were included in the program. The site selection process consisted of a combination of geographical targeting, and stakeholder consultations at national and regional level ( Geographical targeting was based on GIS compatible criteria like representativeness of the agroecological conditions, market opportunity/linkage (distance/time to next market), growth potential (sheep and goat density), and pro-poor potential (proportion of poor people). Their application created maps of eligible sites to inform stakeholders meetings. In these meetings soft selection criteria such as government priorities, likelihood of success, sheep and goat breeds with a well-known market potential, synergy with on-going research and development projects, existing links with the research and extension system, regional representation, and availability of secondary data were identified and applied. Through this process seven value chains sites in Ethiopia were selected (Figure 1)

11 Figure 1. Map of selected sites for Small Ruminant Value Chains in Ethiopia

12 In each of the selected districts the project is working intensively in two or three villages (Annex 2.3) to test, adapt and implement interventions prioritized based on the rapid VCA, the rapid food safety and nutrition assessments and multi-stakeholder workshops. The total number of villages (kebeles) is 16. The number of beneficiaries varies according to the nature of the interventions, however the targeted number of households per village for collective actions, such as the community based breeding programs (CBBP), ranges from 58 to 130; accordingly the total number is estimated at 1150 households (Annex 2.3). It is anticipated that smart marketing interventions in the highlands will be pursued with the same households that are involved in CBBP to make use of the already established collaboration among producers. Animal Health programs in the high and the lowlands will ideally target all sheep or goat keepers; while feed interventions will be piloted with a smaller number of interested households. With regard to targeting other SR VC actors, the project will focus on small traders or collectors in the highlands (4-5 per village, in total around 40), a few large traders and selected abattoirs; in the lowlands small and big traders are already well organized and informed. The project anticipates working with veterinary service suppliers (around 2 per site) and feed suppliers that are either already active at the sites or interested to become involved. Credit suppliers will be targeted through RUFIPII. C. Overall Goal and Objectives The goal of this project is to improve livelihoods and assets, particularly of women, through increased incomes, reduced risk and improved market access in selected sheep and goat meat value chains. The overall objective is to improve the performance of sheep and goat meat value chains in Ethiopia through a 25% increase in herd productivity (meat offtake), 30% increase in producers incomes and a 50% increase in meat quantity produced by 16 target communities. This will be achieved by identifying and addressing key constraints and opportunities (from production to consumption), improving institutional and governance arrangements and capacities, and supporting the establishment of enabling pro poor policy and institutional environments. The specific objectives include: To create a consensus for pro-poor transformation of the target value chains among research and development stakeholders and partner projects in Ethiopia, To test and implement interventions with the potential to increase productivity and to enhance participation by the poor and women along the value chain, To design site specific intervention packages based on the evaluation of individual interventions and identified impact pathways; To design a framework for up-scaling of interventions and packages with development partners including the IFAD investment projects; To document and communicate lessons learnt in Ethiopia. D. Project Outcomes and Outputs The overall outcome expected from transforming small ruminant value chains in Ethiopia is: improved performance of sheep and goat meat value chains in Ethiopia through a 25% increase in herd productivity (meat offtake), 30% increase in producers incomes and a 50% increase in meat quantity produced by 16 target communities. The outcomes expected from the proposed grant are:

13 1. Sheep and goat value chain performance, governance and institutional frameworks in Ethiopia understood and policy-makers made aware of constraints for sectoral growth and of gaps in institutional support The related expected outputs include: 1. Quantitative analysis of selected small ruminant value chains 2. Analysis of prevalence and economic importance of sheep and goat diseases 3. Policy and institutional analysis 2. First set of interventions adopted by target producers, both women and men, and ready for upscaling through a network of development partners developed by the project. The related expected outputs include: 3. Pro-poor and gender equitable interventions and site-specific intervention packages evaluated for upscaling; 4. Partnership strategy and knowledge-sharing mechanisms established that align R&D actors for promoting interventions and an enabling institutional and policy environment for goat and sheep value chains. E. Project Activities by components Four clusters of activities (components) are proposed to achieve the specific project objectives: 1. Analysis of sheep and goat value chain performance, governance and institutional frameworks 1.1. Quantitative value chain analysis that documents goat and sheep market systems and structures, input and service supply, and provides a baseline for VC performance and sheep and goat production at the VC sites; 1.2. Design and implement a disease prevalence survey to assess the risk and economic importance of PPR, sheep and goat pox and other endemic diseases affecting sheep and goats; 1.3. Analyze institutional, policy and regulatory framework of the SR sector to develop institutional innovations and policy recommendations. The quantitative VCA will establish a baseline on existing sheep and goat production levels and practices, document market channels, market actors and processing practices as well as efficiency of input delivery services in-depth. It will also be used for refining the technical and institutional interventions for each site. The disease prevalence study will start with participatory epidemiology (PE) studies which will be followed by targeted disease prevalence surveys biological sampling at those sites based on the findings of the PE studies. The results will contribute to designing site-specific preventive animal health programs and the requirements for the delivery of the programs. The project will also analyze institutional, policy and regulatory frameworks to identify bottlenecks contributing to the poor performance of the overall value chain. The findings will be shared through technical and policy briefs within the stakeholder network. 2. Design, implementation and evaluation of technology and institutional interventions and integrated intervention packages to improve VC performance

