scholarly journals Assessment of Livestock Feed Resources and Coping Strategies with Dry Season Feed Scarcity in Mixed Crop–Livestock Farming Systems around the Gilgel Gibe Catchment, Southwest Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10713
Author(s):  
Belay Duguma ◽  
Geert P. J. Janssens
Keyword(s):  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Southwest Ethiopia ◽  
Feed Resources ◽  
Mixed Farming ◽  
Livestock Feed ◽  
Mixed Crop

In the current study area, livestock are an integral part of the mixed farming system, and play very important roles as sources of draught power, nutrition, cash income, employment and poverty alleviation. However, feed shortage, especially during the dry season, is the most important constraint to optimal productivity. This study aimed to investigate livestock feed resources and feeding practices, coping strategies with seasonal scarcity, and to identify major constraints to livestock production in a mixed farming system around the Gilgel Gibe catchment, southwest Ethiopia. Data were collected from 342 households using a structured questionnaire. The results showed natural pasture, crop residues, stubble grazing, and roadside grasses were the main feed resources, in that order. None of the respondents practiced improved forage cultivation due to insufficient land and lack of knowledge on forage production and utilization. Free grazing was the most predominant feeding system. Almost all respondents experienced dry season feed scarcity. Conserving crop residues and hay, purchasing roughages, reducing herd size and renting grazing land were the major coping strategies to feed scarcity. The farmers’ perceived major constraints to livestock production were feed shortage, animal diseases, and low productivity of local breeds. Institutional, technical and technological interventions are suggested to alleviate the constraints to livestock production in mixed crop-livestock systems in the study area and outside with similar settings.

Opportunity and Constraints of Livestock Feed Resources in Abol and Lare Districts of Gambella Region, Ethiopia

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Keyword(s):  
Crop Residues ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Vegetation Coverage ◽  
Dry Period ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Feed Resources ◽  
Livestock Feed ◽  
Livestock Sector ◽  
Natural Pasture ◽  
Average Family Size

This research was done to identify livestock problems with the objective of assessing livestock production and associated constraints. The study was done using a formal survey, focus group discussions and field visit through open and closed ended questionnaires data collection. Purposive sampling was employed to select 90 households (HHs) having livestock and the data was analyzed by SPSS version 16. The average family size in the Abol (5.37) was significantly (P<0.05) lower than Lare (9.5) district. The levels of education in both districts were very low which nearly 57% of the households were without any kind of education. Trends in communal, arable and vegetation coverage were decreasing. Livestock rearing was them the means of livelihood of the population in Lare (78.7%) than Abol (21.7%) district. The average number of goats, sheep and chicken in Lare district were significantly (p<0.05) higher than Abol district. Natural pasture was the dominant feed resources in the area. The major livestock production constraints in the study area were ranked as health, feed, flood, drought, and theft and predators. From this study it was concluded that feed shortages occurs due to dry period and flood. Consecutively, poor conservation practices, storage of crop residues and improved forages which need effective training and demonstration to improve the productivity of livestock sector.

Opportunity and Constraints of Livestock Feed Resources in Abol and Lare Districts of Gambella Region, Ethiopia

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Keyword(s):  
Crop Residues ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Vegetation Coverage ◽  
Dry Period ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Feed Resources ◽  
Livestock Feed ◽  
Livestock Sector ◽  
Natural Pasture ◽  
Average Family Size

This research was done to identify livestock problems with the objective of assessing livestock production and associated constraints. The study was done using a formal survey, focus group discussions and field visit through open and closed ended questionnaires data collection. Purposive sampling was employed to select 90 households (HHs) having livestock and the data was analyzed by SPSS version 16. The average family size in the Abol (5.37) was significantly (P<0.05) lower than Lare (9.5) district. The levels of education in both districts were very low which nearly 57% of the households were without any kind of education. Trends in communal, arable and vegetation coverage were decreasing. Livestock rearing was them the means of livelihood of the population in Lare (78.7%) than Abol (21.7%) district. The average number of goats, sheep and chicken in Lare district were significantly (p<0.05) higher than Abol district. Natural pasture was the dominant feed resources in the area. The major livestock production constraints in the study area were ranked as health, feed, flood, drought, and theft and predators. From this study it was concluded that feed shortages occurs due to dry period and flood. Consecutively, poor conservation practices, storage of crop residues and improved forages which need effective training and demonstration to improve the productivity of livestock sector.

