aistand south~ern afrkca - (PDF, 101 mb) - USAID
aistand south~ern afrkca - (PDF, 101 mb) - USAID
aistand south~ern afrkca - (PDF, 101 mb) - USAID
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Pert-urban small-scale dairy research programme in<br />
Botswana<br />
Summary<br />
W. S. Boitumelo<br />
Division of Animal Production and Range Research<br />
Department of Agricultural Research<br />
P.B. 0033, Gaborone, Botswana<br />
The increase In milk production by pert-urban<br />
small-scale farmers in Botswana became a major<br />
objective of the Ministry of Agriculture during<br />
the National Development Plan 6 (NDP6)<br />
(1985-91). It was envisaged that increased<br />
production in this sector would not only increase<br />
local supplies for home consumption but would<br />
also lead to surpluses available for sale. To<br />
support the need for increased milk supplies<br />
and to examine the potential for small farm<br />
production the Animal Production Research Unit<br />
(APRU) and the Department of Agricultural<br />
Research established a project to investigate the<br />
problems of milk production by small-scale<br />
communal cattle owners around urban areas,<br />
Lack of adequate nutrition, especially during<br />
the dry-season, svas identified as a major<br />
constraint to sustainable milk production in<br />
small-scale farm conditions (1983-84). Increased<br />
milk production in a small-scale setup requires<br />
investigations into potential feeding strategies<br />
using locally available feed resources.<br />
Considerable quantities of crop residues aie<br />
produced and can be harvested for dry season<br />
feeding of lactating and in-calf cows. On small<br />
farms, the nutritioral quality of crop iesiduebased<br />
diets can be improved by either providing<br />
a high quality legume fodder (high prot(.in) and/<br />
or co<strong>mb</strong>ining with other available mtlling byproducts<br />
such as sorghum bran (moroko). Therefore,<br />
the researchemphasis hasbeen to encourage<br />
farmers to harv st and conserve all their crop<br />
residues and !.ointegrate fodder crops into the<br />
fi,ringsystems and establish a practical feeding<br />
programme based on planted fodder and crop<br />
residues.<br />
Problems which have been isolated are<br />
mainly related to feed procurement. Despite<br />
these problems, fodder production and conservation<br />
of crop residues such as sorghum<br />
stover, sorghum chaff/husks and sorghum bran<br />
for dry-season feeding, are a major activity of the<br />
46 farmers participating in the dairy production<br />
project. The feeding system for in-calf and<br />
lactating cmossbred and Tswana cows are based<br />
on local home-grown -Feed resources. The dry<br />
season feeding strategy using high protein<br />
farmer-grown lablab hayin association with crop<br />
residues and by-producL. has been a significant<br />
intervention In small scale dairy farms.<br />
89<br />
Despite animal health problems, Snmental<br />
crossbred cows are promising as a dairy breed for<br />
small-scale faints. The management system is<br />
less Intensive than for pjre-bred dairy cows and<br />
retains flexibility in terms of Increased milk yleld<br />
and sale of animals for beef.<br />
Introduction<br />
Botswana is situated in the centre of the<br />
southern Africa platepu. It is a land-locked<br />
country of 570,000 kin with a mean altitude of<br />
about 1000 metres above sea level. It has a semiarid,<br />
continental climate with an average<br />
rainfall of 450 mm which is both erratic and<br />
unevenly distributed. The rains occur duringthe<br />
summer season as rain stormt. The weather<br />
rang-s from tropical in the north to semitemperate<br />
in the s3uth, where winters are dry<br />
and temperatures vary from day to day with<br />
frequent frost. The maximum temperature for<br />
the t hottest m~iu month temperature (Dece<strong>mb</strong>er) for is the about coldest 35"C month and<br />
(July) is 3C; occasionaly timperatures can fall<br />
below 0C.<br />
Moe than half of the country is covered with<br />
shrub and tree savannah which deteriorates into<br />
a low shrub savannah in the Kgalagadi Desert.<br />
The national rangeland is mainly suitable for<br />
extensive grazing of ruminant livestock and<br />
wildlife.<br />
The main resource of Botswana apart from its<br />
people, has been its cattle of wh. ch there were<br />
three million in 1982 (Ministry af Agriculture,<br />
1986). The cattle population is raw estimated at<br />
2.6 million (Ministry of Finance and<br />
Development Planning, 1991). About 84% of the<br />
national here is kept on communal land, whilst<br />
16% is kept on commercial ranches. The cattle<br />
idt is amjo conriut toces bee<br />
industry is a major contributr to exports; beef<br />
export earnings more than cover the cost of basic<br />
cereal imports. Although the contribution of the<br />
agricultural sector has been declining since<br />
Independence, the sector still remains an<br />
important source of food, income, employment<br />
and cap.tal for the majority of the population.<br />
The common breed used for both milk and<br />
meat production in Botswana is the indigenous
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