There was little evidence that the dairy production constraints facing poorer farmers in Tanzania had been adequately identified or addressed prior to this project. This project therefore applied participatory appraisal techniques so that farmers could identify and prioritise their constraints and participatory evaluation techniques so that farmers could evaluate experimental technologies for themselves. Finally, farmer-to-farmer learning and evaluation permitted the transfer of potentially beneficial technology from one group of farmers to another. The adoption of a participatory approach to all stages of the technology generation and dissemination cycle is rare in livestock research and this project serves as an example of the benefits which may accrue from this approach.
The technology of manual box-baling of maize stover has shown that real economic benefits can be gained from simple applied technology. Allied with stripping the more digestible portions from maize stover prior to baling, the cost of transported forage reduces from Tsh 10 per mega Joule of metabolisable energy to Tsh 4. This same technology can be applied to the roadside grass trade and provide benefits to both sellers and buyers of this forage.
Farmer-to-farmer visit and learning showed promise as a means of technology transfer and may have benefits over either training and visit approaches or local farm open days.
Manual box baling technology gave greater economic returns than the traditional
methods of handling loose, dry forages. Farmers concentrating on crop and livestock
production adopted the technology to a greater extent than those involved in off-farm
activities.
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