ANALYSIS OF ENSET (Ensete ventricosum) BASED CATTLE PRODUCTION SYSTEM; AVAILABILITY AND QUALITY OF COMMON FEED RESOURCES IN GURAGE ZONE, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA
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Date
2019-08
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Abstract
The study was conducted in four districts of Gurage zone, Sothern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region to identify the major constraints of dairy cattle production, to determine the quantity and quality of available feed resources, to determine the livestock feed balance, to identify the interdependence between that exists between cattle and enset and to assess the role of cattle in enset based agriculture in relation to food security status of farming families. Households of 360 were selected using proportional sample size determination (Cochran, 1909; Thrustfield, 2013) and individually interviewed with personal observation and focus group discussion. The overall average family size of 7.71±.18 persons, herd size of 4.87±0.12 heads of cattle (3.35 TLU) and land holding of 1.75±0.05 hectare per household were obtained in this study. Around 88.05% of the farmers in the study areas were keeping cattle primarily for the production of milk and manure while 11.95% held cattle mainly for milk production and traction. Mating systems used by households predominately (83.6%) covered by the natural mating. Some (15.3%) of households reported to use AI and natural mating. About 95.55% of cattle were local breed. The overall average lactation yield of indigenous dairy cows was 1.53kg with lactation length of 7.23 months. The overall average age at first service and age at first calving for local heifers, respectively, was 53.44 and 62.44 months. The overall average days open of 211.44 and calving interval of 481.44 days was reported for local dairy cows. Farmers of 82.78% were relied on river water source for their cattle. Extensive-dairying is the dominant system where farmers majorly depend on enset leaf and leaf midribs (51.05% DM) to feed their cattle. Feeding systems of Grazing & cut and carry; Tethering, grazing and cut & carry as well as Tethering & cut and carry were practiced by farmers of 34.7%, 31.4% and 33.9%, respectively. Households of 77.5% gave feeding priority to the lactating cows and calves. The prevalent diseases of the study areas include: Anthrax, Blackleg, FMD, Bovine Pasteurollosis, LSD, Mastitis, Pneumonia, Metritis and parasites and their infestation depends majorly on seasons of the year. The DM produced from leaf and leaf midribs of enset, crop residues and natural grasses in tons, respectively, were 506.4; 312.33 and 141.62 in dega whereas it was 662.96; 472.83 and 207.33 in weinadega. The DCP produced from enset leaf and leaf midribs, crop residues and natural pasture, respectively, were 51,819.91 kg; 8,401.16 kg and 10,335.43 kg in dega while it was 55,217.94 kg; 13,799.32 kg and 11,490.23 kg in weinadega. The ME produced in dega was 4,420,872; 2,296,269.8 and 1,188,191.8 MJ whereas it was 6,013,047.2; 3,430,459.7 and 1,689,739.5 MJ in weinadega from enset parts, crop residues and natural pasture, respectively. The amount of DM, DCP and ME produced by individual household per year in weinadega agroecology were significantly higher (p<0.05) than the amount produced in dega agroecology. The annual feed supply in the study areas met only 76.81% DM and 69.9% DCP of the maintenance requirement of livestock in TLU but the available ME was 1.67% surplus. Conversely, the annual feed supply met only 64.98% DM, 66.24% DCP and 85.66% ME of the maintenance requirement of livestock in dega agroecology, whereas in weinadega, agroecology about 88.31% DM and 73.46% DCP of the maintenance requirement were met but the estimate of ME was 17.22% above the requirement. Livestock in the study areas of Gurage zone are in serious feed deficit which needs a special attention. There is a strong linkage between enset and cattle production in enset-cattle based mixed production system of Gurage zone through generations which has a strong bond in determining the livelihoods and food security of the rural farming families. Similarly, in the existing situation of fragmented land holding which doesn’t give opportunity of producing feed enough for cattle, it is paramount important to practice enset cultivation without which sustainability in cattle feeding cannot be obtained. Leaf and leaf midribs of enset represented the greatest share of 50.77% TDM, 70.86% TDCP and 54.81% of TME available for cattle feeding and it is imperative in safeguarding the life of animals especially during drought and unusual periods of the year. On the other hand, cattle manure is the only source of organic matter and nutrient input and is crucial for improvement in quantity and quality of enset products. The sampled manure had a total nitrogen of 2.68% and C: N ratio of 11:1 in dega and 2.24% with C: N ratio of 12:1 in weinadega. The organic matter obtained from manure sample in dega and weinadega, respectively, was 51.89% and 44.82%. The gm of N, P and K kg-1DM of manure, respectively, were 26.8, 16.5 and 1.6 for dega and 22.4, 12.6 and1.2 for weinadega. Feed shortage, low performance of indigenous cattle, inefficient AI service, water scarcity and animal diseases were the major challenges of dairy production. To achieve better result from dairying in particular and from livestock in general, efficient storage and utilization of crop residues, improved forage development, upgrading technical and managerial efficiencies of crossbreeding, supplementing livestock with concentrates of protein sources for both agroecologies and energy for dega agroecology, provision of animal health extension services focusing on preventive measures and developing different water harvesting structures based on agroecologies must be implemented. In food security realization programs, everyone should take his/her own accountability and responsibility through provision of strong and continuous extension services and area specific research works. The development planners including political leaders should pay attention on bringing improvement in production and productivity, understand the life securing abilities and do not undermine the economic and famine buffering potentials of these two resources. By considering multi-socio-economic use of enset crop, on the other hand, special attention should also be given to hasten the production of enset throughout Ethiopia.
Description
PhD Thesis
Keywords
feed, livestock