The idea that one kilo grain becomes seven kilos of nutritious feed in just a couple of days would seem a work of an illusionist. But it is a proven technology only powered by water – a hydroponic fodder production technology.

The young Tiko Teche is one of the early adopters in Miyo Woreda of Borena Zone, Oromia. “This will become about seven kilos soon”, says Tiko, pointing at the one Kilo wheat she saw in her own small production house.

The pastoralist people of Borena have been highly affected by the recurrent drought for the past years. Feed for their animals is the most priority. HEKS/EPER, with Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF) and Dorcas Aid Ethiopia (DAE), is promoting hydroponic fodder production in Moyale and Miyo under the RESET Plus Innovation Fund, financed by the European Delegation to Ethiopia and implemented by Cordaid Ethiopia, in collaboration with Fair & Sustainable Ethiopia.

This innovation for resilience aims to equip communities with the means to provide sustainable feed to their animals. The major required inputs to do the magic are quality seed and adequate water.

First the seed and the container must be washed and cleaned before it is soaked in water for 24 hours. After flowing the water away, the soaked seed stays for another 24 hours in a tightly closed container. On the third day, it is put on a flat surface in a controlled environment, a kind of greenhouse where enough sunlight reaches the sprout seeds. In seven days, it becomes a nutritious and palatable feed which they call ‘green cake’.

“I used the technology to fatten my three years old heifer which I fed the green cake daily with a supplement of other dry feed at the backyard”, said Mr. Abu. “I sold the fattened heifer for Birr 29,000 at Hidi Lola livestock market.”

In that dire and drought season it would apparently be difficult to convince people to spend money to start hydroponic fodder production. Hence, the project provided four rounds of trainings for 512 households and established four demonstration sites constructed with simple and local materials so that to indicate it can easily be made at a household level. Furthermore, the project distributed 3000KG seed and the groups running and following up the demonstration sites harvested 18370KG of green fodder.

Community members from different Kebeles, regional and zonal government officials, community elders and Aba Gadas, as well as representatives of various development organizations have visited the demonstration sites. In addition, the technology was given a news coverage on the Oromia Broadcasting Network (OBN) which led to a good opportunity of promotion for scaling up. While Oromia Irrigation and Pastoralist Bureau is planning to scale up the innovation in 50 Woredas, VSF Suisse has already started replicating the technology in Somali region.