Participants of the LIVES project implementation planning workshop

Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) one of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI ) led projects, part of the Livestock and Fish CGIAR Research project, held an implementation planning workshop on July 11-12, 2012. It brought together most project partners to revise and verify regional and zonal data collected for the four regions and to discuss with regional and national partners on the plans of the project including priority setting in intervention areas.

LIVES is an action research project in which various (dairy, beef, small ruminants, poultry, apiculture and irrigated fruits and vegetables) value chains will be developed in clustered districts (30 in total) in 10 zones with linkages to regional value chain actors and service providers. Systematic learning and documentation of the value chains and the interventions is an integral part of the project as well as scaling out beyond the project areas through a variety of promotional activities. The project is jointly implemented by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and partners institutions in Ethiopia including Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), regional Bureau of Agriculture (BoA), Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Regional Agricultural Research Institute (RARIs) and Agriculture Universities:

The objective of the project is to improved income for male and female small holder producers for key irrigated crop and livestock produced in a minimum of 25 districts in 10 target zones in the Region of Amhara, Oromia, Tigray and Southern Nations, Nationalities and People Region (SNNPR).

The project began in March 2012 with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency and CGIAR.