 This is Matema, a lowland district in western Ethiopia. It lives about 800 kilometers northwest of the capital, Atasababa, and has an estimated population of about 73,000. Life in Matema revolves around a bustling trade with neighboring Sudan. Recently, there have been signs that Matema is becoming more than a simple transit point for livestock heading for Sudanese markets. It is emerging as a livestock fattening district, a place where livestock can be penned, fed, and fattened to increase their value. Matema's potential as a fattening district emerged out of an alliance formed in 2005 between the Waredah Office of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Improving Productivity and Market Success, or IPMS, project, and farmers and traders in the district. The goal of the alliance is to help farmers in the district take advantage of market opportunities in neighboring Sudan. This is the story of the alliance's team and their successes in Matema district. The team focused on the fact that over 100,000 live animals are exported to Sudan annually from the area, but few of the animals herded over were actually fattened for sale. Rather, they are sent as is, straight from the herd. But when the market potential of cattle fattening was first brought up in community dialogues, there were many skeptics. First of all, few cattle owners in the area had any experience with cattle fattening, what to feed them, when to feed them, and how to feed them, since most of their cattle were raised by free grazing, not stall feeding. Feeding practices like the collection of hay and other crop residues were uncommon in the area. And even though the area is also a major producer of sesame, residues from the traditional method of extracting sesame oil were only used to feed sick and weak animals during the lean months of the year. Furthermore, few, if any, thought that Sudanese buyers at the border would be willing to pay a higher price for fattened animals. Others were worried that Matema's hot climate would make cattle fattening entirely impossible. But the team was not discouraged. Instead, it engaged in a series of dialogues with farmers, communities, and other stakeholders to promote a new way of doing business. The team began working with key players in the livestock value chain, starting with an effort to provide farmers with knowledge on all aspects of fattening as a business. Then the team linked farmers to appointment-based veterinary services to improve animal health, with hopes that better-fed and healthy animals would fetch better prices. The team also encouraged local shopkeepers to stock oil sills cakes for farmers to use as supplementary feed for fattening rather than emergency feed only. The district's extension agents helped to promote the idea of animal fattening through church-related gatherings or senbetes with farmers. The team also capitalized on the goodwill from previous interventions to attract the attention and interest of other farmers in the area. Mestawit, a development agent with the district's Office of Agriculture and Rural Development, has been promoting livestock-fattening activities around Gubai Village. I was assigned to this village in 2006. I didn't know much about modern livestock-fattening methods since I was a crop specialist. Even after I learned the benefits of livestock-fattening, it was not easy to convince the farmers because of unsuccessful past experiences. However, when they learned that training, vet services, access to market, and input supply would be facilitated, some were willing to try. Some farmers took on the team's suggestions and started stall-feeding some of their animals and, for lack of a better phrase, got into the fattening business. The first batch of fattened animals have already been sold and have fetched higher prices. What went right in Mutemba, and what does this tell us about achieving the same results elsewhere? First and foremost, the team started with efforts to inform and empower farmers by sharing new ideas, not only ideas about new technical practices such as stall-feeding and the use of oil seed supplements, but also ideas about market opportunities. Daniel was one of the first traders to buy fattened animals from farmers in Gubai Village. Without him, few farmers would have been able to benefit from their investment in fattening and the lucrative market for fattened animals. I am an exporter. I came here today to see if I can find fattened cattle. I'm very pleased with what I have seen so far and I am ready to negotiate with the farmers. I hope to do recurring business with these farmers as long as they provide good quality cattle. Second, the team did not limit its activities to production aspects only. Instead, it also facilitated the supply of inputs and the marketing of outouts. Third, the team started working with farmers and input suppliers who volunteered to engage in fattening as a business using their own resources. We never considered livestock fattening in the past because we never were sure we would get more money from it. Based on the training I received, I still fed two of my oxen and they are now ready for sale. If I make more money this time, I'm ready to fatten more animals. What is the future prospect for the fattening business in Mutemma? Scaling up from a pilot success to an area-wide replication that benefits a larger number of farmers is a difficult challenge. Overcoming this challenge will demand effective partnerships among farmers, government, entrepreneurs and other actors in the livestock value chain. Appropriate knowledge should be available to farmers in all aspects of developing this commodity, including management of scarce feed resources, feed preparation and processing, and veterinary services. A stronger input supply system is also critical to the long-term success of the trade in fattened animals. Farmers need stronger support systems to get their hands on technologies and information, inputs and materials, and credit and business development services. Better market information and market linkages are also needed. This means new ways of transmitting price information to farmers and better methods of securing contracts between farmers and traders. All this takes time and effort, but as demonstrated here, the district's farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs are rapidly developing their business sense and becoming partners in driving the development agenda. So this is just the beginning of the Mutemma fattening story. This is Mutemma, a lowland district in western Ethiopia. It lies about 800 kilometers northwest of the capital, Addis Ababa, and has an estimated population of about 73,000. Life in Mutemma revolves