Proceedings: Pasture and Rangeland Research and Development in Ethiopia

Abstract

Grasslands, which refer to ecosystems whose dominant vegetation is made up of herbaceous species, are the most conspicuous forms of land use in Ethiopia. They stretch from the cool temperate highlands to the hot humid and dry lowland environments. The livestock-subsector, which contributes over 45% o f the country’s agricultural GDP and source of income for 37-85% of the population, heavily relies on these resources. The entire livestock diet in the pastoral production system, and about 50% of the feed budget in the agro-pastoral/pastoral and mixed-farming production systems come from grasslands. The benefits of grasslands go beyond the provision of feed to the domestic livestock population. Grasslands are the custodians of the country’s rich plant and animal genetic resources and offer diverse environmental services including soil carbon stock, conservation of soil and water resources, and the scenic beauty of landscapes. Cognizant of this fact, extensive biophysical and anthropological studies and development work have been conducted over the last 60 years with the intention of understanding and fostering the sound management of grasslands. Unfortunately, the wealth of information emanating from these vast efforts is shelved in the libraries of research, higher learning and development institutions across the country. With this background, a review workshop under the title “Pasture and Rangeland Research and Development in Ethiopia”, the subject of these proceedings, was conducted with the following objectives: • Compile past grasslands research (R) and development (D) initiatives of various stakeholders in a single publication • Identify key technical and policy gaps of sustainable grasslands management • Contribute to minimization of unnecessary duplication of efforts Senior grasslands / rangeland and animal nutrition experts and policy makers attended the review workshop. A total of eight review papers on various aspects of grasslands including rangeland condition and trend, biodiversity conservation, rangeland restoration, native pasture management, cultivated forage production and management, forage nutrition and policy were presented. The reviewers of these papers and workshop participants who substantially contributed to the improvement o f the proceedings were themselves very much involved in the grassland research and development during the last many years. The review work was commissioned by Pasture and Rangeland Forum Ethiopia (PaRFE) as such an undertaking is among the many activities the Forum is established for. Such consolidated publication would serve as a quick reference and guide to stakeholders including research and higher learning institutions, graduate students, development partners and the private sector that aspire to conduct research and promote good practices that contribute to the protection and sound management of the grassland resources across all agro-ecologies of the country. The first three papers of this proceeding focus on research and development work on rangeland dynamics and the most prominent threats and alternative restoration measures taken to reverse the undesirable changes. Rangeland condition and trend assessment, state of the biodiversity wealth and the rangeland development work of various parties that stretch from the Imperial times to the present constitute the principal subjects of these of papers. The consequences of different grazing resource management regimes and land use changes on vegetation structure and species composition and state of the rangelands are also presented. Furthermore, these papers capture the successes and failures of mega projects and highlight the follow-up rangelands R and D course pursued. The following three papers are dedicated to R and D on native and cultivated pastures in the mid and high altitudes of the country. The potential and limitations of the native pasture, indigenous forage genetic resources and promising cultivated forage crops suitable to varying agro-ecologies are presented in these papers. The papers also summarize the piloted grazing lands management and utilization practices and interventions to be implemented to restore their original state of productivity and overcome the threats to habitat loss are suggested. Feeding value assessment studies conducted by various workers are reviewed in the paper on pasture and range forage nutrition. The paper highlights the areas where nutritional work had been strong and areas that require research and development attention in the future. The last paper of this proceeding is on policy related to pasture and range. The paper attempts to explore the land policy and administration as well as the traditional grazing resources management systems and their ecological rationality. It also touches upon the internal and external pressure on land use and its implication on the management of Ethiopian rangelands. Existing legislations favoring the sound management of grassland resources are summarized and gaps outlined.