Description
Livestock production plays an important socio-economic role in many areas across Kenya. They are kept in all the major livestock production systems including smallholder mixed crop- livestock system, crop-livestock-tree production system, and pastoral/extensive livestock production system, which occupy about 70% of land in Kenya. Livestock production is mainly constrained by inadequate feed quantity and quality. Forage forms the major source of feed for ruminant livestock as they provide high-quality forage to alleviate feed shortages. The demand for pasture and fodder production and conservation to meet livestock feed requirements, particularly during the dry seasons, has created the need to re-position the forage value chain in Kenya, with a view to addressing fodder availability, quality and affordability challenges and hence enhanced efficiency. Kenya has a long history of forage breeding, evaluation and dissemination that has identified forage species suitable for different regions. This paper presents opportunities for improving the forage value chain, which include strengthening forage research to develop appropriate technologies, information and management practices (TIMPS), developing seed systems to improve seed availability, identifying potential options for dissemination of forage technologies for increased adoption, promoting forage cultivars for crop-livestock integration, breeding productive and highly nutritive forages, and developing better agronomic and management practices to enhance forage persistence, productivity and commercialization.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Opportunities for Promoting the Adoption of Forages in Kenya
Livestock production plays an important socio-economic role in many areas across Kenya. They are kept in all the major livestock production systems including smallholder mixed crop- livestock system, crop-livestock-tree production system, and pastoral/extensive livestock production system, which occupy about 70% of land in Kenya. Livestock production is mainly constrained by inadequate feed quantity and quality. Forage forms the major source of feed for ruminant livestock as they provide high-quality forage to alleviate feed shortages. The demand for pasture and fodder production and conservation to meet livestock feed requirements, particularly during the dry seasons, has created the need to re-position the forage value chain in Kenya, with a view to addressing fodder availability, quality and affordability challenges and hence enhanced efficiency. Kenya has a long history of forage breeding, evaluation and dissemination that has identified forage species suitable for different regions. This paper presents opportunities for improving the forage value chain, which include strengthening forage research to develop appropriate technologies, information and management practices (TIMPS), developing seed systems to improve seed availability, identifying potential options for dissemination of forage technologies for increased adoption, promoting forage cultivars for crop-livestock integration, breeding productive and highly nutritive forages, and developing better agronomic and management practices to enhance forage persistence, productivity and commercialization.
