Foto 39: Children in the project area (© Kindu Mekonnen). Kommission für Entwicklungsfragen 99 The major expected outputs from the project include the identification of socially acceptable and biologically superior indigenous fodder and soil improving tree species, the creation of capacity building forums for farm- ers and development agents, and the production of publications for the project partners and other scientific communities at all levels. Farmers, de- velopment agents, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), and the Institute of Forest Ecology at the BOKU University are project part- ners. So far, all the partners have played key roles in implementing the project activities. Since fodder and soil fertility are priority research areas of the EIAR, the results from the current project will be scaled up to similar agro-ecolo- gies of Ethiopian highlands. Research findings from the first component of the project are presented as a case study below. This case study fo- cuses on farmers’ preferences of indigenous tree and shrub species for fodder production and soil fertility improvement in the highlands of central Ethiopia. Introduction Soil fertility depletion and shortages of animal feed are priority problems in the highlands (ICRAF, 1990; Aregawi, 1989). As a result of feed shortages, animals die at an early age, offer low milk yield, make poor draft animals, and are mar- keted at a low price (Kindu, 2001). Sim- ilarly, crop production is affected by de- clining soil fertility. Huge amounts of in- organic fertilizers are imported annual- ly to ameliorate soil fertility in the high- lands. However, smallholder farmers lack Evaluation of common indigenous tree and shrub species for soil fertility improvement and fodder production in the highland areas of Western Hewa, Ethiopia (KEF Projekt 145) Kindu Mekonnen, Gerhard Glatzel and Monika Sieghardt Project partners: University for Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Department of Forest- and Soil Sciences, Institute for Forest Ecology Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) Project duration: 2005–2007 Project partners: Project duration: