While it features real solutions, final content will undergo review by a technical working group and incorporate feedback from a validation workshop planned for December 2020. Please see these as examples only, and not a definitive list.
Solution /Innovation:

Estimation des bilans fourragers dans la région du Sahel d’Afrique de l’Ouest et Centrale (Estimating feed balances in the Sahel of West and Central Africa)

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Organization:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

For more information:

Technical contact:
Dr. Anne Mottet
Livestock Development Officer
FAO
Anne.Mottet@fao.org
Categories:
Camel, Dairy, Frameworks and tools, Marketing and value chains, Other breed, Pig, Poultry, Red meat, and Sustainable production
Has been implemented in:
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Challenge

A feed balance assesses feed resources, including fodder, and compares them to the needs of farm animals. It provides information to policy makers, producers and stakeholders in the livestock sector in general to improve their planning and assessment of the sector. In the Sahel region, the feed balance is an essential tool for early warning systems and fr lng term building of resilience. It is designed and used by the technical services of Sahelian countries as a prospective tool established at the end of the year to cover the coming dry season.
Existing feed balances mechanisms usually rely on remote sensing data about green biomass (NDVI) that are considered once a year at the beginning of the rain season. They are often limited and not institutionalized.

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Solution

These guidelines for establishing feed balances take into account the specificities of pastoral and agro-pastoral systems in the Sahel, namely the seasonality of fodder stocks and animal performance, the predominance of coarse fodder in rations and the mobility of animals and pastoralists.
They will help provide governments, NGOs, private sector actors, pastoral organizations and breeders with a harmonized method for establishing fodder balances in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa.
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Impact

These Guidelines can be used to generate reliable information regarding the availability of feed and the estimation of the needs of different animals. Information on available and accessible forage resources (in quantity and quality), as well as their seasonal fluctuations and locations, are essential elements of decision-making processes. Indeed, this information is crucial for the provision of feed during an emergency response, as well as for the management and use of resources, for the development of business models on value chains. , sustainable intensification, market-oriented fattening and milk and poultry production, for which feed consumption is important. In addition, this information can be used to monitor the impact of climate change and to assess GHG emissions from animal production.

Category

Camel, Dairy, Frameworks and tools, Marketing and value chains, Other breed, Pig, Poultry, Red meat, and Sustainable production

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