Haramaya University Haramaya Lake Basin Development Project Office gave three days fodder preparation and poultry farming training (February 3-5, 2022) to farmers, non-farmer youths, and agricultural professionals.
Mr. Dinie Rashed, Coordinator of the training, said the training contributes a lot to the efforts made to reduce the waste of resources and diminish unemployment as it is a precondition to organize unemployed youths in small micro enterprises in poultry farming.
This training is also of great importance to the national plan of Ethiopia to shift from beef to chicken production under updated climate plan to increase its emissions cuts and upsurge its climate resilience by 2030. https://www.climatechangenews.com/2021/07/30/ethiopia-shift-beef-chicken-production-updated-climate-plan/.
Moreover, the training has especial meaning for the People in the basin who have been subjected to alternative animal husbandry and generate additional income so that they could reduce the amount of water they use from the lake for agricultural purposes, according to Dr. Negassi Ameha, Coordinator of Lake Haramaya Basin Development Project at Haramaya University.
Taking all this into account, Haramaya University trains and provides the basin non-farmer youths and farmers with improved poultry breeds, said Dr. Negassi.
Mr. Mohamed Juhar, A lecturer at the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at Haramaya University, in his part, said that this training is worthwhile because even though Ethiopia has a favorable environment for animal husbandry, its economic benefits are small because of poor management of animal husbandry, fodder production, poor animal health, and weak prevention and control mechanism of various animal pathogens.
The trainees, in their turn, appreciated the training which raised their knowledge and skills on fodder preparation in particular and poultry farming in general.
At the end of the training, the participants visited the University’s Poultry Research Center and the animal feed processing plant.
By: Aweke Ayalneh
Camera: Fuad Ahmed