Understanding Farmers’ Trait Preferences for Dual-Purpose Crops to Improve Mixed Crop–Livestock Systems in Zimbabwe

Mequanint B Melesse,Chris O Ojiewo,Michael Hauser,Amos Nyangira Tirra

doi:10.3390/su13105678

Abstract

Competition over land between food and fodder production, along with recurrent droughts and increasing population, has put mixed crop–livestock farming systems in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa under pressure. Dual-purpose crops hold huge potential to ease this pressure and simultaneously improve food and fodder availability in these systems. We investigated farmers’ preferences for dual-purpose maize, sorghum, and groundnut traits, and analyzed linkages of stated trait preferences with production of dual-purpose crops and adoption of improved varieties involving 645 households from two districts in Zimbabwe. The three target crops cover more than 75% of households’ cropping lands. Highly preferred stated traits of dual-purpose crops include yield, disease resistance, and drought tolerance. Highly appreciated feed attributes encompass stover yield and digestibility. The adoption of improved varieties is high for maize but low for sorghum and groundnut. Trait preferences are correlated with the production of dual-purpose crops and the adoption of improved varieties of the crops. However, the strengths of these correlations differ for maize, sorghum, and groundnuts. We discuss these linkages and suggest why crop improvement programs should reconcile trade-offs between grain and feed attributes to support mixed crop–livestock systems in Zimbabwe successfully.

Highlights

Mixed crop–livestock farming systems dominate smallholder agriculture in many sub-Saharan African countries [1,2]
We aim to contribute to the understanding of farmers’ preferences for attributes of dual-purpose varieties of maize, sorghum, and groundnut and explore how these preferences are correlated with production of dual-purpose crops and adoption of improved varieties
Tropical livestock unit is a common unit to quantify various livestock species to a single figure to get the total amount of livestock owned by a household

Summary

Introduction

Mixed crop–livestock farming systems dominate smallholder agriculture in many sub-Saharan African countries [1,2]. Crops provide food and income to households, while crop residues are an essential fodder source for livestock [3,4,5]. Livestock provides power and animal traction, livestock manure to increase soil fertility, and livestock improves the quality of human nutrition. Livestock serves as a buffer against adverse climatic changes and other disasters. Farmers use livestock sales to smooth consumption and invest in crop production [6,7,8].

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Conclusion