Fodder commercialization as strategic solution for increased ruminants’ productivity and reduced land use conflicts in Tanzania: A review
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Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST)
Abstract
Forage is the major input in livestock production whose adequate
quality and quantity makes it a key component for increased
livestock productivity. Natural pastures have been used to feed
ruminants in Tanzania over years. Steady growth of human &
livestock population, climate change prevalence, and
encroachment of pastures through conversion of communal
grazing land to wildlife conservation, expansion of crops farming
land and areas for construction threaten adequacy and
sustainability of pastures. Scarcity of pastures is widely documented
as a cause of land use conflicts between farmers and livestock keepers
in Tanzania. Measures to address inadequate pastures have been
focused on ratification & enforcement of land laws, fair land use plans;
and strengthening traditional conflicts resolution mechanisms. Despite
the aforementioned efforts, the land use conflicts are still existing.
Likewise, livestock are affected more during the dry season that leads to
low productivity parameters. Therefore, this review paper advocates
commercialization of fodder production to improve productivity of
ruminant animals and mitigate land use conflict in Tanzania. The paper
emplo\ed Vcoping liWeUaWXUe UeYieZ appUoach of AUkVe\ and O¶Malle\
(2005) to map the present literature by using four search queries
namely; declining Tanzanian communal range lands, land use conflicts,
fodder production technologies & profitability of fodder production
from reliable sources. The review study shows that there is massive
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potential to produce fodder commercially with promising profit margins
Zhich can VignificanWl\ conWUibXWe Wo impUoYed UXminanWV¶ pUodXcWiYiW\
and reduction of land use conflicts. However, further pasture
production research for cost-benefit analysis and market need to be
done to ascertain the commercial pasture business concept in Tanzania
Description
Healthy Rangelands for Sustainable Natural Resource Productivity
Keywords
Livestock population, Fodder production, Land use conflicts