The African Union’s Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) has launched a survey across the 55 African Union Member States to assess the effect of the Triple C crises: Climate-related challenges (droughts and floods), Covid-19, and the Ukraine-Russia Conflict, on African feed and fodder systems.
The survey from the Resilient African Feed and Fodder Systems (RAFFS) Project, aims to gather critical insights from key actors in the livestock sector to develop robust emergency and short term solutions and to enhance the resilience of Africa’s feed and fodder systems.
The survey targets 19 diverse categories of respondents, including Directors of Animal Production, Chief Veterinary Officers, farmers, cooperatives, private sector actors, women in the animal resources sector, academia, among others. It seeks to understand the challenges in providing adequate feed and fodder for animals, especially in light of the disruptions caused by the Triple C crises. It delves into aspects like access, availability, price trends, and emergency measures related to feed and fodder shortages and their subsequent impact on availability and access to livestock-sourced foods especially for children and women of reproductive age.
The survey’s global reach is evident in its multilingual approach, where information and the survey tools are in English, French, and Portuguese. This ensures inclusivity and facilitates comprehensive insights from livestock sector actors across linguistic backgrounds.
“Over 60% of the total cost of animal production is the provision of feed to animals. Traditional reactive approach tags the indicators and thresholds of emergencies during disasters such as drought largely based on animal deaths and associated impacts on humans. The narrative needs to recognize the insufficiency of feed and fodder stocks comprise a serious emergency because where the situation is not addressed, the next level inevitably is the loss of animal body condition, the death of the animals and the loss of the benefits accrued from those animals. Stakeholders need to critically look at the feed balances at all times in efforts to create lasting solutions to the feed shortages in sector. Sufficient quantities and quality of feed and fodder play a crucial role in sustaining livestock health and overall wellbeing, livelihoods, and food security,” noted Dr. Sarah Ossiya, the RAFFS Project Lead at AU-IBAR.
The AU-IBAR Director Dr. Huyam Salih officially launched the Survey. She congratulated the RAFFS Team for the efforts towards developing a comprehensive survey. “I commend the Project for including the ICT and business perspectives as integral approaches to generating solutions to the feed and fodder. You have my full support to ensure that the RAFFS Project attains its vision of strengthening capacities for emergency and short-term solutions to address feed and fodder shortages.”
The Feed and Fodder Survey is designed to enhance understanding towards concerted efforts to shape more resilient livestock feeding systems across Africa. It is envisioned that the survey findings will contribute to providing an evidence base to support strengthening of that stakeholder collaboration on solutions, partnerships and coordinated actions, and policy and practice reform towards the common goal of a future where livestock feed systems are more robust, balanced, inclusive, and capable of withstanding inevitable future crises.
You can access the survey from the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RAFFSSurvey.
The African Union’s Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) has launched a survey across the 55 African Union Member States to assess the effect of the Triple C crises: Climate-related challenges (droughts and floods), Covid-19, and the Ukraine-Russia Conflict, on African feed and fodder systems.
The survey from the Resilient African Feed and Fodder Systems (RAFFS) Project, aims to gather critical insights from key actors in the livestock sector to develop robust emergency and short term solutions and to enhance the resilience of Africa’s feed and fodder systems.
The survey targets 19 diverse categories of respondents, including Directors of Animal Production, Chief Veterinary Officers, farmers, cooperatives, private sector actors, women in the animal resources sector, academia, among others. It seeks to understand the challenges in providing adequate feed and fodder for animals, especially in light of the disruptions caused by the Triple C crises. It delves into aspects like access, availability, price trends, and emergency measures related to feed and fodder shortages and their subsequent impact on availability and access to livestock-sourced foods especially for children and women of reproductive age.
The survey’s global reach is evident in its multilingual approach, where information and the survey tools are in English, French, and Portuguese. This ensures inclusivity and facilitates comprehensive insights from livestock sector actors across linguistic backgrounds.
“Over 60% of the total cost of animal production is the provision of feed to animals. Traditional reactive approach tags the indicators and thresholds of emergencies during disasters such as drought largely based on animal deaths and associated impacts on humans. The narrative needs to recognize the insufficiency of feed and fodder stocks comprise a serious emergency because where the situation is not addressed, the next level inevitably is the loss of animal body condition, the death of the animals and the loss of the benefits accrued from those animals. Stakeholders need to critically look at the feed balances at all times in efforts to create lasting solutions to the feed shortages in sector. Sufficient quantities and quality of feed and fodder play a crucial role in sustaining livestock health and overall wellbeing, livelihoods, and food security,” noted Dr. Sarah Ossiya, the RAFFS Project Lead at AU-IBAR.
The AU-IBAR Director Dr. Huyam Salih officially launched the Survey. She congratulated the RAFFS Team for the efforts towards developing a comprehensive survey. “I commend the Project for including the ICT and business perspectives as integral approaches to generating solutions to the feed and fodder. You have my full support to ensure that the RAFFS Project attains its vision of strengthening capacities for emergency and short-term solutions to address feed and fodder shortages.”
The Feed and Fodder Survey is designed to enhance understanding towards concerted efforts to shape more resilient livestock feeding systems across Africa. It is envisioned that the survey findings will contribute to providing an evidence base to support strengthening of that stakeholder collaboration on solutions, partnerships and coordinated actions, and policy and practice reform towards the common goal of a future where livestock feed systems are more robust, balanced, inclusive, and capable of withstanding inevitable future crises.
You can access the survey from the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RAFFSSurvey.
Source : AU-IBAR, 2023
