ABSTRACT
Planting forages is a new concept for smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia, who traditionally had access to ample natural feed resources for their cattle, buffalo and goats. This is no longer the case. Traditional feed resources are disappearing and degrading, and farmers are having difficulty in finding sufficient feed for their animals. They need to invest more and more time in collecting natural feed resources. At the same time, the demand for livestock products is increasing rapidly in Asia and raising ruminant livestock is becoming an increasingly attractive option for farmers.
Recent experiences show that smallholder farmers are willing to embrace this new concept of planting feed for their animals. In Southeast Asia, there are now thousands of farmers who have integrated forages into their farms and many are deriving substantial benefits from doing so. Forages are used mainly as a supplement to other available feed resources, such as natural grasses and crop residues. Farmers grow forages in a variety of ways such as intensive cut-and-carry plots near houses, or contour hedgerows in cropping areas, and these forages are fed to a variety of animals, ranging from large ruminants such as cattle, to fish, pigs and rabbits. While many farmers were initially attracted to planting forages to save time on days when they were busy with other things - they could quickly cut enough feed for their animals from a forage plot near the house - many saw opportunities 358to increase their livestock production and developed livestock production into an incomegenerating component of their farming system.
This chapter describes the process of forage technology development that has led to the acceptance of planted forages by smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia. It describes the forage technologies developed and used by farmers, discusses lessons learnt in working with farmers and analyses the impact of planted forages on livelihoods of smallholder farm households. It concludes with a discussion of future needs and priorities for forage research and development in the region.
