ISSCA Logo
menu
contact us

On-Farm Feed Advisor (OFA) mobile application developed by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

Solution Overview

The On-Farm Feed Advisor (OFA) is a mobile-based application developed to assist agricultural extension staff and agents in providing tailored nutritional advice to dairy cattle and buffalo farmers. It addresses the issue of over- or under-feeding livestock, which occurs when farmers rely solely on available agricultural by-products and purchased concentrates with minimal understanding of their exact nutritional value. By matching feed choices to an animal's specific physiological needs, the tool eliminates nutritional gaps, maximizes nutrient efficiency, and significantly lowers unnecessary feeding costs. The tool mainly relies on two databases: the nutritional requirements of animals (as per Indian Council of Agricultural Research [ICAR] standards) and the nutritional quality of locally available feeds.

What We Do

Key Features & Benefits

  •  Tailored Nutrition: Calculates balanced daily rations based on key animal parameters, including body weight, milk production volume, and stage of pregnancy.
  • Cost-Minimized Optimization: Automatically scans and selects the cheapest locally available feeds to bridge specific nutritional gaps (like protein or energy deficits).
  • Automated Advice Memo: Generates an actionable summary report for farmers detailing guidelines for efficient feed use, nutrient gaps before and after optimization, and an estimated projection of an additional 10% production boost.
  • Economic Visibility: Explicitly calculates the total cost of purchased feeds and contrasts additional projected income before and after balancing the diet, helping farmers directly visualize profitability.
  • Advanced Nutritional Data: Apart from energy and protein balance, the tool provides very useful information about the quality of feed such as dry matter percentage of the advised feed, Neutral Detergent Fibre, feed cost before and after balancing, and predicted emission of greenhouse gases before and after balancing the diet.

Where It Works and Where It Can Work

Widely implemented across South Asia, with primary focus areas in India (specifically supported by localized initiatives like the Himmotthan Society in hilly/rural regions, with additional field use in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu states) and Nepal (integrated into dairy and livestock feeding platforms).

  • Target Agroecologies: Mixed crop-livestock farming systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where livestock depend heavily on seasonal crops, crop residues (straws, stovers, haulms), and unpredictable supplementary concentrates.
  • Potential Application: The framework can be easily contextualized for smallholder dairy systems and pastoral/agro-pastoral communities across Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia that share similar feed resource challenges.

Evidence & Impact

Evidence from field implementations shows that substituting arbitrary feeding habits with balanced, optimized local ingredients prevents resource wastage and drives down feed-related expenses.

  • Enhanced Animal Productivity: Designed to target and support an additional increase in milk production or livestock performance simply through nutritional recalibration.
  • Improved Livelihoods: Pilot programs demonstrate enhanced household profitability, providing tangible economic data that shows precise changes in net income generated before and after adjusting animal feed ratios.  

Positive Field Feedback: The On-farm Feed Advisor has been used in different projects in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu states and is receiving highly encouraging responses from the field staff.

Scalability & Adoption Support

Distributed entirely digitally via the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, drastically lowering rollout overhead.

  • Multilingual Support: The OFA app is readily available in three languages: English, Kenyan, and Nepali.
  • Partner-Ready Framework: The app acts as an open-access toolkit equipped with comprehensive OFA user guides, extension training materials, and instructional posters designed for quick onboarding of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government field staff.
  • Adaptable Feed Database: It can scale to new geographic locations easily, provided that local feed types, nutrient profiles, and regional raw material pricing are inputted into the app backend.  

User-Editable Constraints: A main advantage is that the end user can edit the nutritional database as feed prices may vary seasonally (users must ensure that the entered data are accurate).

Contact Information & Partners

Download PDF

Key Contacts: 

Padmakumar Varijakshapanicker
(Senior Research Management Coordinator and Country Representative for Nepal, ILRI)
Email: v.padmakumar@cgiar.org

Involved Institutions & Partners:

  • International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
  • CGIAR System Office / CGIAR Initiatives
  • International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
  • Himmotthan Society (an initiative of Tata Trusts)
  • Sir Ratan Tata Trust Fund (SRTT) (Funder

Related Resources