The first part of this report comprises country reports that deals with epidemiology of ticks and tick-borne diseases in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The second part of the report covers topics on assessing the efficacy of immunization against tick-borne diseases, evaluating delivery systems for the control of tick-borne diseases and measuring the impact of immunization on livestock productivity. The paper ends with a discussion on coordination, collaboration and planning.

Banana-legume intercropping systems are commonly practiced in the highland zones of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to maximize land use and intensify crop production. However, banana leaves are pruned during legume intercropping to improve sunlight penetration for the legume. On-farm experiments were conducted in South Kivu province to determine the effect of banana leaf pruning on banana (Musa sp.), bush and climbing beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L) and soybean (Glycine max L) yield.

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.), also called ‘broad bean, horse bean’ is an annual crop, which mainly grows in the highlands of Ethiopia for human consumption. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of intercropping faba bean varieties with oat fodder on forage biomass, straw, grain yields, and straw quality. For the household survey 108 households (HHs) were selected from two kebeles (53 from Upper Gana and 55 from Jawe kebeles). The average HH family size, land and livestock holdings were 5.53 heads, 1.39 ha and 6.73 heads, respectively.

A community-based sheep breeding program has been implemented in the highlands of Ethiopia to improve the body weight and reproductive performance of Menz sheep. This study adopts system dynamic methodology to develop a dynamic stochastic simulation herd model to evaluate the effect of genetic improvement and additional feed sources (forage production) on herd dynamics and profitability. The study also explores the opportunities of system dynamics approach in the context of designing breeding programs to predict annual genetic gain of traits.

The effects of supplementation with graded levels of tagasaste (Chamaecytisus palmensis) leaves on feed intake, digestibility, and body weight gain (BWG) and carcass characteristics were studied using thirty yearling and intact male Menz sheep. The sheep were blocked into six blocks of five sheep based on their initial body weight and animals from each block were randomly assigned to five treatment groups with six replications per treatment in randomized complete block design (RBCD).

The study aims to estimate the livestock water productivity (LWP) and to examine the effect of grazing area closure and feeding strategies on LWP at farm household level under wealth and intervention categories at Lencha Dima watershed. Results are based on survey of 120 sample households and focus group discussion. Beneficial outputs of livestock and depleted water for producing them were estimated then livestock water productivity as the ratio of the beneficial out puts and depleted water was estimated.

In order to bring a realistic transformation in Ethiopian agriculture, farmers need to improve their knowledge, skill and attitude & have access to information and technologies, markets etc. Currently, Farmers Training Centres are designed to provide services of extension, trainings, demonstration, information, advice, etc at grassroots level. Modular training is one of the main functions of the centers. In the study area, modular training has been offered since 2007. However, evaluation was not made to determine effectiveness in terms of changes in farmers.