Dairy/beef production systems research programme in Malawi

J. W. Banda and L.A. Kamwanja

University of Malawi, Department of Animal Science, Bunda College of Agriculture, Lilongwe, Malawi

Introduction
The livestock industry
The present and potential production of cattle in Malawi
Evolution/development of the research programme
Implementation of the programme
Achievements and failures
Future research programmes
References

Summary The gap between present and potential production of livestock in Malawi prompted researchers at the University of Malawi and the Ministry of Agriculture to formulate a Beef/Dairy Production Systems Research Project. Due to the short lifespan of the first project phase, not all trials planned were implemented. However, the few results obtained have indicated the possibility of improving livestock production.

Introduction

Malawi is a land-locked country with a total area of 11,848,000 ha, of which 9,427,400 ha is land and 2,421,000 ha inland water. The country is narrow, being about 840 km long from north to south and 80-160 km wide. It lies between 9 45' and 17° 05' south and 30° and 36° east. It has four agro-ecological zones:

· Lower Shire Valley - about 250 m in elevation; rainfall is below 760 mm per annum; vegetation cover is savannah with scattered thickets

· Lakeshore and Upper Shire Valley - elevation is between 300 and 600 m; rainfall varies from low to high; vegetation is lakeshore savannah and thickets

· Medium plateau - areas from 800 to 1600 m altitude, covers 75% of land area east and west of the rift valley; predominant vegetation is Brachystegia-Jubernardia woodlands

· Highland areas - elevation 1600-3000 m and comprises 8% of total land area; rainfall exceeds 1000 mm p.a.; vegetation is montane grasslands and evergreen forests.

The country has tropical and subtropical climates. Rain falls between November and April, followed by a long dry season extending from May to October. Human population is estimated at 8 million, with a growth rate of 3.3% per year.

The livestock industry

The livestock population is estimated at 0.8 million cattle, 1.0 million goats, 0.16 million sheep, 0.2 million pigs and 14 million poultry (Department of National Statistics, 1986). Almost 80% of the smallholder farmers own livestock, over 90% of which are from indigenous breeds. The contribution of livestock to smallholder income is estimated at 36% during the dry season and 44% during the wet season. The estimated contribution of livestock to the Gross Domestic Product is 7%.

The present and potential production of cattle in Malawi

In the National Research Action Plan, Munthali et al (1992) projected data on the present and potential performance of cattle in Malawi (Table 1).

Table 1. The present and potential production of cattle in Malawi.

Variable	Breed/Variety	Production
		Present	Potential
Average growth rate (g/day)	Malawi Zebu (MZ)	200.0	1300.0
Age at first calving (months)	Malawi Zebu (MZ)	40.0	33.0
Calving interval	Malawi Zebu (MZ)	14.0	12.0
Milk yields (kg day)	½ Friesian x ½ MZ	5.8	6.0
Pasture production (t/ha)	Rhodes grass	2.0	5 0

Source: Munthali et al (1992)

The data show that there is still a gap between current and potential production. Annual per capita consumption of livestock products is 10 kg of meat and 6 kg of milk (von Massow, 1985). Studies have indicated that causes of cattle product shortages are: poor nutrition, inadequate disease and parasite control, poor management and low genetic production potential of indigenous animals.

The research programme was developed within the framework of government policy and from the mandate of Bunda College of Agriculture.

The objectives of the research programme were:

· to identify production constraints and production potentials in the existing dairy and beef systems

· to develop technological solutions to production constraints

· to test the technological packages on small holder farms

· to evaluate adoption of technologies by farmers and

· to train Malawian scientists.

Development of the research programme

The Malawi Government's policy regarding livestock has three objectives:

· to meet the demand for animal protein in both rural and urban populations

· to achieve self-sufficiency in meat and dairy products and to export any surplus and

· to provide farm power from work oxen.

These aspirations have not been fully met. Malawi is still not self-sufficient in animal protein, particularly in rural areas. Some of the blame has been attributed to the greater emphasis on the development of crops rather than livestock. FAO (1985) data indicate that only 9% of the Malawi's food protein is of animal origin, compared with averages of 20% for other developing countries and 57% for developed countries. The problem of ensuring sufficient protein in the Malawi diet is made difficult by the rapidly increasing human population, which is growing at over 3.0% a year. This factor has been compounded by the influx of refugees, particularly from Mozambique.

