Climate Resilience Through Dual-Purpose Crops for Small-Scale Dairy Farming in Benin
Date
2022-10
Authors
Montcho, Marthe
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research Consortium
Abstract
In response to livestock feed constraints, farmers are increasingly exploring new options to improve the productivity and efficiency of their crop-livestock enterprises (Snapp et al, 2018). One such option is dual-purpose crops, which has a high potential to simultaneously improving grain yields and livestock feed availability and quality (Erenstein, et al, 2013; Hassan et al, 2015). A promising method of enhancing crop and livestock productivity is increasing the availability and quality of cereal residues as livestock feed (Amede et al., 2009; Alkemade et al., 2012). Dual-purpose crops provide food and income to households, while crop residues are an essential fodder source for livestock (Tarawali et al, 2011; Salmon et al, 2018).Compared to grain-only crops, dual-purpose crops help to significantly improve the profitability, environmental sustainability, and resilience of the whole farm system (Tarawali et al, 2011). It is recognized that dual-purpose crops have positive effects on nutrition and adaptation to climate change. However, policy recommendations do not consider climate variability across the country and the tolerance of each dual-purpose crops to the various climate regions. This policy brief aims to share evidence for dissemination of appropriate use of dual-purpose crops on dairy farms across the various climate regions of Benin.