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Replication Data for: Towards an assessment of on-farm niches for improved forages in Sud-Kivu, DR Congo

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title Replication Data for: Towards an assessment of on-farm niches for improved forages in Sud-Kivu, DR Congo
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/HBO4EC
 
Creator Paul, Birthe
Muhimuzi, Fabrice
Bagicale, Samy
Wimba, Benjamin
Chiuri, Wanjiku
Amzati, Gaston
Maass, Brigitte
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description Inadequate quantity and quality of livestock feed is a persistent constraint to productivity for mixed crop-livestock farming in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. To assess on-farm niches of improved forages, demonstration trials and participatory on-farm research were conducted in four different sites. Forage legumes included Canavalia brasiliensis (CIAT 17009), Stylosanthes guianensis (CIAT 11995) and Desmodium uncinatum (cv. Silverleaf), while grasses were Guatemala grass (Tripsacum andersonii), Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) French Cameroon, and a local Napier line. Within the first six months, forage legumes adapted differently to the four sites with little differences among varieties, while forage grasses displayed higher variability in biomass production among varieties than among sites. Farmers’ ranking largely corresponded to herbage yield from the first cut, preferring Canavalia, Silverleaf desmodium and Napier French Cameroon. Choice of forages and integration into farming systems depended on land availability, soil erosion prevalence and livestock husbandry system. In erosion prone sites, 55–60%of farmers planted grasses on field edges and 16–30% as hedgerows for erosion control. 43% of farmers grew forages as intercrop with food crops such as maize and cassava, pointing to land scarcity. Only in the site with lower land pressure, 71% of farmers grew legumes as pure stand. When land tenure was not secured and livestock freely roaming, 75% of farmers preferred to grow annual forage legumes instead of perennial grasses. Future research should develop robust decision support for spatial and temporal integration of forage technologies into diverse smallholder cropping systems and agro-ecologies.
 
Subject Agricultural Sciences
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Mixed crop-livestock systems
Mixed cropping
Livestock
Tropical forages
Forage
Napier grass
Pennisetum purpureum
Farming systems
Participatory approaches
Africa
Agrobiodiversity - AGBIO
 
Language English
 
Contributor Mwanzia, Leroy
 
Type Survey Data
Socio-economic Data
Experimental Data
Trial Data
Breeding Data
Household Survey Data
Participatory ranking