Developing forage technologies with smallholder farmers - how to grow, manage and use forages

Summary

Smallholder farmers traditionally have fed their animals on freely-available forage resources which have no value to smallholders except as livestock feed. These include crop residues and natural vegetation such as grasses, herbs and tree leaves. As livestock numbers and cropping areas have increased these once abundant feed resources have become increasingly limited. Consequently, farmers have to spend more time feeding their animals, either by grazing them in distant areas or by cutting feed far from home. Many farmers are facing the dilemma of whether to reduce the number of animals they keep or to find new feed resources. Supplementing traditional feed resources with planted forages is a simple solution to this problem.