This paper assesses recent lessons in scaling up agroforestry benefits, drawing on three case studies: fodder shrubs in Kenya, improved tree fallows in Zambia and natural vegetative strips coupled with the Landcare Movement in the Philippines. Currently more than 15 000 farmers use each of these innovations. Based on an examination of the main factors facilitating their spread, 10 key elements of scaling up are presented. The key elements contributing to impact were a farmer-centered research and extension approach, a range of technical options developed by farmers and researchers, the building of local institutional capacity, the sharing of knowledge and information, learning from successes and failures, and strategic partnerships and facilitation. Three other elements are critical for scaling up: marketing, germplasm production and distribution systems, and policy options. But the performance of the three case-study projects on these was, at best, mixed. As different as the strategies for scaling up are in the three case studies, they face similar challenges. Facilitators need to develop exit strategies, find ways to maintain bottomup approaches in scaling up as innovations spread, assess whether and how successful strategies can be adapted to different sites and countries, examine under which circumstances they should scale up innovations and under which circumstances they should scale up processes, and determine how the costs of scaling up may be reduced.
Tag: fodder crops
Adoption of Agroforestry technologies in Zambia: synthesis of key findings and implications for policy
Due to a mix of agro-ecological factors (incessant drought, low soil fertility, environmental degradation) and other man-made problems (illiteracy, unfavorable development policies), southern Africa region faces several challenges including worsening poverty, food insecurity, low income base and more recently HIV/AIDS pandemic. Low soil fertility is identified as one of the greatest biophysical constraints to increasing agricultural productivity (Bekunda et al., 1997, Sanchez, 1999). The degradation of soils is caused by a breakdown of the traditional production systems resulting from shortening of fallow periods due to population pressure (Kwesiga et al., 1999). With the collapse of the erstwhile government support for the use of mineral fertilizer (e.g. through subsidies and distribution channels), in the 1990s, the ability of most smallholder farmers to purchase the same level of mineral fertilizers was reduced because the input became unaffordable to them. In addition, many countries in southern Africa are landlocked thus increasing the cost of transporting fertilizer from the ports. Howard and Mungoma (1996) estimated that the use of mineral fertilizer fell by 70% following an increase in the cost of the inputs. The sub-region also faces a rapid degradation of the miombo woodland, shortage of fodder and decreasing access to fuelwood supplies (Kwesiga and Beniest, 1998). For example, Chidumayo (1997) estimated that Zambia alone loses about 200 000 ha of forests per year. Some of the key avenues for overcoming food insecurity and rural poverty in southern Africa include reversing soil fertility depletion, intensifying and diversifying land use with introduction of high value products, and facilitating an appropriate policy environment for the smallholder farming sector. While mineral fertilizer is still one of the best options for overcoming land depletion and increasing food production, the majority of the smallholder farmers are unable to afford and apply the fertilizers at the recommended rates and at the appropriate time because of high cost and delivery delays (Kwesiga et al, 2003; Akinnifesi et al, 2006). Low-cost technologies are needed on a scale wide enough to improve the livelihood of these farmers. This will require the adoption of new approaches to agriculture and rural development (Pretty, 1995). Agroforestry has proven to be one of such approaches. For the past fifteen years, farmers and researchers from different national and international institutions led by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), otherwise known as the World Agroforestry Centre have been combining their expertise and resources to develop agroforestry technologies and options to address some of these challenges facing smallholder agricultural production and the environment in the sub-region. The different types of agroforestry technologies address specific human and environmental needs in southern Africa. These include fertilizer tree systems for replenishing soil fertility, rotational woodlots for solving fuel wood problems, fodder banks to supplement feed for livestock and indigenous fruit trees for improving nutrition during the seasonal hunger periods and enhance the preservation of indigenous plant genetic materials.
Calliandra for cows in Kenya
Indigenous fodder species in Kenya-assessing the wealth
The article presents a study whose objective was to find out from farmers which indigenous trees and shrubs are most popularly used for fodder, how they are used, their qualities and which species they would consider planting on their own farmland.
Indigenous fodder species in Kenya-propagating the wealth
The article presents a study whose objective was to find out from farmers which indigenous trees and shrubs are most popularly used for fodder, how they are used, their qualities and which species they would consider planting on their own farmland.
