Forage seed production for sustainable ruminant livestock intensification in Tanzania
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST)
Abstract
Sustainable intensification of beef and milk production in any
country will rely on cultivated forages. Success of cultivated
forages is not possible without the support of an aggressive and
dynamic forage seed production to meet an increasing demand
that currently stands at 22,954 tons while the production stands at
11.41tons per year in the country. Forage seed production in the
country is less developed than food crop seed production.
Currently there is no locally produced certified forage seed in the
country. The seeds of most cultivated forage species and cultivars
are either imported as certified seeds or acquired locally as
naturalized varieties without certification. Uncertified seeds lack
agronomic management record and encourage forage diseases
and pest spread in the country. Tanzania, however, is a point of
diversity of several potential forage grasses and few legumes
species that have been adapted elsewhere. Typical example is
Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu and Panicum maximum cv
Tanzania with a participation of 70 % and 10 % in the Brazilian
pasture seed market and by 1999 growing season B. brizantha
and P. Maximum covered 35,000 and 6300 ha, respectively. The
two grass pasture species obtained from Tanzania are not yet
domesticated in the country and are still retaining their wild
characteristics attributes which aid their natural spread but
difficulties for their commercial seed production. As a
consequence from 2019 to 2022 in total, 25.1 tons of 10 grasses, 2
legumes and 1 forb seeds have been imported for forage
cultivation and soil conservation purposes. The imported grasses
included B. Brizantha cultivars, Panicum maximum, Eragrostis
curvula, Eragrostis teff, Chloris gayana, Cynodon dactylon,
Pennisetum clandestinum, Lolium perenne, Phleum pretense, and
Poa pratensis. The imported legumes were Trifolium repens and
Medicago sativa and the forb was Cichorium intybus
(Commander Chicory). Adequate forage seed availability for
sustainable ruminant livestock intensification in the country is
possible, through development of an aggressive and dynamic
forage seed production sub-sector supported by official research.
Studies on agronomic factors influencing the adaptability of
forage species, varieties or ecotypes would be useful for
determining seed production technologies to increase seed
production. These studies should go hand in hand with collection,
preservation and characterization of our local forage germplasm
resources to bring out the elite varieties or ecotypes for breeding
and seed commercialization. Forage seed regulations chapter should also be included in the current seed act or grazing land
and feed act. In order to commercialize forage seed production in
the country, however, as for the food crop seed production Public
Private Partnership must be engaged. This review paper therefore
tend to expose the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats
of forage seed production for sustainable ruminant livestock
intensification in Tanzania.
Description
Healthy Rangelands for Sustainable Natural Resource Productivity
Keywords
Cultivated forages, certified seeds, commercial seed production, public private partnership