By Manuel Odeny
Most Kenyan farmers do not consider fodder and grass for animals as crops which can be planted and managed to maximize profit.
In African society especially in some nomadic tribes animals were herded out at dawn and grazed in fields before being returned before dusk.
“We still have farmers who feel that grass and fodder can never be planted and animals should be grazed and their feed sought in fields for long hours,” Wycliffe Ochianga said.
He is the Executive Officer of The Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA), a government agency that is targeting over 36,000 livestock farmers from region’s counties on fodder management to boost production.
LBDA covers 18 counties in Western Kenya said they are keen to ensure livestock farmers, especially those in dairy, take up fodder planting.
“This model of livestock rearing is harder to sustain because land is becoming scarce and more individually owned, apart from people preferring to keep lesser herds,” Ochianga said.
In a well maintained fodder and grass management, an acre in a season or one harvest can sustain animals for over a year.
Already the board in association with Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), an international agriculture research body is out to train over 2,000 farmers in model farms on why they should plant fodder.
The center will not only train farmers on fodder management but also types of fodder and best management to increase productions.
“We will have similar exhibitions across the counties under the basin, and we are targeting small scale farmers and those with communal land where fodder can be planted and shared,” Ochianga said.
He said by planting high quality fodder livestock farmers will reduce production costs and get income by selling to other farmers.
“We have farmers who can come together and manage fodder jointly on land, planting fodder has a chance of increasing production by more than 15 per cent,” he said.
Andreas Hanson an officer at CIAT said there is a need to scale up adoption of improved forages as most are indigenous grasses in the East Africa region.
“We took grass samples in the region and we did improvement for over a decade to make sure what is planted can be sustainable,” Hanson said.
He said the improved grasses can be improved into silage or hay to be used later during dry season or when animals are added.
CIAT in a research ‘Adoption of Improved Forage Grasses in Western Kenya,” did research in Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia and Siaya counties where 90 farmers and organizations were in need of improved forage.
The study found that “improved forages address key problems such as low milk production, inadequate and poor-quality feeds, disease and drought susceptibility of traditional forages, and income poverty.”
The group researched on common grasses in the region and gave improved seeds to bring variety like brachiaria, improved napier and mulato which in the past were used to make brooms and thatch houses.
These improvements ensure disadvantages like difficulty in harvesting due to prickly hairs, sharp edges, or tough stems were reduced.
The paper said to scale up adoption of fodder farming, stakeholders need to engage demonstration farms and peer farmers.
Jacton Oling’a who has three diary cows and Kenneth Odhiambo who has seven, said getting quality fodder seeds, management in farms and improvement has been the main challenges.
“We have seen that a small space of less than an acre in one season can sustain a dairy unit for a year and excess to be sold or stored as hay or silage for the future,” Oling’a said.
Odhiambo said they learnt that fodder can still be weeded and fertilizer added for better production.