Much of the research conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and the University of Malawi has been applied research in agriculture. The two institutions have undergone extensive restructuring to improve the delivery of services and operational efficiency. In addition, private organisations and parastatals, which include the Malawi Dairy Industries, Cold Storage Company and the Grain and Milling company, have been formed to help in the development of the livestock sector.

In 1983, a livestock and meat study was commissioned to produce guidelines for future development of livestock production.

Originally, it was planned that the beef/dairy project would be conducted in four representative agro-ecological zones of the country. After consultations with the Ministry of Agriculture, it was decided that this project should encompass the whole country. It was later envisaged that the project would facilitate the regional postgraduate MSc course in animal science at Bunda College of Agriculture.

Evolution/development of the research programme

The Dairy/Beef Production Systems (Malawi) Project was formulated in 1986 by a multidisciplinary research team from the Bunda College of Agriculture (University of Malawi) and the Chitedze Research Station (Ministry of Agriculture). Funding was obtained from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, in January 1987. The approach of the research project was on the lines of a large-scale farming systems study.

The research programme was proposed to run in two phases:

· Phase 1 (1988-90) - Diagnostic/monitoring surveys, on-station trials and MSc training in Year 1; on-station trials and on-farm trials and formulation of on-farm recommendations in years 2 and 3

· Phase 2 (1991-93) - continue with trials that were not accommodated in phase 1; address problems identified by monitoring studies; hold a workshop and develop extension recommendations.

Implementation of the programme

The focus of activities in Year 1 was on identifying constraints and potential production opportunities in the existing dairy and beef production systems and on training Malawian scientists.

A diagnostic survey was carried out in all the eight Agricultural Development Divisions (ADD) of the country. In addition, two graduate students enrolled at Bunda College of Agriculture (University of Malawi) to pursue MSc courses in animal breeding and agricultural economics (livestock). The graduate students' research was within the project's framework of objectives.

In the second year, the major focus was on developing technological solutions to production constraints that had been identified and on testing solutions on smallholder farms. In addition, monitoring studies were carried out in all the target areas to ascertain whether production constraints identified by the diagnostic survey in the first year presented real problems. The other objectives were achieved by conducting experiments and trials on-station and on-farm. During the year, pasture utilisation experiments were also established.

Achievements and failures

The programme had some success in meeting its objectives during years 1 and 2. However, not all the planned studies were completed due to the turnover of team members. The objective of evaluating adoption of technologies by farmers was transferred to phase 2.

This report emphasises the results of studies conducted in years 1 and 2.

Diagnostic survey

Production constraints and potentials of existing dairy/beef production systems are summarised in Table 2. Predominant constraints included diseases and nutritional disorders, restricted grazing areas, poor housing, lack of dip tanks and scarcity of feed, such as concentrates. All these are endogenous factors since they are affected by decisions made by individual farmers.

Table 2. Constraints to beef/dairy production in Malawi (% of respondents)

	Beef		Dairy
	Farmers	Veterinary assistants	Farmers	Veterinary assistants
Disease nutritional disorders	41.0	38.4	31.2	47.6
Restricted grazing areas	23.6	26.6	10.9	16.9
No dip tank	14.7	7.2	2.0	0.4
Housing	4.5	10.3	4.5	14.8
Scarcity of feed (concentrates)	-	-	21.2	3.9
Low prices of produce	-	0.1	4.3	-
Others

Source: Beef/Dairy Production System (Malawi) Project (1988)

Constraints in stall-feeding systems were:

· lack of feed
· lack of cash to buy feed
· disease and nutritional disorders and
· long disposal time after the animals were finished and ready for the market.

The most important diseases, in descending order, were: East Coast fever, trypanosomiasis, lumpy skin disease, foot-and-mouth disease and blackquarter (Zimba, 1990) (Table 3). Disease occurrence varied between ADDs. East Cost fever was the most persistent and wide-spread disease in the central and northern regions while trypanosomiasis was more evident in Salima and Mzuzu. Parasites, e.g. roundworms, ticks and liver flukes, seem to be more prevalent in Lilongwe and the southern region.

Table 3. Major diseases and parasites as reported by veterinary assistants.

