Factors Influencing Adoption of Cattle Excreta Management Practices for Improved Elephant Grass (Pennisetum purpureum) Production by Smallholder Dairy Farmers

Abstract

Livestock in East Africa have been reported to play a valuable role in sustainable agricultural systems (Bebe , ２００３ ; Winrock International , １９９２) where together with crops they make sustainable natural resource use possible ( Lekasi et al . , ２００１) . Haque et al . ( １９９５) reported that animal excreta plays an important role in maintaining cropland productivity in Sub‐ Saharan Africa , and most smallholder farmers in Uganda will continue to rely on the exploitation of this natural resource for maintaining soil fertility . With the ever increasing human population and escalating demand for foods of animal origin , sustainable elephant grass production is of paramount importance among smallholder zero‐grazing ( intensive dairy ) farmers in peri‐urban areas of Uganda . However , in Uganda , elephant grass is becoming less productive both in dry matter (DM ) yield and nutritive quality with successive harvesting . The decline in quality and quantity of elephant grass has been attributed to failure by the farmers to adopt sustainable livestock production practices ( Katuromunda et al . , ２００１) . Therefore , the objective of this study was to assess factors that influence adoption of cattle excreta management practices for improved elephant grass production among the intensive dairy farmers .