Abstract:
Smallholder farmers have considerable understanding of locally available resources that they normally
use in crop and livestock production. This was demonstrated in a study about the utility of local
knowledge in forage quality evaluation for a mixed livestock production system in Turiani division,
Morogoro region, Eastern Tanzania. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) was conducted in four villages
in order to identify forages and criteria used by farmers in the description of nutritional and feeding
values of local feeds for cattle. Eight to 12 farmers were convened in each village to discuss the
different forage species used for cattle feeding, reasons for their preferences and local experiences
related to feed resource management. Key informants interviews were also done with farmers’ group
leaders and some farmers. Checklists, direct observation, matrix ranking and semi-structured
interviews were the major tools applied. Results indicated that criteria used for forage quality
assessment were based on objectives of cattle production. These included the amount of milk
produced (lactating cows), growth (calves) and general health condition of animals. Palatability of
forages and animal satisfaction when fed were other criteria used. Forage grasses such as
Pennisetum purpureum, Panicum maximum and Rottboellia cochinchinensis were ranked the highest,
intermediate and lowest respectively according to the above criteria. These findings suggest that
forage quality description derived from day to day activities is crucial for any interventions that can
improve livestock productivity in smallholder production systems.
