The lack of storage for cattle feed in Africa

Mulubrhan Gebremikael, a researcher at the University of Florida in the US, looks at why Africa’s farmers struggle to store feed, and the techniques that could help them overcome this obstacle.

- Mulubrhan Gebremikael

Africa’s cattle-feed production is a boom-and-bust cycle. Most of the continent’s grazing lands are lush and green in the rainy season, only to wither into dry scrublands in the dry season.

For instance, while Burkina Faso produces an excess of six million tons of forage a year, its Sahel livestock-producing regions have a deficit of two million tons annually.

The quantity of food for cattle isn’t the only issue: another is its quality. Studies have shown that in Tanzania, the quality of forage from pasturelands declines by a fifth during the dry season. In Ethiopia, it declines by 28%. The result is a 40% decrease in milk yield.

Across many other countries in Africa, for example Sudan, Algeria and South Africa, studies have shown that quality livestock feed swings from excess during rainy seasons to abrupt declines, with subsequent reduction in meat and milk and even mass death of cattle.

This cycle poses the question of why African herders are not preserving forage for dry season use.

To find an answer, we reviewed studies and sought expert opinion about livestock feed preservation across sub-Saharan Africa. Fifteen experts representing all regions in sub-Saharan Africa participated and reviewed a total of 161 studies.

Our findings indicate that smallholder farmers rarely adopt forage preservation or practise it adequately. Most farmers on the continent are smallholder farmers.

Excess forage for cattle is often poorly stored, leading to waste. And forage production is lacking in the dry season.

There are a number of reasons for this. They include limited resources, knowledge, skills, labour, land and suitable forage.