GM technology: a tool to benefit livestock production

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 247-258
Author(s):  
R.H. Phipps ◽  
A. Cockburn
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
High Temperatures ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Trypsin Inhibitors ◽  
Nutritional Factors ◽  
Maize Stover ◽  
Feed Resources ◽  
Gm Technology

The limitations to livestock production are numerous and varied but are applicable to a greater or lesser extent in both developed and developing countries. Crop factors that limit livestock production include inadequate quality (e.g. crop residues such as maize stover) and quantity of feed resources with an inconsistent supply due to extremes of climate (e.g. low rainfall and high temperatures), the presence of anti-nutritional factors and toxins (e.g. trypsin inhibitors, glucosinolates, gossypol, mycotoxins), and deficiencies of specific nutrients (e.g. amino acids and minerals).

Assessment of potential livestock feed resources in Telangana State

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Raju ◽  
P. Ravi Kanth Reddy ◽  
N. Nalini Kumari ◽  
J. Narasimha ◽  
D. Nagalakshmi
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
The State ◽  
Poultry Feed ◽  
Land Utilization ◽  
Feed Resources ◽  
Livestock Feed ◽  
Telangana State ◽  
Production Pattern

An assessment of livestock and poultry feed resources availability was done based on the extrapolation of secondary data from livestock census, 2012 and land utilization and crop production pattern in Telangana state. Overall dry matter (DM) availability in the state is about 19.47 million tonnes (Mt) from various feed resources. Availability of green forage, dry forage and concentrate feed resources were 2.38, 15.0 and 2.1 million tonnes respectively. Crop residues contributed to 77% of total DM supply for livestock in Telangana. Straws from paddy and maize crops are the major crop residues available in the state. The DM availability per RLU/day for the region as a whole is 6.1 kg with the values ranging from 2.8 kg in Adilabad district to 13.2 kg in Nizamabad district. Total DM availability including livestock and poultry was 84% and the deficit was around 16%. It could be concluded that there is severe shortage of green forages and concentrates to meet the requirements of livestock and poultry.

scholarly journals Can Retention of Crop Residues on the Field Be Justified on Socioeconomic Grounds? A Case Study from the Mixed Crop-Livestock Production Systems of the Moroccan Drylands

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1465
Author(s):  
Tamer El-Shater ◽  
Yigezu A. Yigezu
Keyword(s):  
Crop Residues ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Animal Feed ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Zero Tillage ◽  
Alternative Feed ◽  
Mixed Crop ◽  
Residue Retention

Conservation agriculture (CA) involving zero tillage, crop diversification, and residue retention is considered a panacea for several interrelated problems in agricultural production. However, in the mixed crop-livestock production systems of the drylands, crop residues have great significance as sources of animal feed, posing a major challenge in the promotion of CA. While the economic benefits and the drivers of adoption of zero tillage and rotation have been well documented, the literature on the economics of residue retention (RR), especially in the drylands, is scanty. By applying the endogenous switching regression model to a case study of 2296 wheat fields in Morocco, this paper provides evidence on the socio-economic impacts of residue retention. Between 30% and 60% and above 60% of crop residues were retained respectively on 35% and 14% of wheat fields. These levels of residue retention led to 22% and 29% more yields, 25% and 32% higher gross margins and 22% and 25% more consumption of wheat, respectively. Retention of above 60% residue reduces both downside risk and variability of yield while lower levels of residue retention have mixed effects. Residue retention is economically and biophysically beneficial even for owners of livestock as the monetary value of the additional grain yield more than offsets the cost of purchasing an equivalent amount of feed from the market—all providing good economic justification for residue retention. Our findings show that economic reasons are not barriers for adoption of residue retention, but risk factors and absence of alternative feed sources might. The policy implication of our results is that there are high incentives for Morocco and other similar countries in North Africa and West Asia to invest in the development and/or import of alternative feed sources, introducing crop insurance, and raising the awareness of the economic, biophysical and environmental benefits of residue retention among farmers.

Weed control in tropical ley farming systems: a review

1996 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1013 ◽  
Author(s):  
CC Martin
Keyword(s):  
Weed Control ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Ley Farming ◽  
Grain Crop ◽  
Herbicide Use

