Suchergebnisse

International Fund for Agricultural Development ; European Union ; Peer Review

This research describes and analyses how smallholder crop livestock farmers in rural Ea Kar, Vietnam, were able to take advantage of the rising demand for meat in urban centres and transform cattle production from a traditional, extensive grazing system to a more intensive, stall-fed system that supplied quality meat to urban markets. The traditional grazing system produced low-quality animals that could only be sold for local consumption. Introduction of the concept of farm-grown fodder production enabled farmers to produce fatter animals, achieving higher sale prices, and reduce labour inputs by moving from grazing to stall-feeding. These benefits convinced farmers, traders and local government that smallholder cattle production could be a viable enterprise and so stimulated stakeholder interest. Within 10 years, the way that cattle were produced and marketed changed considerably. By 2010, more than 3,000 smallholders had adopted farm-grown forages and stall-feeding, and many produced high-quality beef cattle. Traders had been able to develop access to urban markets as farmers were able to produce animals that satisfied the stringent quality requirements of urban markets. In addition to the underlying driver of strong market demand for quality meat, several factors contributed to this transition: (i) a convincing innovation – the use of farm-grown fodder – that provided immediate benefits to farmers and provided a vision for local stakeholders; (ii) a participatory, systems-oriented innovation process that emphasised capacity strengthening; (iii) a value chain approach that linked farmers and local traders to markets; (iv) the formation of a loosely structured coalition of local stakeholders that facilitated and managed the innovation process; and (v) technical support over a sufficiently long time period to allow innovation processes to become sustainable.

Previous approaches to improve soil and water management in the Ethiopian highlands have achieved marginal success. An integrated approach to rainwater management (RWM) has been piloted to address interrelated problems of land degradation, livestock feed shortage, and soil erosion, in an effort to improve the resilience of rural livelihoods. However, stakeholders' perceptions about the approach have not been documented. Using data from in-depth interviews, this study assesses stakeholders' knowledge, attitudes, skills and practices in the Diga, Jeldu and Fogera districts of Ethiopia. Our study finds gender differences in knowledge and application of integrated RWM strategies amongst farmers. Stakeholders interviewed appreciate fodder development because it directly addresses land degradation and livestock feed shortage, and provides extra benefits to the households. There are differences in successful RWM practices across the districts. Planners, researchers and policy makers engaged in innovation platforms have an increased understanding of the tools to engage multiple stakeholders in planning for RWM. However, inflexible extension approaches and other contextual issues limit wide-scale use of bottom-up approaches. We conclude that approaches to RWM that are holistic and engage diverse stakeholders foster the uptake of innovations. Awareness creation, collaboration, capacity development, incentives, monitoring, political will and favorable gender norms are vital to the process.

Legumes play an important role in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) farming systems through the provision of food, feed, fuel, income and a range of biophysical benefits, such as soil fertility enhancement and erosion control. However, their full potential is not being realized. The purpose of this study was to assess farmers' perceptions and knowledge towards legumes and the rationale of farmers for current legume production practices using a survey of 268 farmers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. Most of the farmers had some knowledge of legumes and their characteristics. However, they had little knowledge of some key functions, including soil erosion control and soil fertility improvement. Most farmers relied on radio and other farmers for legume-related information. Farmers with relatively large livestock holdings ranked provision of livestock feed as an important legume function. We conclude that farmers put more value on short-term benefits of legumes including food and income than long-term benefits such as natural resource management and thus grain legumes are more readily identified by farmers than forage species. Also, we conclude that farmers require more than just information about legumes to increase uptake, they also require improved market access to procure inputs and sell products to realize other benefits that are associated with growing legumes.