Fodder Shrubs for Improving Incomes of Dairy Farmers in the East African Highlands

Smallholder dairying is an important enterprise in the highlands of E Africa. Farm sizes average 1-2ha and zero-grazing, cut-and-carry systems predominate. Inadequate protein reduces milk production and forces many farmers to spend scarce cash on commercial dairy meal supplements. In 1991, on-farm trials on fodder shrubs were started in Embu District as a collaborative venture of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, the Kenya Forestry Research Institute, and the World Agroforestry Centre. Calliandra calothyrsus was released to farmers in 1995 and was followed by Leucaena trichandra, mulberry (Morus alba), and Sesbania sesban. Farmers produce seedlings of calliandra and trichandra in nurseries; mulberry is planted using cuttings. Farmers plant the shrubs in hedges along field and farm boundaries, on contour bunds, and intercropped with Napier grass. Within 1 year after planting, shrubs are ready to be pruned for feeding livestock. Most farmers cut them at a height of about 1m to ensure that they do not shade the adjacent crops (Franzel et al., 2003)