Prioritization of Crop Residues for Improving Productivity on Smallholder Dairy Farming Households in the Lake Victoria Crescent, Uganda

Abstract

Poor nutrition has been identified as a major constraint to productivity in smallholder dairy farming households in Uganda, particularly in Lake Victoria Crescent Agro-ecological Zone (LVZ). Clarification on nutritional potential of crop residues is central to formulation of sustainable dairy cattle nutrition strategies. Data were collected from 126 randomly selected respondents using structured and semi-structured questionnaires. Farmers’ responses on crop residues utilization, handling, limitations, spatial and temporal variability were collected. Kruskal-Wallis test showed significant differences on utilization of available crop residues (X2 = 50.4, df = 4, p = 0.0001) among farmer’s rankings. It was established that maize stovers were major crop residues utilized and inadequate knowledge to process crop residues was ranked as a major limitation. The study provided basic information on the importance of crop residues. Further research studies should focus on improving the nutritive value of maize stover.