Survey on Crop Residues for Cattle Feeding in Niger

<p>This publication is part of the Sorghum Trait Development Pipeline project. Sorghum is poised to play a key role in expanding agricultural development and food security in countries around the world. Success in meeting these demands hinges, in part, on the successful transfer of genetic, genomic, and agricultural technologies that have been developed for the crop. The Sorghum Trait Development Pipeline project leverages new genetic technologies to enhance the value and performance of sorghum in farmer-accepted varieties adapted in Niger and Senegal in West Africa. Purdue PIs are working with the sorghum breeders and food technologists in National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in Niger and Senegal to initiate breeding programs to incorporate new sorghum traits into locally adapted varieties. This research, training, and capacity building project attempts to address sorghum crop improvement needs through targeted research, short and long term training and education, and technology transfer to promote and enhance sorghum production and impact.</p>

<p>This study was conducted by Dr. Ousmane Seyni Diakite as reported in Diakite (2019).</p>

<p>Diakite, O.S., 2018. Breeding Sorghum [Sorghum Bicolor (L.) Moench] for High Quality Stover for Niger (Doctoral dissertation, University of Ghana).<br />
 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh.</p>

<p>In collaboration with livestock extension service, three villages well known for their livestock rearing and sorghum cultivation in the country were randomly sampled. Extension service agents assisted in the sampling and gathering sorghum farmers with intensive experience beneficial to PRA survey. A focus group discussion (FGD) with an average of a group of twelve farmers was firstly conducted to have an overview on sorghum production, cattle rearing and feeding constraints. During the FGD, males and female groups were met separately to avoid men's negative influence on women’s free expression of their opinions. The different topics discussed during the FGD were evaluated by ranking, rating, listing or sorting by the group of farmers. After the FGD, a list of sorghum farmers rearing cattle in each village was recorded and 30 farmers per village were randomly sampled. The selected farmers were interviewed separately in a semi-structured interview based on a questionnaire structured on four major’ points: farmer identification, main activities, sorghum production and livestock rearing (constraints, opportunities, contribution in income, stover quality traits).</p>