Availability and use of dry season feed resources on smallholder dairy farms in central Kenya
A cross-sectional survey on 41 farms followed by six weeks monitoring of dairy cattle feeding on ten smallholder dairy farms in central Kenya was conducted to investigate the use, availability and quality of dry season feed resources. Fodder production was largely from Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) grown on small plots and contour strips where it acts both as a fodder source as well as a biological barrier to soil erosion. There is a need to broaden the choice of fodder crops on such farms to provide a wide range of harvesting management options and to avoid total loss in case of pest or disease outbreaks. Intercropping of Napier grass with leguminous fodder trees could boost the quantity and quality of herbage production especially during the dry season. Roughage from a variety of sources was utilised during the dry season in addition to Napier grass. Among the herbages, leguminous feeds had the lowest potential dry matter degradability while weeds harvested from cropland and roadsides had the highest. Energy and protein intake from the roughage fed to grade dairy cattle during the dry season may be insufficient to meet the requirements of these animals due to the high levels of fibre concentration (acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre (ADF and NDF)) in them. It is recommended that the scope for alternative sources of improved roughage such as Napier/calliandra mixtures, to boost the energy, protein and overall dry matter provision on the farms should be investigated further.
Calliandra calothyrsus: assessing the early stages of adoption of a fodder shrub in the highlands of central Kenya
The uptake of Calliandra calothyrsus as a fodder shrub by small-scale dairy farmers was assessed several years after the shrubs were introduced to farmers in on-farm trials. There was strong evidence that farmers were adopting the shrub. A random sample of 45 farmers had increased their average number of shrubs from 84 in their first plantings in 1991–1992 to 311 after 6–7 years. Moreover, farmer-to-farmer dissemination appeared to be high, as 47% had harvested seed and 70% of these had given or sold seed or seedlings to other farmers. The net benefits of using 6 kg of fresh calliandra leaves per day as a substitute for 2 kg purchased dairy meal or as a supplement to farmers’ basefeeding regime amounted to about US$130 per cow year1. By 2000, several thousand farmers in central Kenya were feeding calliandra to their dairy animals. Potential benefits from adopting calliandra or similar fodder shrub species in Kenya’s smallholder dairy sector amounted to about US$139,000,000 year1. Several measures were proposed to help realize this potential: facilitating on-farm research and dissemination of information and planting material, research to identify new fodder shrub species, and assessing the constraints and incentives affecting fodder shrub adoption.
Calliandra calothyrsus: tree management and utilization
Calliandra calothyrsus is a small, thornless, often multistemmed shrub. Under optimum conditions it can attain a height of 12 m and a trunk diameter of 30 cm, but its average height is 5-6 m and diameter 20 cm. Bark colour varies from white to dark red-brown and is normally glabrous but occasionally can be finely pubescent. It has both superficial and deepgrowing roots. Sometimes a taproot is formed.
The effect of cattle grazing on soil physical and chemical properties in a silvopastoral system in the Peruvian Amazon
In a six-year-old peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) plantation, centrosema (Centrosema macrocarpum), a leguminous forage plant, was established as a cover crop which was eventually grazed. This experiment was designed to monitor probable changes in soil physical and chemical properties and measure peach palm fruit production and live-weight gain of cattle grazing this silvopastoral system. The experiment was installed on land that was previously cleared by a D7 bulldozer having a straight blade that mixed the thin layer of topsoil with the acid subsoil (20–40 cm) and severely compacted the soil. The results demonstrated that the centrosema cover crop reduced soil bulk density, increased water infiltration rates and reduced mechanical resistance. In general soil physical properties were improved with the use of Centrosema as forage and cover crop. Soil acidity and aluminum saturation decreased considerably, while potassium concentrations increased. Calcium and magnesium concentrations decreased over time as these minerals were stored in the pasture biomass, translocated to fresh peach palm fruits and/or exported to animals. A strong competition for nutrients was observed between the peach palm plants and Centrosema. The low production of peach palm fruits was in response to mechanized land clearing during initial establishment of the plantation, and also probably due to deficits of N, P, K, Ca and Mg in the soil instead of being a consequence to the presence of cattle. The average increase in live-weight gains of the cattle was at a rate of 445 g/animal/day during the four-years of the study. Such an increase is substantially greater than those registered in the area under traditional grazing systems used in the region.
A simple method of formulating least cost diets for smallholder dairy production in sub-Saharan Africa
Smallholder dairy farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are constrained by inadequate supply of good quality protein sources particularly during the dry season. Commercial protein concentrates are expensive and not readily accessible. Multipurpose forage legumes and other non-conventional protein sources available on-farm have been promoted as alternative cheaper protein sources. The major problem faced by smallholder dairy farmers however is the formulation of diets balanced for the key nutrients and also being cost-efficient. This paper presents a step by step spreadsheet based procedure of diet formulation for smallholder dairy production. The procedure ensures that the diet is balanced for all the key nutrients, is low-cost and the user has significant control over the formulation process. An example using this formulation method incorporating the fodder legumes Leucaena diversifolia, Leucaena pallida, Leucaena esculenta, Acacia angustissima and Calliandra calothyrsus indicate a cost reduction from 10% on C. calothyrsus to 30% on L. diversifolia inclusion when compared to the conventional dairy meal concentrate (US