Abstract
Ethiopia has the largest animal population in Africa. Next to crop production, the livestock sector has a great potential to assist the socio-economic development and transformation of the country. Studies indicate that the livestock sector accounts for about 40% of agricultural GDP and 20% of the total GDP. Amhara Region contributes 30% of the country’s livestock population. At the regional level, livestock production is an integral part of the mixed farming system, contributing 22% and 12.5% from agricultural GDP and total GDP, respectively. Though livestock play a great role to rural livelihoods, there are a number of challenges in this sector. A mix of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were employed to generate the required information. The overall land use/ land cover change analysis of the Landsat image of the year 1986 and 2013 showed that grazing land has declined drastically by 30.52 %. However, cultivated land has rapidly increased by 11.65%. Moreover, the remaining percentage of grassland use type was changed in to degraded grassland, degraded shrubby bush land, urban Settlement, and eucalyptus woodland. On the other hand, the total dry matter (DM) requirement was estimated to be 1,126,269.54 ton/year. Moreover, feed supply from pastureland, aftermath grazing and crop residues were estimated to be 852,700.30 tons of DM. This shows that the available feed/forage addressed only 72% and 28% the annual DM still required for livestock feeding in Gummara-Rib watershed. Based on this study, it is highly recommended that increase the productivity of the local breeds appropriate management practices and policy interventions should be made, especially on forage development and breed quality improvement. The mean livestock holding should be adjusted with feed availability to minimize its impacts on grazing land degradation and for better productivity.
Highlights
For many developing countries, grassland and rangeland vegetation comprise a large component of the feed that is potentially available for livestock use
Livestock production using grasslands and rangelands makes a significant contribution to the overall gross domestic product (GDP) in developing countries
The land use land cover map analysis of the landsat image in the Gummara-Rib watershed showed that the area of grazing land was 84,525 ha whereas the current status of grazing land cover
Summary
Grassland and rangeland vegetation comprise a large component of the feed that is potentially available for livestock use. There are large areas occupied by grasslands and rangelands; their remote locations and the diverse mix of livestock species grazing on these lands, quantification of vegetation biomass for feed inventories is a challenging intervention. With changing climate, increasing human population and changes in land use/land cover, a comprehensive quantification of livestock feed is needed at different level in order for countries to develop policies for maintaining or increasing livestock production. This information can be used for feed and livestock management in the case of drought or other disasters
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