Track 3-1-2: Case Studies on Participatory Research and Development
Description
Natural grazing land is the dominant source of feed for ruminant livestock in Ethiopia (Alemayehu, 2003; Zewdie and Yoseph, 2014). However, the production capacity and quality of natural grazing lands has been deteriorating over time and could not support optimum livestock production. Overgrazing the natural grazing lands due to poor grazing land management is among the major contributing factors (Alemayehu, 2003). Although previous studies focused on the evaluation of native grass lands it was either limited to arid and semi-arid agro-ecology or undertaken under different settings (Ayana, 2010; Diriba et al., 2012). Moreover, it did not involve the community in the evaluation process. Natural grazing lands are spatially and temporally heterogeneous (Eaton et al., 2011) and its composition varies with altitude, rainfall, soils, cropping intensity, and grazing land management (Alemayehu, 2003). Thus, understanding the current status of natural grazing lands is important to design pertinent strategies to improve the condition of the grazing land and thereby ensure sustainable utilization. The present study, therefore, examined botanical composition, biomass yield and management practices of natural grazing land under sub-humid and cool humid agro-climatic zones of Sidama highlands.
Included in
Participatory Evaluation of Herbage Composition, Biomass Yield, and Management Practices of Natural Grazing Lands in Sidama Highlands of Southern Ethiopia
Natural grazing land is the dominant source of feed for ruminant livestock in Ethiopia (Alemayehu, 2003; Zewdie and Yoseph, 2014). However, the production capacity and quality of natural grazing lands has been deteriorating over time and could not support optimum livestock production. Overgrazing the natural grazing lands due to poor grazing land management is among the major contributing factors (Alemayehu, 2003). Although previous studies focused on the evaluation of native grass lands it was either limited to arid and semi-arid agro-ecology or undertaken under different settings (Ayana, 2010; Diriba et al., 2012). Moreover, it did not involve the community in the evaluation process. Natural grazing lands are spatially and temporally heterogeneous (Eaton et al., 2011) and its composition varies with altitude, rainfall, soils, cropping intensity, and grazing land management (Alemayehu, 2003). Thus, understanding the current status of natural grazing lands is important to design pertinent strategies to improve the condition of the grazing land and thereby ensure sustainable utilization. The present study, therefore, examined botanical composition, biomass yield and management practices of natural grazing land under sub-humid and cool humid agro-climatic zones of Sidama highlands.
