Tropentag, September 11 - 13, 2024, Vienna "Explore opportunities... for managing natural resources and a better life for all"

Potential options to sustainably intensify mixed crop-ruminant systems in northern Ghana

¹University of Kassel / University of Goettingen, Animal Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics, Germany
²University for Development Studies, Animal Science Department, Ghana

Abstract

Northern Ghana is home to 70% of Ghana’s ruminant livestock, kept in extensive mixed crop-ruminant (MCR) systems characterised by low performance.

Using a two-stage approach, we assessed the suitability of strategies reported in literature for sustainably intensifying these MCR farms. First, we employed a semi-quantitative questionnaire and interviewed 134 MCR farmers identified by snowball sampling. Questions addressed household characteristics, husbandry practices, feed resource use, land accessibility, and challenges faced. Second, an online literature search identified published papers which recommended strategies to sustainably intensify MCR farms. A strategy was considered relevant if its implementation can be handled by farmers themselves.

Interviewed MCR households had nine members on average, most of whom lacked formal education. They kept one or more livestock species (cattle, sheep, and goats), and cropped about 3.8 ha of farmland. Feed resources used in the dry season included crop residues from cereals, legumes, and tuber crops, and tree/shrub leaves, while depending mainly on local pastures in the rainy season. The main constraints to livestock production were feed and water scarcity during the dry season, high cost of supplementary feed and veterinary services, animal diseases, and animal theft.

Our literature review suggests that adopting legume-cereal intercropping could increase biomass available for ration supplementation in the dry season. Planting multipurpose trees on-farm could supply high quality fodder for strategic feeding and treatment of gastrointestinal parasites. MCR farmers could come together within communities to organise animal health care, thereby reducing costs while increasing accessibility.

We note that these strategies must be adjusted to on-farm realities to enhance their adoptability. For example, MCR farmers face the dilemma of whether to leave crop residues on fields to improve soils or to feed them to their animals. Combining the latter strategy with corralling animals on fields for a defined time may be a good compromise to ensure that nutrients are partly returned to each field via manure.

Our further research will quantify year-round feeding practices to co-develop supplementation strategies that increase production of MCR systems in northern Ghana, based on a smart combination of local resources and innovative modifications to current practice.

Keywords: Mixed crop-ruminant systems, northern Ghana, supplement feeding, sustainable intensification strategies

Contact Address: Christian Bateki Adjogo, University of Kassel / University of Goettingen, Animal Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics, Steinstr. 19, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany, e-mail: christian.batekiuni-kassel.de