around a bustling trade with neighboring Sudan. Recently, there have been signs that Mutemma is becoming more than a simple transit point for livestock heading for Sudanese markets. It is emerging as a livestock fattening district, a place where livestock can be penned, fed, and fattened to increase their value. Mutemma's potential as a fattening district emerged out of an alliance formed in 2005 between the Waredah Office of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Improving Productivity and Market Success, or IPMS project, and farmers and traders in the district. The goal of the alliance is to help farmers in the district take advantage of market opportunities in neighboring Sudan. This is the story of the alliance's team and their experiences in Mutemma district. The team focused on the fact that over 100,000 live animals are exported to Sudan annually from the area, but few of the animals herded over were actually fattened for sale. Rather, they are sent as is, straight from the herd. But when the market potential of cattle fattening was first brought up in community dialogues, there were many skeptics. First of all, few cattle owners in the area had any experience with cattle fattening, what to feed them, when to feed them, and how to feed them, since most of their cattle were raised by free grazing, not stall feeding. Feeding practices like the collection of hay and other crop residues were uncommon in the area. And even though the area is also a major producer of sesame, residues from the traditional method of extracting sesame oil were only used to feed sick and weak animals during the lean months of the year. Furthermore, few, if any, thought that Sudanese buyers at the border would be willing to pay a higher price for fattened animals. Others were worried that Mutemma's hot climate would make cattle fattening entirely impossible, but the team was not discouraged. Instead, it engaged in a series of dialogues with farmers, communities, and other stakeholders to promote a new way of doing business. The team began working with key players in the livestock value chain, starting with an effort to provide farmers with knowledge on all aspects of fattening as a business. Then the team linked farmers to appointment-based veterinary services to improve animal health, with hopes that better-fed and healthy animals would fetch better prices. The team also encouraged local shopkeepers to stock oil seed cakes for farmers to use as supplementary feed for fattening rather than emergency feed only. The district's extension agents helped to promote the idea of animal fattening through church-related gatherings or senbetes with farmers. The team also capitalized on the goodwill from previous interventions to attract the attention and interest of other farmers in the area. Mestawit, a development agent with the district's Office of Agriculture and Rural Development, has been promoting livestock-fattening activities around Gubai village. I was assigned to this village in 2006. I didn't know much about modern livestock-fattening methods since I was a crop station. Even after I learned the benefits of livestock-fattening, it was not easy to give in to farmers because of unsuccessful past experiences. However, when they learned that training, that services its access to market and input supply would be facilitated, some are willing to try it. Some farmers took on the team's suggestions and started stall-feeding some of their animals, and, for lack of a better phrase, got into the fattening business. The first batch of fattened animals have already been sold and have fetched higher prices. What went right in Mutemma? And what does this tell us about achieving the same results elsewhere? First and foremost, the team started with efforts to inform and empower farmers by sharing new ideas. Not only ideas about new technical practices, such as stall-feeding and the use of oil seed supplements, but also ideas about market opportunities. Daniel was one of the first traders to buy fattened animals from farmers in Gubai village. Without him, few farmers would have been able to benefit from their investment in fattening and the lucrative market for fattened animals. I am an exporter. I came here today to see if I can find fattened cattle. I am very pleased with what I have seen so far, and I am ready to negotiate with the farmers. I hope to do recurring business with these farmers, as long as they provide good quality food. The farmers are very well-off. I am very pleased with what they have done. They have been very successful. I am very pleased with what they have done. I am very pleased with what they have done, especially when they have been able to export their animals. I am very pleased with the way they have been able to provide good information and enable them to be able to help the farmers. Second, the team did not limit its activities to production aspects only. Instead, it also facilitated the supply of inputs and the marketing of outputs. Third, the team started working with farmers and input suppliers who volunteered to engage in fattening as a business using their own resources. We never considered livestock fattening in the past because we never were sure if we would get more money from it. Based on the training I received, I stocked up two of my oxen and they are now ready for sale. If I make more money this time, I'm ready to fatten more animals. What is the future prospect for the fattening business in Matema? Scaling up from a pilot success to an area-wide replication that benefits a larger number of farmers is a difficult challenge. Overcoming this challenge will demand effective partnerships among farmers, government, entrepreneurs and other actors in the livestock value chain. Appropriate knowledge should be available to farmers in all aspects of developing this commodity, including management of scarce feed resources, feed preparation and processing, and veterinary services. A stronger input supply system is also critical to the long-term success of the trade in fattened animals. Farmers need stronger support systems to get their hands on technologies and information, inputs and materials, and credit and business development services. Better market information and market linkages are also needed. This means new ways of transmitting price information to farmers and better methods of securing contracts between farmers and traders. All this takes time and effort, but as demonstrated here, the district's farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs are rapidly developing their business sense and becoming partners in driving the development agenda. So this is just the beginning of the Matema fattening story.