Perennial grassland mixtures: a novel approach to forage and food production, land restoration and climate resilience in Ethiopia (EthiopiaGrass)
End: feb 2025
Start: mar 2021
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.
Project participants
Solomon Mwendia Kalkidan Ayele Mulatu Niklas Wickander Karl Thunes Peter Dörsch Shimelis Gizachew Raji An Notenbaert Bimrew Asmare Wuletawu Abera Caroline Brophy| Status | Active |
| Start - end date | 01.03.2021 - 20.02.2025 |
| Project manager | Marit Jørgensen |
| Total budget | 12161 |
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.
Publications in the project
Authors
Kalkidan Ayele Mulatu Kaue de Sousa Mohammed Ebrahim An Notenbaert Wuletawu Abera Solomon Mwendia Eyuel Girmay Marit JørgensenAbstract
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Ethiopia has the highest livestock numbers in Africa, and a large part of the population depends fully or partly on cattle for their livelihoods. The country experiences high rates of soil erosion due to degradation of cropland and rangelands, and overgrazing is a serious problem. In this paper, we report results from the first two harvests of two field experiments established in June 2021 at two different highland locations in Ethiopia: Hawassa in the south, and Bahir Dar in the north. Four species; two legumes (Desmodium intortum and Stylosanthes guianensis) and two grasses (Brachiaria hybrid ‘Cayman’ and Panicum maximum ‘Mombasa’) were sown in monocultures and various mixtures in a simplex design. Dry matter yields and botanical composition from each cut were recorded. The first harvest was taken around 100 days after establishment, while the second harvest was taken during the drought period, i.e. in January 2022 at Hawassa and in March 2022 at Bahir Dar. The difference between monoculture and mixture community performances varied in magnitude from site to site and across harvests; we found evidence of positive interactions between grasses and legumes at Hawassa. These preliminary results show that grass-legume mixtures using tropical species have some potential under Ethiopian conditions.
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Marit JørgensenAbstract
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Marit JørgensenAbstract
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Marit JørgensenAbstract
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Marit JørgensenAbstract
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Marit JørgensenAbstract
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Marit JørgensenAbstract
No abstract has been registered