b'INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTImproving Forages for Food SecurityIN 2015,we did our first pilot project in Ethiopia onBut it is not as easy as it sounds. Most of the grazing forages. land is public land so no one has the responsibility of Ethiopia was the first project for Plant Breedersmaintaining and improving it. Even if the farmers own Without Borders (PBWB) sponsored by The Crawfordthe land, it is nearly impossible for them to find seed Fund. This project led onto another polit project onof improved varieties to sow into it. Why is this the Bambara groundnut in Indonesia with Bayer and thiscase? Forage companies generally dont sell seed into eventually led to Bayer, sponsoring PBWB for thedeveloping countries as they are worried about losing project in Nepal with millet and buckwheat and futurecontrol of the varieties.projects in Ecuador, Ghana, Tanzania and Fiji whenAll these problems led to the International Livestock COVID allows.Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa getting in ANTHONY LEDDINEthiopia has a population of 112 million people. Whencontact with PBWB to see if they could train farmers Inspired afterthe growing season is good, the country can produceand technical staff how to breed their own varieties of reading Theenough food to feed its population. During times offorages and do seed production of them.Coming Famine,drought and famine, it can be severe due to the highMost farmers were feeding their livestock teff this Australianpopulation, so food security is paramount for futurestraw, the staple cereal crop for Ethiopia. The seed is plant breeder setplanning in Ethiopia. A reliable source of protein is criti- harvested off the plants and is used to make a large, out to make acal for infant growth, so food sources high in this havefermented pancake called injera. As Ethiopians value difference. Plantbeen a good food source for their population. their injera more than they do gold, they would never Breeders WithoutMeat and milk from livestock are a rich source ofallow their livestock to graze the teff grass before it Borders encouragesprotein, and the Ethiopian government was keen at thebecomes reproductive. By the time seed is harvested plant breeders andtime of the project to increase the number of livestockfrom teff, the straw has low forage quality so feeding students to volunteerto improve food security.this to livestock would result in them losing weight or their time for inter- As an example of the importance of livestock, mynot being able to produce much milk.national breedingmost interesting experience in Ethiopia involved theEven though Ethiopia is located close to the equa-projects. dairy industry. There is a strong demand for milk prod- tor, it has a temperate environment due to its high alti-ucts such as butter. I came across a cheese that wastude. So, farmers there were interested in the species made by a tribe in northern Ethiopia that was said tothat I breed here in Australia, such as oats, alfalfa, vetch have a shelf life of eight months without refrigeration.and ryegrass. For a week I ran a workshop in Ethiopia The secret was in the herbs and the smoking processtraining smallholder farmers and technical staff how to that they did with the cheese. A product such as thisbreed their own variety of forages and how to produce would have been an excellent protein source in times ofseed of them. The idea of the project was to make drought due to its long shelf life. The greatest challengeEthiopia self sufficient for forage seed and not have to for the dairy industry was the lack of refrigeration toworry about having to access seed from overseas.increase the shelf life of milk and butter. Added to this,Farmers from Ethiopia were looking for a hand there are over 70 religious holidays in Ethiopia whereup rather than a handout when it came to develop-people are not allowed to consume animal products.ing their own forages. Training is the best form of aid This meant that milk products would go to waste ondevelopment. Every dollar that is spent on training in these days due to no refrigeration. developing countries can lead to $4 return. The idea In a lot of these developing countries, their livestockof the training was to move Ethiopia from the infor-are fed on natural unimproved pastures. These areasmal to the formal seed sector. This means rather than are under heavy grazing due to high stock numbers,farmers selling seed to one another, seed companies and this leads to problems such as soil erosion. are started by farmers to fill the gap where overseas The solution is to plant improved pasture species.companies are not willing to invest in. SW8/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2021'