Fodder to ruminants within agroforestry systems in Rwanda - species and management

Rwanda is one of the poorest countries in the world and about 70-80 % of the population lives in rural areas. The land is strongly affected by land erosion which makes it difficult for the agriculture and food production. Agroforestry is a system where tree plantation is combined with livestock- and...

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Autor principal: Holmström, Linnéa
Formato: M2
Lenguaje:Inglés
sueco
Publicado: SLU/Dept. of Animal Nutrition and Management (until 231231) 2013
Materias:
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author Holmström, Linnéa
author_browse Holmström, Linnéa
author_facet Holmström, Linnéa
author_sort Holmström, Linnéa
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description Rwanda is one of the poorest countries in the world and about 70-80 % of the population lives in rural areas. The land is strongly affected by land erosion which makes it difficult for the agriculture and food production. Agroforestry is a system where tree plantation is combined with livestock- and crop production. The system provides soil fertilization and binds the soil together. Some of the trees used in agroforestry systems are also used as fodder. The topic the present study was to document the fodder production in rural and small scale farms in Rwanda, and identify potential problems. To answer the research questions semi-structured interviews with open-ended and closed questions were performed. Altogether 13 respondents were interviewed individually and one group interview with 21 respondents was done. The most used fodder were napier grass and leafs and branches from trees, mostly Calliandra spp. and the majority of the farmers who were interviewed had fewer than 20 fodder trees which were planted on radical terraces. The benefits since the farmers started with agroforestry were a higher quality of the manure and a slightly increased milk production, probably because of the increased feed amount and quality. The largest difficulty was to get enough fodder during the dry season. To construct radical terraces and plant on them seemed to be a smart way to streamline the land use but still, many farmers needs more trees and an increased land ability to provide them.
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publishDate 2013
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spelling RepoSLU57902013-06-28T15:01:32Z Fodder to ruminants within agroforestry systems in Rwanda - species and management Holmström, Linnéa Agroforestry Small-scale Calliandra Napier grass Radical terraces Rwanda is one of the poorest countries in the world and about 70-80 % of the population lives in rural areas. The land is strongly affected by land erosion which makes it difficult for the agriculture and food production. Agroforestry is a system where tree plantation is combined with livestock- and crop production. The system provides soil fertilization and binds the soil together. Some of the trees used in agroforestry systems are also used as fodder. The topic the present study was to document the fodder production in rural and small scale farms in Rwanda, and identify potential problems. To answer the research questions semi-structured interviews with open-ended and closed questions were performed. Altogether 13 respondents were interviewed individually and one group interview with 21 respondents was done. The most used fodder were napier grass and leafs and branches from trees, mostly Calliandra spp. and the majority of the farmers who were interviewed had fewer than 20 fodder trees which were planted on radical terraces. The benefits since the farmers started with agroforestry were a higher quality of the manure and a slightly increased milk production, probably because of the increased feed amount and quality. The largest difficulty was to get enough fodder during the dry season. To construct radical terraces and plant on them seemed to be a smart way to streamline the land use but still, many farmers needs more trees and an increased land ability to provide them. Rwanda är ett av de fattigaste länderna i världen och ca 70-80% av befolkningen bor på landsbygden. Marken är svårt drabbad av jorderosion, vilket orsakar problem för jordbruk och livsmedelsproduktionen. För att förhindra jorderosion är agroforestry ett förebyggande system och innebär att trädplanteringar kombineras med animalie- och växtproduktion vilket bidrar till näringsrikare och fastare jordar. Några av träden som används inom agroforestry används som foder och i denna studie var syftet att studera foderproduktionen inom småskaliga lantbruk i norra delen av Rwanda som använder sig utav agroforestry och analysera eventuella problem. Studien utfördes med hjälp av 13 individuella intervjuer och en gruppintervju. De fodermedel som främst odlades var napier grass och calliandraträd. De flesta lantbrukare som intervjuades hade färre än 20 foderträd som planterades på radikala terrasser. Djuren utfodrades 2-3 gånger dagligen och förmåner som foderproduktionen hade gett efter att bönderna börjat med agroforestry var högre kvalitet på gödseln och en något ökad mjölkproduktion. Ett av de största problemen var att få fodret att räcka till under torrperioden. Att använda terrasser verkade vara ett smart sätt för att effektivisera nyttjandet av landytan men fortfarande behöver många småskaliga lantbrukare flera eller andra arter av foderträd samt ökad marktillgänglighet för att kunna försörja sig. SLU/Dept. of Animal Nutrition and Management (until 231231) 2013 M2 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/5790/
spellingShingle Agroforestry
Small-scale
Calliandra
Napier grass
Radical terraces
Holmström, Linnéa
Fodder to ruminants within agroforestry systems in Rwanda - species and management
title Fodder to ruminants within agroforestry systems in Rwanda - species and management
title_full Fodder to ruminants within agroforestry systems in Rwanda - species and management
title_fullStr Fodder to ruminants within agroforestry systems in Rwanda - species and management
title_full_unstemmed Fodder to ruminants within agroforestry systems in Rwanda - species and management
title_short Fodder to ruminants within agroforestry systems in Rwanda - species and management
title_sort fodder to ruminants within agroforestry systems in rwanda - species and management
topic Agroforestry
Small-scale
Calliandra
Napier grass
Radical terraces