Trees for fodder for the poor |
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| Pro poor strategies for agroforestry development based on new partnerships, novel uses for tree fodder and optimised tree planting pattern | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Poor urban and rural people with no land can still benefit from the income-earning opportunities brought by growing fodder - by using trees rather than more traditional sources. Research conducted in China proved that this was possible if they partnered with land owners in order to grow useful fodder trees on otherwise unused pieces of land (like that at the edge of roads, paths and fields). The project also identified the best fodder-tree options, and simple techniques to allay partners' fears that the trees might shade their crops. The project's findings have now been successfully applied in a range of countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Indonesia and Pakistan. Project Ref: FRP21:
Research Programmes: Forestry Research Programme then picked up by European Commission and Private Sector Relevant Research Projects:
The overall objective that the project was contributing to was methods for increasing the relevance of agroforestry practice and related research to urban and rural poor in developing countries How could poor people with little or no land benefit from trees? The idea was that tree leaves could be used to generate income as an animal feed supplement and by planting trees at the edge of fields, roads, canals and pathways or widely in fields, partnerships could be encouraged where a "main crop" could be taken by a specialist or wealthier partner and by-products or other crops could be taken by a generalist or opportunist poorer partner. One major scientific output was a simple model that predicts light available to adjacent crops or grazing lands for various shapes and arrangements of trees. Light was chosen not because it was the biological limiting factor but because the idiomatic understanding of shade was is a major psychological factor or barrier. Another output was an inexpensive lightmeter (phytometer) using plants. The project also improved the use of low cost methods for detecting fodder value using simple methane generation test with rumen bacteria. This could be used for goats, sheep, and cows. The project also developed methods for non-ruminants such as pigs. The main tree species were Poplar and Paulownia. The main crop species were wheat, ginger, onions, and cotton. The most powerful development output was "unforeseen" at the time. This was the formation of tripartite pro-poor partnerships between the urban/rural poor, landowner (often government) and the private sector. Although the research was conducted in the poorest counties in China in Anhui and Shandong province, the main area of application turned out to be Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Indonesia and Pakistan. The work led to many new projects funded by the EC, National Governments and the private sector involving changes in Governance.
The outputs are applicable to all crops and trees, but he main benefit appears with short season crops and deciduous trees
The project purpose if formulated after completion was pro-poor strategies for agroforestry partnerships formulated by end of project. The "output" attained from the project was clustered with outputs from non RNRRS outputs from World Bank, EC and private sector Initiatives in India, Bangladesh and Vietnam. These outputs were; optimised environmental stewardship characterised and Sources of private sector finance for agroforestry identified. Poplar based approaches in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have led to major socio-economic impact using government "greening" and agricultural policy and instruments linked to the development of poplar based industry for construction, ply and match production. It has been estimated that over 1 million people have been raised above the poverty line by this approach in China and India. The main impact pathway for the future is in the application of this approach to fruit and or nut based agroforestry in remote and densely populated areas linked to job creation. This requires market based research and surveys of the private sector. Relevant Research Projects,
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For relevant research projects, with links to further information
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