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The Kaduma family in Njombe, southern Tanzania, is
building a new pen for their dairy cows. Their three
cows and two calves will soon move from their current
wooden home into a pen of brick and concrete. The pen
is of a quality many small-scale farmers cannot afford.
Mr. Kaduma explains, “Before we got the cows we were
poor farmers. Our cows have given us what we have today,
so we have to treat them as good as the rest of the family.”
The family practices integrated farming, an agricultural
practice that integrates livestock and crop production.
This practice has helped the family to increase milk
productivity, as well as improve crop and vegetable
yields. Integrated farming can be described as holistic
resource management where by-products from cattle
become inputs in crop farming. Farmers in 10 villages in
Njombe are participating in research projects undertaken
by the Sokoine University of Agriculture. Through the
projects the small-scale farmers are being trained on
how to create synergies between livestock and crop and
vegetable production.
The fields around the Kaduma homestead are planted
with crops such as Irish potatoes, plantain, maize and
beans. Some of these are inter-cropped. There is maximum
use of available space, with a “tower” vegetable garden
and a multi-purpose nursery and timber trees occupying
the homestead. Trees and grasses are used as boundaries
between different crops. They are used not only as a
wind-break and protection against soil erosion and water
runoff, but also provide fodder for the cattle. The farmers
dry the hay and preserve the grass for cattle fodder in the
dry season.
Since the dairy cows have had access to quality fodder
throughout the year, milkyields have increased significantly
from 6 to 16 litres per day during the dry season. The milk
provides a valuable source of nutrition and income to the
family as the surplus is sold to a local processer, providing
a steady year-round income. The farmers have also been
trained on how to preserve excessmilkbymaking fermented
milk and cottage cheese, especially during the wet season
when farmers produce more milk than the processing
factory can take.
Milk is not the only valuable output from the cows. The
farmers make dry compost, as well as generate renewable
energy from biogas. The Kaduma family uses the biogas
for cooking and lighting. Biogas is not only a much cleaner
source of energy, but also saves the environment from
deforestation. Biogas production also produces bio-slurry, a
wet compost that is very rich in nitrogen. The Kaduma family
dries the bio-slurry and stores it for the planting season. As
a result of the use the organic fertilizers, vegetable crop
yields have increased by 50 per cent.
The farmers have also been trained on how to develop
tower gardens. Previously farmers would have their
vegetable gardens in the wetlands (vinyungu). This is an
environmentally harmful and time-consuming practice, as
the gardens are a distance away from the home.
The information about this project was provided by Sokoine
University of Agriculture (Morogoro, Tanzania). The farmers are
participating in the on-going research project Up-scaling and Out-
scaling Technologies for Enhancing Integrated Dairy Production
System in Njombe District, under the Enhancing Pro-poor Innovation
for Natural Resource and Agricultural Value Chains Programme.
Integrated dairy farming in Njombe, Tanzania