The impact of fodder trees on milk production and income among smallholder dairy farmers in East Africa and the role of research
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Date
2009
Authors
Place, Frank
Ralph, Roothaert
Maina, Lucy
Steven, Franzel
Sinja, Judith
Wanjiku, Julliet
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
World Agroforestry Centre
Abstract
The objective of this study is twofold, to demonstrate (1) the effects of fodder shrubs
on milk production and their value at the household and regional level and (2) the
contribution of research by the World Agroforestry Centre toward strengthening
the impact of fodder shrubs. The study is a synthesis of previous studies related
to dissemination, adoption and impact combined with two new analyses, one
quantitatively measuring the impact of the shrubs through econometric analysis and
the other a qualitative analysis to better understand constraints on adoption and
gender issues related to participation and control of benefits from fodder shrubs.
Among the study findings are that fodder shrubs have been widely adopted in East
Africa, by an estimated 205,000 smallholder dairy farmers by 2005. Women were
active in planting shrubs, as monitoring found almost half of planters to be women.
Several studies have confirmed that shrubs do have an impact on milk production.
While feeding trials have found that 1 kilogram of calliandra increases milk production
by 0.6–0.8 kilograms, a new survey of farmers’ perceptions in Kenya found the effect
to be about half as large after controlling for the effects of breeds, season and other
feeds. Whether the effect is the lower or higher estimate, the overall impact of the
shrubs in terms of additional net income from milk is high, at US$19.7 million to
$29.6 million in Kenya alone over the past 15 years.
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Citation
Occasional paper, 12