14 2.1 Develop, test and evaluate prioritized best-bet technology and institutional interventions that address production constraints, and provide mechanisms for reducing transaction costs of sheep and goat marketing as well as institutional support; 2.2 Develop business models that target specific marketing channels for each site involving producers, traders and input suppliers 2.3 Design packages of tested and evaluated interventions that address site-specific challenges confirmed by quantitative VCA; 2.4 Develop an evaluation framework and specific indicators for monitoring the performance of the target value chains considering technical performance, economic viability and potential welfare impacts, including food security, for women and other smallholder producers and value chain actors resulting from the set of piloted packages. These activities form the key part of the project implementation and provide the main project piloting exercise, the generation of evidence from those, and the analysis required to document the viability of the piloted interventions at scale. The project will give significant attention to pilot interventions at production level that address sheep and goat disease control strategies and the implications both for production risk and human health risks, to feeding strategies combining improved local feed and fodder resources and to improved breeding and reproduction strategies. Another set of interventions will target organizational and institutional constraints such as weak or missing linkages to output markets for live animals or to public and private area suppliers of inputs and services (compare Annex 2.2). For example marketing interventions will combine market information and collective action (smart marketing) and investments in market infrastructure. All agreed interventions will be accompanied by participatory training and capacity building exercises for target producers and other actors (see Activity 3.3). The performance of piloted interventions will be evaluated through monitoring changes in production practices and performance, in market access, and in practices of related market actors. Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected to provide evidence on uptake, and to assess technical performance, economic viability and improved welfare of women and other smallholder farmers/pastoralists. 3. Facilitation of an enabling environment for value chain transformation (VCT) and for upscaling interventions. 3.1 Engage stakeholders and R&D actors in a VCT alliance through national and regional stakeholder workshops; 3.2 Develop a partnership strategy to identify critical partners in developing and implementing interventions and a enabling institutional and policy environment, with a view to longer term adoption and scaling out of promising results; 3.3 Design a targeted capacity development program for value chain actors and research partners based on need assessment. The SR VC team has already started to bring together key stakeholders from Ethiopia to build on national and local knowledge and experience from other relevant evolving smallholder livestock value chains. The project team will engage in a continuous dialogue with research and development partners to identify synergies and how current activities and experience of the different partners can best add value to common outputs and outcomes. Depending on the interests and objectives of partners innovation platforms will be created at site, regional and national level. These platforms will be also used to propose institutional and policy innovations based on the analysis of institutional, policy and regulatory frameworks. In this regard, a close collaboration with the IFAD investment projects to develop pro-poor solutions, is envisaged, e.g. access to microcredits with RUFIP

