6. FeedBase-Ethiopia: The Role of Database in Developing Livestock Feed

The ICAR-National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bangalore, funded by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Government of India, New Delhi has developed a tool named FeedBase-India, using secondary datasets. The software assesses feed supply and demand for livestock in India. The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) showed considerable interest in this innovative software, which resulted in a collaboration between ICAR, ATA and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), to adopt and adapt the concept for feed supply–demand analysis of livestock in Ethiopia. The supply is estimated from cropping, land use pattern, demand from livestock census and nutrient requirements for various categories of livestock based on their body maintenance, production and reproduction potentials. Key stakeholders were familiarized with the concepts, approaches, and software at an inception workshop held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between 1^st and 3^rd August 2017 at the ILRI campus. The database and tools were modified for Ethiopian conditions based on the data collected by ATA in two districts from each of the four main regions of Ethiopia. The tool relationally arranges these datasets using algorithms that connect feed quantity and quality to livestock maintenance and production requirements to calculate surpluses, deficits or sufficiency of feed biomass and of key nutrients such as dry matter, protein, total digestible nutrients and metabolizable energy. This enables users to compare and prioritize feed and animal interventions for impact. This will support researchers, development agencies, governments, industry and farmers in constructive planning and decision-making, resulting in higher livestock production and productivity, feed use efficiency and reduced cost of feeding.