Decision guide on developing livestock enterprises with rural communities in Africa. Part 1: rabbits, goats and poultry

The guidelines provided in this document are not intended to be comprehensive, but rather give field workers and researchers an idea of what to think about before planning to develop new livestock enterprises with communities. The aim is to give the reader enough information to be aware of the possibilities, and to provide warnings to prevent situations of classical mistakes resulting in unnecessary failure of the enterprise. The information is complied for the African context. There is a reference list at the end that provides practical and comprehensive background information on tropical livestock rearing

Adoption and scaling out: strategies and experiences of the Forages for Smallholders Project

The Forages for Smallholders Project (FSP), convened by the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), started in 1995 to move research on tropical forages from the experiment stations to farmers’ fields, which created scope for evaluating the potential of improved forages in smallholder farming systems in Asia. The target farming systems were those in upland areas. The FSP now operates in six countries in Southeast Asia through national partners

Intensification of livestock feed production in Ethiopian highlands: Potential and experiences of the African Highlands Initiative

Livestock production is an essential part of subsistence systems in the Ethiopian highlands. In this paper we are reviewing the role of existing feed resources, and the potential for improving feed systems and intensification pathways in an integrated way

The potential of indigenous and naturalized fodder trees and shrubs for intensive use in central Kenya

There are opportunities for increasing milk production in central Kenya through the use of tree fodder, leading to higher farm income. Most research for intensive use of fodder trees has been carried out on exotic species, neglecting indigenous ones. The objectives of this study were to assess the potential of indigenous and naturalized fodder trees and shrubs (IFTS) in central Kenya, involving farmers in all phases of research in order to increase the adoption of so developed technologies. Formal surveys and feedback meetings were conducted. Farmers chose tree seedlings, planted them on-farm, and the performance was monitored. Farmers' assessments of qualities of IFTS were compared with laboratory nutritive analyses. Two feeding trials with dairy heifers were conducted involving seven fodder tree species.It was found that farmers used a total of 160 different IFTS. Their ratings on palatability for cattle and goats and milk production for goats differed significantly among tree and shrub species. On-farm assessment of planted IFTS provided useful information on preference of species, in addition to the survey results. There were strong relationships between laboratory nutritive analyses and farmers' assessment of quality of IFTS and useful characteristics of individual species were obtained through comparing the two methods. Dry matter intake by heifers was higher for some IFTS than for the popular exotic species Calliandra calothyrsus . Selective feeding behaviour of heifers caused an improvement of nutrient concentrations of consumed feed of up to 29 %.It was concluded that there is a large potential for intensive use of IFTS in central Kenya. Promising species for the subhumid zone are: Ficus thoningii, Lantana camara, Morus alba, Manihot glaziovii, Sapium ellipticum, Tithonia diversifolia, Trema orientalis, Triumfetta tomentosa and Vernonia lasiopus ; for the medium and semi-arid zone they are: Acacia ataxacantha, Aspilia mossambicensis, Crotalaria goodiiformis, Grewia tembensis, Indigofera lupatana, Lantana camara and Melia volkensii . Future research is needed on experiments with lactating cows, agronomic performance, protein quality and current mechanisms preventing toxicity of L. camara .</p

Forage technologies as a vehicle to mainstream participatory research in East Africa

-Livestock and participatory research -Institutionalization - the ILRI process -Plan of action for networking PR and GA in forage research in East Afric

Forage utilisation in smallholder systems - African and SE Asian perspectives

-some facts and numbers -how are forages used in smallholder systems in Africa and Asia? empirical evidence of benefits from forages -what are the smallholder challenges? -what are our R4D challenges

Integrating forage technologies on smallholder farms in the upland tropics

In the past, adoption of forage technologies has been poor. This paper considers the reasons for this low level of adoption and how the situation has changed in recent years. Experiences, mostly in south-east Asia and some in east Africa, have shown that participatory approaches in the development of technology are the key to integration of forages into smallholder upland farming systems. This paper describes how projects went through the formal and informal stages of forage evaluation. Several key characteristics of communities were identified that determined whether forages could have an impact. A participatory approach was developed, which enhanced both forage technology development and its scaling-out to new areas. Some important data were generated on the environmental adaptation of forage varieties. A model for scaling-out forage technologies was developed. There are several stages of forage adoption, in which grass and legume species play different roles. Challenges for the future are to strengthen participatory approaches in the development of technology, especially in the process of scaling-out such developments

Farmers\u27 Screening of Indigenous Fodder Trees and Shrubs in Kenya

The lack of fodder quantity and quality is a constraint for small scale livestock production systems in central Kenya which are intensive or are rapidly becoming so. This study examined farmers’ knowledge about indigenous fodder trees and shrubs (IFTS) which are fed to livestock. The study consisted of a formal survey in three agroecological zones with mean annual rainfall varying from 750 to 1400 mm. Farmers rated IFTS for different qualities, which were analysed by Chi square. Differences of ratings among species for these qualities were significant (p\u3c0.05). The most promising species for the sub-humid zone, in terms of what farmers want to plant and in terms of preliminary nutritive analysis, were: Tithonia diversifolia, Commiphora zimmermanii, Ficus spp. and Trema orientalis. The species that show promise for the same reasons, in the semi-arid zones, are: Crotalaria goodiiformis, Aspilia mossambicensis, Indigofera lupatana, T. diversifolia, Grewia tembensis and Acacia ataxacantha