The first sustained effort to develop a ley farming system (a pasture legume rotated with a grain crop) for the Australian semi-arid tropics began in the late 1970s at Katherine, Northern Territory, where various strategies were identified and implemented. It was soon discovered that a main constraint to success was the invasion of the legume ley by grass weeds. This occurred despite the replacement of Townsville stylo (Stylosanthes humilis), which provided the base for the early work, with more competitive legumes such as Verano (Stylosanthes hamata) and Centurion centro (Centrosema pascuorum). Early weed control work focused on the use of chemicals, but later competition and population dynamics were studied in S. humilis pastures. The ley farming system comprised a number of essential elements, each of which offered opportunities for weed control First, a legume ley was rotated with grain crops. Past work concentrated on legume leys, but nitrogen (N)-fertilised grass leys may be successful if the N was economically supplied. Grasses can effectively suppress weeds. Rotation of herbicides is possible. Sicklepod (Senna obtusifolia) can be controlled with atrazine in the sorghum phase, and emergent Sida spp. can be controlled in the pasture phase using a herbicide roller. Second, cattle graze the legume ley and crop residues in the dry season. Cattle can be used to suppress grass weeds in the wet season. The major use of the legume ley, however, was to provide high quality food in the dry season when there was little other available food. Future research should investigate the economics of balancing the need for grass weed control with food provision in the dry season. Third, crops sown directly into a ley killed with a knockdown herbicide. Although the need for improved soil surface management was recognised early, development of reduced tillage was delayed until the availability of glyphosate. Initial work concentrated on improving plant establishment under mulch. Recent work has shown that mulches can effectively control weeds in crops without the use of herbicides; best weed control occurred when glyphosate was applied as a single application at sowing. Fourth, ley regenerated as an intercrop in the grain crop. There is no doubt that the presence of an intercrop reduces the yield of the grain crop. Future research should investigate the economics and risks associated with intercrop-induced changes in yield and herbicide use patterns. The extreme climate and sandy soils pose problems for herbicide use. There is marked seasonal variation in effectiveness of pre-emergence herbicides, ranging from zero to marked crop phytotoxicity. The effectiveness of knockdown herbicides is reduced by stressed target plants and rain soon after spraying. Mulch dynamics, grazing, competition and interference, and herbicide interactions with target plants and the environment, were identified as key features requiring attention in a ley farming system to achieve practical weed management.

URBANIZATION: IMPACTS ON THE EVOLUTION OF ‘MIXED FARMING’ SYSTEMS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

2006 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARY TIFFEN
Keyword(s):  
Land Tenure ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Grazing Land ◽  
Mixed Farming ◽  
Participative Research ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Livestock Products

During the past two decades or so, rural population in Africa has increased slowly while urban population has grown dramatically. The hugely increased urban demand for cereals and pulses (which produce crop residues for livestock) and for livestock products is now the main force stimulating mixed farming systems in the semi-arid and sub-humid areas of sub-Saharan Africa. Grazing land has diminished, crop residues are becoming a more important element in raising livestock and fattening penned livestock has become profitable. The changes in land use, land tenure and the shift of livestock raising southwards in West Africa are illustrated. Farmers' adaptation to rapidly changing markets for their products and the factors of production are illustrated with examples from Senegal, Nigeria, Niger, and, by way of contrast, Kenya. The main challenges this sets to agricultural scientists are described. The livestock element in mixed farming system now requires careful economic analysis and participative research if scientists are to meet the evolving needs of farming as the urban sector enlarges.

Perspectives on livestock production systems in China

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 211 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. L. Li ◽  
Q. H. Yuan ◽  
L. Q. Wan ◽  
F. He
Keyword(s):  
Production Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Mixed Farming ◽  
Rangeland Degradation ◽  
Grazing System ◽  
Output Market ◽  
Growing Economy ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Harsh Climate

This review paper describes the livestock production systems in China, their status and trends, driving factors, and major issues with profound impact. Three distinct livestock production systems are discussed; grazing, mixed farming, and industrial systems. The ‘grazing system’ is generally characterised by harsh climate, rangeland, and low livestock output. Market forces, biophysical constraints and environmental concerns are putting a ceiling on the potential for intensification of the grazing system except in some areas where the agro-ecological potential permits. This system needs to be re-oriented towards adding ecosystem service provision, rather than mere production or subsistence. The ‘mixed farming system’, with the highest share of most kinds of livestock commodities, forms the backbone of China’s agriculture and is undertaking a notable intensification and specialisation process. The ‘industrial system’ is geographically concentrated in areas close to densely populated demand centers. Although growing fast, the share of national livestock output remains relatively small. The past two decades have seen a rapid growth in both consumption and production of livestock food products in China. This new food revolution has been driven to a great extent by the rapid growing economy, personal income and urbanisation. Among the most important issues related to livestock production systems in China are severe rangeland degradation, caused mainly by overexploitation of these lands, increasing demand and competition for feed grain, and environmental and public health risks associated with industrialised livestock production. China will have to cope with such challenges through proper policy and technological interventions to sustain the livestock development and simultaneously secure the natural resources and environmental health.

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