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NORGLOBAL2-Norge - global partner

Perennial grassland mixtures: a novel approach to forage and food production, land restoration and climate resilience in Ethiopia

Alternative title: Artsblandinger til grasmark: en ny tilnærming til fôr og matproduksjon, jordvern og klimastabilitet i Etiopia

Awarded: NOK 12.0 mill.

Project Number:

314916

Application Type:

Project Period:

2021 - 2024

Funding received from:

Location:

Partner countries:

Ethiopia has the highest livestock number in Africa, and a large part of the population depends fully or partly on livestock for their livelihood. The country experiences some of the world’s highest rates of soil erosion. About 90% of livestock feed is currently derived from crop residues and shared grazing on communal highly overgrazed natural pastureland, thus aggravating land and soil degradation, which diminish agricultural productivity and farmers’ incomes. Feed resources for livestock are scarce and livestock productivity low. A shift towards more intensive cut-and-carry feeding, using improved forage species, could counteract soil degradation and improve feed provision for livestock, thus alleviating grazing pressure on land used for food crops. It could directly improve soil quality through reduced soil erosion and increased amounts of organic matter returned to the soil and build soil quality and fertility over time. The EthiopiaGrass project focuses on developing novel approaches to combine the intensification of livestock feed systems and improving farmer livelihoods with land restoration. Field experiments were established in June 2021 at two highland sites, Bahir Dar of the Amhara region in the north, and Hawassa of the Sidama region in the south of Ethiopia. Two grasses (Panicum maximum and Brachiaria hybrid, Cayman), and two legumes (Stylosanthes guianensis and Desmodium intortum) were sown in monocultures and various mixtures following an advanced statistical design, with a monocrop of maize included in the experiments. The full-scale experiments were sown at campuses of Bahir Dar and Hawassa Universities, and selected treatments of the same experiments were sown at two districts (on-farm) per region. The legume S. guinanensis, did not establish well at the Hawassa site, and was excluded from the analyses. Yield, botanical composition, and nutritive quality of mixtures and monocultures were recorded. Preliminary yield results after five harvests indicate a borderline positive interaction effect of mixing legumes and grasses compared to the average of monocultures at Bahir Dar, while this interaction was strong and positive at the Hawassa site. No interaction between grass species were found. There were clear differences in yields between sites, reflecting the differences in climate and soil conditions between the sites. After growing the pastures for two years, all plots were ploughed, and a maize crop was planted to measure the legacy effect of the different pasture communities compared to the continuous monoculture maize plots. These data are still underway. To evaluate performance of six grass species and four legume species as monocultures, screening experiments have been established, and are still running. Plant-soil interactions are studied in the field experiments, and in more detail in a climate chamber experiment. Labile carbon pools, microbial functions and nutrient status are used to infer direct plant effects on soil microbial processes, rather than analysing soil organic matter pools which respond only slowly to management change. In the climate chamber experiment, plants used in the field experiments were grown in soil from the farm sites, and plant species/mixture-specific effects analysed as change in microbial biomass C, N and P, NO3- and NH4+ production and exoenzyme activity. We found increased exo-enzymatic activity in the presence of legumes, especially for phosphorus acquisition. Investigations into the effect of plant species/mixture on microbial C use efficiency are still on its way. Participation of farmers is crucial to achieve lasting impact when developing novel technologies for improving farm productivity. Our project has implemented an approach where farmers’ opinions are integrated in identifying the most climate robust, productive, and soil-protecting forage technologies under smallholders’ marginal and heterogeneous production environments. With the hypothesis that data generated through citizen science can reveal insights into farmer-preferred traits and gender-specific differences in technology adoption, a total of 600 farmers from northern and southern parts of Ethiopia have been engaged in a large-scale farmer-led grassland testing trial. Since July 2022, participants are registered to grow and compare three different grass-legume mixes on their fields. Up to three harvests have been carried out in two cycles and documented using an open-source digital platform (ClimMob) that manages experimental citizen science project in agriculture, primarily crop variety testing. Based on insights attained from the citizen-science based research, we will proceed with identifying similar agroecological landscapes that are suitable for upscaling of the selected technologies. Using bio-economic household level modeling, we will also investigate the synergies and trade-offs of technology adoption across household types and deduct lessons at landscape scales.

EthiopiaGrass will identify integrated grassland/crop systems to improve feed provision for livestock and production of food crops, while improving soil quality. Novel farming systems are needed to counteract land degradation, which is a major threat to ecosystems and livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in Ethiopia in particular. Ethiopia experiences some of the world’s highest rates of soil erosion due to degradation of cropland and rangelands and climate change is predicted to worsen the situation. Livestock is paramount for Ethiopian farmers’ livelihoods and central to the Ethiopian economy, but also part of the problem of land degradation. Land is scarce and most of the feed intake by livestock occurs during free grazing on highly overgrazed natural pastures. Developing agriculture in Ethiopia towards robust and sustainable farming requires drastic changes in livestock and land management. A key component of this change could be a shift towards more intensive feeding systems, with more emphasis on cut-and-carry forage production. Well-managed grasslands, used for forage production with improved forage species can counteract soil degradation in several ways: by improving feed provision, which alleviates the grazing pressure on land used for food crops; by directly improving soil quality through reduced soil erosion and increased amounts of organic matter returned to the soil; by building soil quality and fertility over time, thus supporting increased food crop yields once they are ploughed (legacy effect). EthiopiaGrass will seek to identify grassland species mixtures for more stable and improved feed crop production and determine their legacy effects on food crops. We will study plant-soil feedbacks for selected grassland species and mixtures to identify effects on soil quality, carbon storage and nutrient cycling. We will use participatory farmer-led testing of the grassland species and mixtures to reveal preferences and adoption by smallholders.

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Funding scheme:

NORGLOBAL2-Norge - global partner