Smallholder cattle farmers’ perceptions, adoption potential, and utilization of trees and shrubs as livestock feeds in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

The sustainability of the livestock sector is negatively affected by insufficient quality and quantity of feeds. The effects of population growth and climate change further exacerbate the availability of feeds. Therefore, developing feasible low-cost strategies to improve year-round feed availability for enhanced livestock production is necessary. The use of trees and shrubs fodder has been recommended as a potential strategy to address feed scarcity. This study evaluated the perceptions, adoption potential, and utilization of trees and shrubs as livestock feeds in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by employing a survey of 805 randomly sampled cattle farmers. The findings revealed that farmers utilized about 62 trees and shrubs for animal fodder. The farmers employed experience-based perceptions to evaluate the suitability of trees and shrubs for fodder based on animal and tree-related criteria. A probit model analysis results indicated that the utilization of trees and shrubs as livestock feeds were influenced by several household demographic factors, livestock farms, farming system factors, and institutional characteristics. The findings provide relevant insights into informing policy formulation and implementation that promote tree and shrub fodder utilization for improved livestock production under smallholder production systems.