Tropentag, September 17 - 19, 2014 in Prague, Czech Republic "Bridging the gap between increasing knowledge and decreasing resources"

Status, Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Utilisation of Pulse Crop Residues in Ethiopia

¹University of Damascus, Dept. of Animal Production, Syria
²General Commission of Scientific Agricultural Research, Animal Wealth Research Administration, Syria
³International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), DSIPS, Ethiopia

Abstract

Mixed crop and livestock production is common to most smallholder farming systems in developing countries. The farmers in Ethiopia depend substantially on crop residues of cereal and pulse crops to meet the nutritive requirements for maintenance, growth, draft and lactation of their livestock, especially during the dry seasons when pasture for grazing and naturally occurring fodders are scarce. Farmers mix pulse crop residues (chickpea, lentils, faba bean, field peas) with cereal straws (teff, barley and wheat) and store them for up to one year. Pulse crops are used to augment the nutritive value of the cereal straws. However, there is limited and scanty information on farmers' perceptions on crop residues utilisation and management.
The objectives of this study is to assess perceptions of smallholder farmers on the utilisation of residues from pulse crops as livestock feed by collecting baseline information on the type and quantities of crop residues produced, the extent of utilisation, farmer preferences for pulse crop types and varieties for livestock feeding, feeding strategies, management and conservation practices as well as related constraints. Past and current trends over the last 5 years will be discussed.
Potential opportunities based on farmer preference studies and trade-off analyses will be documented. The overall information collected from this study will help in identifying the most important paradigm changes of pulse residue usage by farmers including collection, storage, upgrading and feeding and lead researchers and development workers to more holistic approaches to design appropriate and sustainable interventions in livestock feeding in the perspective of farmers and the total mixed crop-livestock farming system.

Keywords: Crop residues, legumes, livestock, smallholder farmers, utilisation

Contact Address: Jane Wamatu, International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), DSIPS, 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, e-mail: j.wamatucgiar.org