Three feed block production units were imported from Iraq and set up regional research centers in northern, central, and southern Jordan to produce feed blocks on a commercial scale. Their use was promoted heavily at farmer field days, on television, radio, and in the press. Training was offered to extension agents and farmers. Special effort was made to involve women, through partnership with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Some 300 women took part in training and promotional events sponsored by this initial feed block project.

Contracts with NGOs resulted in the setting up of four more feed block production units. One unit went to the Ader Livestock Association in southern Jordan; the others went to women's associations and the private sector.

Feed Block in Libya

Feed blocks made from agro-industrial byproducts are helping Jordan's sheep and goat herders survive seemingly interminable drought, thanks to the work of the M&M Project and its research and development cooperators.

Jordan began investigating the use of byproducts as animal feed in the 1980s. The objective was to find substitutes for barley and costly feed concentrates. The work got a boost in the 1990s when M&M teamed with the National Center for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer (NCARTT) to develop a project dedicated to introducing and promoting feed block technology that was proving so useful in neighboring Iraq.

A single feed block weighing about 4 kg will be enough for 12 animals.

Drought has taken a heavy toll in the past four seasons, so farmers were willing to give the new feed block technology a try. Apart from the low price, farmers found that sheep fed with feed blocks did not drop their wool (as happens when sheep are malnourished) and they stopped eating wool (another habit triggered by malnutrition), goats ate fewer plastic bags, and sheep and goat health improved, especially due to a reduction in internal parasites.

What's more, on-farm data showed that sheep and goats grew 20% faster when fed with blocks, and sheep fertility increased 20%.

The M&M Project and its partners have experimented with various byproducts. A tomato paste factory in the Jordan Valley, for example, was having trouble getting rid of its waste without polluting the environment. M&M and NCARTT came to the rescue and designed a machine to dry and grind tomato byproduct into palatable feed.
M&M followed up with technical help for NGOs wishing to use the material. Der Alla Rural Women's Cooperative Society's feed block unit, which is located close to the tomato factory, was especially pleased to have the improved tomato byproduct.
The adaptation and use of feed block technology in Jordan is another example of how cooperation in research for development can pay off for farmers, communities, and the environment.