A distinguished Professor from the School of Animal and Range Sciences at Hawassa University, Prof. Adugna Tolera, who brings over 35 years of expertise in ruminant nutrition and sustainable livestock systems, is leading local implementation for a major global initiative: the Development of a Feed Ration Formulation Tool (the GMH Project), a collaborative project intended to deploy advanced, data-driven technological solutions.
Spanning four continents, this massive initiative is funded by the Global Methane Hub and globally coordinated by the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), and Hawassa and Haramaya Universities serve as the primary implementing partners in Ethiopia.
According to Prof. Adugna, the project drives impact across four highly practical pillars: creating national feed databases; developing digital decision-support software (the Feed Ration Optimization Tool); implementing integrated Methane Accounting to reduce enteric emissions per unit of milk or meat; and delivering targeted training and outreach programs for smallholder and commercial dairy operators.
Dr. Shimelis Wassie, the international-level Project Coordinator, highlighted that the project empowers local farmers and commercial dairy operators to utilize regional ingredients for balanced and highly digestible diets.
The project has installed a state-of-the-art GreenFeed Machine at Hawassa University which is a highly sophisticated system—the first of its kind in Ethiopia— to allow researchers to precisely monitor real-time metabolic gases.
Dr. Shimelis explained that this advanced adoption makes the university's research more reliable, valid and impactful at both the experimental and piloting levels.
The project's impact also extends deeply into academic capacity building. Yonas Kejela, a PhD student conducting research under the supervision of Prof. Adugna, shared that the international exposure and knowledge transfer have provided him with invaluable, locally relevant skills as a young scholar.
This project has a crucial role to challenge animal feed and feeding-related shortages, a critical problem that remain the primary constraint to livestock production and the increased consumption of essential animal-source foods in many Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).
