The Influence of Socioeconomic Factors on the Availability and Utilization of Crop Residues as Animal Feeds
1997
Williams, T O | Fernández-Rivera, S | Kelley, T G
The fibrous by-products resulting from crop cultivation constitute a major source of nutrients for animal production in developing countries. On small farms, they form the principal feed of ruminant livestock during the dry seasons. Concerns about inadequate utilization of available feeds have led to the establishment of research programmes to improve the nutritive value and utilization of crop residues as ruminant feed. Despite this, farmer uptake of research findings has been limited. This paper explains why. It argues that the importance of crop residues as feed differs between production systems. Differences in production goals, resource endowments and socioeconomic conditions create different opportunities for the use of crop residues. Consequently, in designing research and extension projects that seek to improve use as livestock feed, it is pertinent to identify the main livestock production systems, farmers' production objectives and resource endowments, and determine the appropriate crop-residue-based diet for each system.
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This bibliographic record has been provided by International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics