Are Livestock Keepers in and Around Forests Key Stakeholders in Forest Management? Experiences from Mabira Central Forest Reserve, Uganda
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Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer, Cham.
Abstract
Globally, forests play an important role in supporting livelihoods of local
communities that surround them. However, livestock rearing is hardly considered
an important livelihood activity supported by forests. Forests can be a source of
pastures which are key feed resources for livestock especially ruminants. There is
little information on how a forest reserve affects livestock production especially in
sedentary systems. In the current study, the status of livestock production in and
around Mabira forest reserve, Uganda, was studied, to characterize the livestock
production systems and determine the level of reliance on the forest for forages. A
cross-sectional survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire, and a total
of 80 households were interviewed. Results revealed that over 70% of the respondent
farms had more than one livestock type. Cattle (71%), pigs (49%), chickens
(47%) and goats (40%) were the most frequently kept livestock types. Most respondents
fed cattle (54%) and pigs (81%) under the stall-feeding system, while 68% of
the farms tethered goats. Chickens are mainly fed under free ranging feeding system
(66%). Firewood, water, poles for construction and forages were the four forest
products of significance importance to households rearing livestock around Mabira
forest. Among the key determinants of level of reliance on forages from Mabira forest
was negatively and significam, household’s distance to Mabira forest (P <0.01),
household size (P <0.05) and landholding size owned by the household (P <0.05)
were the variables found to be statistically significant. In conclusion, livestock
farmers in and around Mabira forest rear a diversity of livestock types. Forest forages
contribute substantially to the feed resource base of a significant proportion of
Description
Keywords
Livestock production, Forage resource, Forest communities, Co-benefits
Citation
Nampanzira, D. K., Katongole, C. B., Muwanka, V. B., & Tabuti, J. R. (2019). Are Livestock Keepers in and Around Forests Key Stakeholders in Forest Management? Experiences from Mabira Central Forest Reserve, Uganda. In Agriculture and Ecosystem Resilience in Sub Saharan Africa (pp. 343-355). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12974-3_16