Integrated Rangeland management for Sustainable agriculture and animal production

Abstract

The traditional integrated rangeland management for agriculture and animal production in Sudan is classified generally as less effective for increasing local people income. Despite the richness of rangeland resources, there is still a weakness in production systems in Kadugli locality. The best approaches to increase rangeland production capacity, is to introduce integration approaches in rangeland management, for agriculture and animal production in sustainable manner. The study was conducted in Kadugli locality rangeland in Southern Kordofan, as one of the richest rangeland in the Sudan. Kadugli locality is characteised by large area with fertile soil. Despite the numerous efforts in agriculture extension conducted by IFAD and the ministry of agriculture, still poor systems are used in Kadugli locality. The study aimed to assess the opportunities for increasing the current contribution to improve efficiency in the management and use of natural resources. Demonstration of low- input integrated agriculture and animal’s production systems for sustainable rangeland production is necessary. The primary dada was collected using two different questionnaires. The first questionnaire targeted the settled village’s people, while the second one targeted the Government related bodies that deal with natural and agriculture resources. The secondary data was collected from books, and scientific papers. The first questionnaire was designed to obtain information from five villages, namely Meri Bara, Tellow, Colba, Shaeir and Koyia. The interview covered (40) households from the five villages, eight household from each. The second questionnaire was prepared to collect information from the related corporations, namely Ministry of Agriculture and Forest, Ministry of Animal Production and Animals Wealth, Animals Union, Agriculture Union and Range and pasture Administration The result showed that livestock in Kadugli locality depend mainly on rangeland vegetation and crops residues. The feed resource provides a direct link between crops and animals. Rangeland becomes traditionally socio-economic component and cultural systems in kadugli. Integrated farming and livestock is an old practice consisting of the culture associated with the husbandry of domesticated animals, and mixed crop production with animal production systems. The integration of livestock and crop production is important in the sense that the soil is fertilized by animal dunk, to make integrated culture economically feasible. The traditional farming systems in Kadugli locality have been based on adaptation of variable rainfall and widely available land. Integrated farming plays major role in increasing employment opportunities, and increases income of rural people. The study recommended that using traditional knowledge to develop and to regulate rural production systems for increasing local people income. Farming combined with animal husbandry should be introduced and developed in small scale rural farming. Employment integration approaches for agriculture, animal production, resources assessment and planning is needed.