Sheep are changing the lives of smallholder farmers in the Doyogena District of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia. The district faces climate related risks that include increasing rainfall intensity and variability, water stress, soil erosion, deforestation, severe land degradation and fragmentation, declining soil fertility, shortage of livestock feed, and increased incidence of crop and livestock diseases and pests.

To help farmers address these challenges, a strategic collaboration between the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), in partnership with the Ethiopian National Agricultural Research System, has been designing and implementing small ruminant community-based breeding programs (CBBP) on a pilot basis since 2010.

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More:

News update: Farmers share experiences on community-based sheep breeding in Southern Ethiopia
News update: Building the capacity of Ethiopian farmers in small ruminant management

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