Push-pull agroforestry-fodder and insect-protein production in women-led climate-smart livestock systems in Botswana and South Africa
Funder
This project is supported by the Climate-Resilient Animal Fund (RECAF) initiative. RECAF is supported by the Gates Foundation and Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
Project Team
Casper Nyamukondiwa – Botswana International University of Technology (Project lead)
Honest Machekano – University of Pretoria (Principal Investigator)
Lovemore Gwiriri – Coventry University (Principal Investigator)
James Bennett - Coventry University (co-Principal Investigator)
Marizvikuru Majoro – University of Venda (Principal Investigator)
Value
£145,000
Total project value
CAD 1,334,200.00
Duration
January 2025 to December 2027
Collaborators
Botswana International University of Technology (Lead)
Coventry University
University of Pretoria
University of Venda
NAMBU
Project Overview
Smallholder farmers, particularly marginalised households in climate hotspots, are increasingly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Households often rely on livestock for nutrition, income, and as a safety net, yet have limited capacity to mitigate climate change impacts on livestock productivity. Livestock feed scarcity and pest and disease outbreaks affect livestock health and resilience. Supplementary feeding with legume-fodder and insect-based protein, as well as disease treatment with conventional drugs, can potentially address feed and health challenges, but may introduce or increase economic and environmental costs. There is limited research on practical, low-cost ways to manage the environmental and financial impacts of these interventions or on local ethnoveterinary practices to control livestock parasites, such as gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs), which reduce dependence on costly drugs.
This project explores on-farm circular integration of sustainable practices to improve goat productivity and health while reducing environmental impacts and generating income for women. The research will thus integrate (a) push-pull technology into fodder production for insect/pest and weed management; (b) supplementing fodder with insect-based protein and ethnoveterinary plants to improve productivity and control goat parasites/GINs; (c) fodder production with co-developing local seed banks for women farmers who can also market fodder seed for income. The project will also assess the potential reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the integrated sustainable practices.
Details on IDRC website: https://idrc-crdi.ca/en/what-we-do/projects-we-support/project/push-pull-agroforestry-fodder-and-insect-protein-production.
Project Objectives
1. To co-investigate the feasibility of a push-pull system in legume-fodder production using local compatible plant species that are traditionally effective in other systems.
2. To explore the capacity of local women and/or vulnerable community farmer groups to co-develop local seed banks and a resilient fodder seed value chain as a viable business.
3. To evaluate the feasibility of small-scale underutilised black soldier fly-protein-fodder and ethnoveterinary plant-based (or nature-based) supplements on goat health and productivity in small-scale women-led goat production.
4. To co-assess the impact of proposed technologies on estimated greenhouse gas emissions from goats and share findings with stakeholders.
Impact Statement
The project aims to strengthen climate resilience through integrating low-cost technologies with farmer-led agroecology-ethnoveterinary approaches. The project impact pathway is based on a multi-actor co-creation approach aimed at mitigating the challenges associated with adoption of low cost, climate-smart technologies by women smallholder farmers.
The project contributes to practical farmer-led place-based impact. Through engagement of multiple actors e.g. researchers, farmers, agriculture advisory services, private sector players and policy-makers, the project will help to identify user needs while shifting perception away from “control” to “support”, leading to increased ownership of outcomes. The project will enhance the knowledge and capacity of these farmers to respond to climate challenges, adopt co-created technologies, and decide on appropriate technology combinations that are suitable for their local landscapes through a ‘how-to’ toolkit developed as part of the project.
It will strengthen the scientific basis/case for push pull systems through farmer-led field-level experiments and community-based evaluation of reduced use of chemicals in fodder production for goats. The project will create empirical data on microclimate indicators, weed/pest dynamics and soil amelioration that quantifies environmental benefits and underpins decision-making processes for women-farmers. We envisage reduced chemical use and increased fodder availability, directly contributing to enhanced livestock productivity, ecosystem services and environment optimisation.
The project will scale-up applied knowledge co-creation and decision-support locally to target women farmers at community level to engage in local fodder seed production and co-develop local, women led fodder seed banks through farmer field school approaches. It will support an integrated communication, dissemination, and resource and knowledge co-exploitation strategy to support establishment of community-led seed systems that will create change through enabling access to fodder seeds for use and for sale, reduced dependence on exogenous seeds and thus, economically empowering local women through formal/informal seed route business.
It will generate novel and empirical knowledge through conducting evidence-generating farmer-led feeding experiments to optimise feed resource efficiency and mitigate GHGE through an effective integration of participatory methods and within local decision-support systems. The project will strengthen socio-technical innovations by providing multi-layered cost-effective feed options to optimise both GIN parasite control and herd nutrition for resource-constrained farmers. It will strengthen circular socio-technical innovations for sustainable just transition to sustainable food systems
The project will also contribute to a novel database of actual GHGE measurements in smallholder production systems and develop farmer awareness of GHGE-contributing factors.
Outputs
- At least four academic papers: (a) push-pull fodder system (Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment); (b) goat performance with low-cost rations (Small Ruminant research); (c) estimation of GHGE changes (Animal); and (d) barriers/opportunities for fodder seed banks (International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability).
- Report evaluating demonstration plots as knowledge exchange platforms
- Technical report describing the overall approach linking seedbank development by women to improved fodder and goat production and evaluating its strengths and weaknesses.
- At least three ‘how-to’ guides focused on i) development of women-farmer led seedbanks, ii) push-pull techniques for fodder production and iii) formulation of improved feed rations for goats using fodder, ethnoveterinary plants and BSF.
- A policy brief on the role of smallholder goat systems in addressing sustainability, inclusivity and climate change.