15 National and regional partners will play an important role in project implementation, with NGOs and research partners supporting capacity building and training targeted at producers and market agents. So the project has to create research capacity to support value chain transformation to ensure that pro-poor value chains are functioning using CRP L&F technologies/ innovations in equitable ways. It will also invest in targeted capacity building of VC actors to enable and fully engage them in VCT. In close collaboration with the capacity development components under RUFIPII and PCDPIII, the project will develop trainings for producers and other value chain actors in financial literacy and drawing up business plans. 4. Design and implementation of data and knowledge management systems for documenting and sharing evidence, outputs and lessons as a basis for upscaling. 4.1 Develop a strategy for communication and knowledge sharing, including communication materials that effectively package outputs and lessons for key target audiences; 4.2 Establish data and knowledge management system for ensuring continued access to data and lessons from the project. A project communication strategy will be developed in collaboration with partner projects operating in Ethiopia and harmonized within the CGIAR Livestock and Fish Program. This will allow us to combine lessons learned and thus to formulate lessons with wider applicability and increase cost effectiveness. Hence, opportunities for joint communication products and activities will be explored. Examples of partner projects in Ethiopia are given in Annex 2.3. The strategy will be based on the identification of target audiences, eventual implementation agents for scaling out evaluated interventions but also investors and decision makers. For each type of target actors specific engagement strategies and information materials will be designed. Synthesis materials on lessons learnt and impacts will be packaged in suitable formats for a range of target audiences such as briefs, user manuals, short and detailed reports. Project learning and communication materials will be produced and disseminated through a variety of media and partner channels. Innovative and facilitated communication and learning activities will be delivered to maximize knowledge sharing along the whole value chain. This process will also refine and focus the likely project interventions targeted for each site and provide information to design M&E exercises. An important element of the communication strategy will be a mid-term regional stakeholder meeting to build engagement, raise project awareness, uptake and further investment and leverage. IV. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS A. Implementing Organizations The project will be managed by ICARDA in its role as coordinator of the sheep and goat value chain development in Ethiopia and timely implementation will be by a full-time nationally recruited project field coordinator. ILRI will provide overall guidance through strategy and implementation planning and the M&E and learning framework of L&F. ICARDA s sheep and goat VC Coordinator will coordinate the grant activities with the overall L&F value chain development in Ethiopia and in the other countries through its involvement in the Livestock and Fish Program. ICARDA researchers will include a market economist, a small ruminant nutritionist, a small ruminant breeder, a dairy technologist and a reproduction physiologist. ILRI will lead the development of a comprehensive framework to improve herd health which will include animal health assessment and disease prioritization, development of animal

16 population health and food safety measures and equitable animal health services delivery. The assessment will provide feedback for vaccine and diagnostic assay developments under the Animal Health technology flagship of CRP L&F. ILRI will be also responsible for developing gender integrative and transformative approaches for equitable value chain development based on the L&F Gender strategy. ILRI researchers will provide technical backstopping on disease prevalence and herd health strategies, on gender research and feed assessment and innovation systems. As this project will be an integral part of the development of value chains within L&F, it will benefit from the across centers and sites methodology development and learning. In its role as lead center for L&F, the CRP Director and his management team will guide the harmonization of approaches across commodities and countries, and the overall development of effective tools for monitoring and evaluation of project implementation and for measuring value chain performance. L&F will also support the development of strategic partnerships for value chain development through the Head of Partnership Development. The project will be jointly implemented with the Livestock Research Director of the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research (EIAR), and the senior livestock scientists and socioeconomists of the regional agricultural research institutes (ARI) involved at each site (OARI, ARARI, TARI, SARI, and SoPARI). ILRI and ICARDA have already signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with EIAR that cover the main areas of collaboration in agricultural research. MoUs are being prepared for L&F with the regional ARIs. Livestock scientists and socio-economists of EIAR and the regional ARIs have been involved in program design and implementation since the start of L&F in Ethiopia. The regional ARIs have been contributing significantly to the design and testing of best-best interventions and integrated intervention packages through multi-stakeholder meetings. Livestock specialists and socio-economists based at the research centers that are nearest to the sites are the main implementers of interventions at the sites. EIAR is involved through its coordinating role for livestock research in the country and is ensuring that the project aligns well with national research priorities and makes use of technologies developed earlier and lessons learnt. Key national partners include the Extension Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, the District Bureaus of Agriculture, and national agricultural universities. Main project partners will be IFAD-funded investment projects, research for development projects and development projects like LIVES, the USAID-funded Livestock Market Development Project (LMD), and NGOs either working at the same sites or sharing similar R4D interests such as SNV. B. Project Management and Implementation Period ICARDA will be the recipient of the grant and will be responsible for timely financial and technical reporting to IFAD. This will include annual work plan and budget, consolidated annual and semi-annual progress and financial reports and audited consolidated financial statements covering the total amount of the grant including expenditures incurred by the implementing partners. According to ICARDA s policy collaboration with other institution and partners is covered through Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to ensure efficient project implementation. The MoUs cover the required deliverables, reporting requirements and schedule of payments. Thus, for this project MoUs with ILRI and regional partners will be prepared. For the budget assigned to ILRI and regional partners, ICARDA will not charge overheads. Their respective overheads will apply. At the inception of the project, a Steering Committee will be established comprising of the project leader, key staff from ICARDA and ILRI, representatives of EIAR and the regional centers, IFAD s grant manager and representatives from key partner projects. The Steering Committee will provide oversight and guidance of the project and be responsible for