Disease/parasite	% of respondents
East Coast fever	22.6
Worms liver fluke, wireworms, roundworms	18.6
Trypanosomiasis	14.4
Lumpy skin disease	12.6
Blackquarter	8.2
Anaplasmosis	8.0
Other*	15.6

* Foot and mouth disease, tuberculosis, rinderpest etc.

Animals are commonly vaccinated against foot-and-mouth, lumpy skin disease and blackquarter. Over 60% of the farmers deworm cattle that are sick and over 70% dipped their cattle. Dairy cattle do not walk to dip tanks but are sprayed on the farms using a hand sprayer.

Socio-economic constraints on smallholder dairy production in the Lilongwe milkshed area

A study was initiated to determine the major socio-economic constraints on smallholder dairy production in the Lilongwe milkshed area.

The survey indicated that the major constraints on smallholder dairy production in the Lilongwe milkshed area included the following endogenous factors: inadequate land, lack of dairy foundation stock, ignorance and poor management (Annual Technical Report, Beef/Dairy Project, 1988). Exogenous factors observed were caused by marketing problems, resulting in sour milk, delayed payments and low milk prices.

From these constraints, a set of measures were developed including intensification of alley cropping, flexibility on the mandatory prerequisite for potential dairy farmers to have at least 1.21 ha of pasture, expansion of breeding programmes, assessment of technical and economic feasibility, the promotion of alternative livestock species such as goats and sheep, involvement of private breeders in multiplying the foundation stock, intensification of dairy extension programmes on general management, establishment of small-scale rural processing plants to minimise souring of milk and annual price increases that reflect cost of milk production.

Evaluation of the productivity of dairy cattle on smallholder and government farms

The British Friesian is smaller than the Canadian Holstein and the former was selected for crossbreeding programmes for smallholder conditions in Malawi. As a follow up, the performance of Malawi Zebu/Friesian crosses has been evaluated on research stations and on-farm (Table 4).

Table 4. Average milk yield performance of British Friesians and crossbreds with Malawi Zebu.

	Genotype (proportion of Friesian blood)
	1/2F	3/4F	7/8F	HGF	F
Smallholder farms
Number	554	227	20	12
Calving interval (months)	16.3	16.1
Lactation length (days)	368	391	303	304
Lactation yield (kg)	1953	2424	2060	2489
Lactation yield/day (kg)	5.3	6.2	6.8	8.2
Calculated annual production (kg)	1689	2054
Government farms (research stations)
Number	52	151	66	220	97
Calving interval (months)	13.6	16.1	15.5	14.9	16.6
Lactation length (days)	307	331	323	302	306
Lactation yield (kg)	1677	2316	2568	2602	2790
Lactation yield/day (kg)	5.5	7.4	6.0	8.6	9.1
Calculated annual production (kg)	1480	1726	1988	2096	2017

Source: Kasowanjete and Sill (1988).

The Friesian foundation stock was imported from the Britain. Animal performance on government and smallholder farms has been variable (Table 4). The 1/2 Friesian, 3/4 Friesian, 7/8 Friesian, High Grade (15/16 and 31/32 Friesian) crosses and pure-bred Friesians kept on government research farms give higher average daily milk yield than those kept on smallholdings. Agyemang and Nkhonjera (1986) and Kasowanjete and Sill (1988) reported that the differences were due to differences in feeding levels. In 1988, feeding a dairy cow over a 309-day lactation cost approximately K 950 (US$ 450, as at 1988), a sum unaffordable to many Malawi smallholder farmers. Extension workers should, therefore, advise farmers to keep lower grades of crossbreds.

Three-quarter Friesians gave higher annual milk production and total lactation production than 1/2 Friesians (Table 4); differences were larger on government farms. The variance in the annual yield reflected the dissimilarity in management in the two production systems.

Performance of locally reared Holsteins on government farms and smallholdings

In addition to the Friesians imported from the Britain, some Holsteins were imported from Canada. Their offspring were evaluated on-farm and on-station (Table 5).

Table 5. The performance of Holsteins born in Malawi on both government and smallholder farms.

	Smallholder			Government			Significance
	n	Mean	sd	n	Mean	sd
Calving interval (months)	9	14.3	2.1	72	11.7	1.3	*
Lactation length (days)	11	354	30.1	88	309	42.3	*
Lactation milk yield (kg)	11	4203	1039.9	88	5284	1070	NS
Milk yield/day (kg)	11	11.8	2.7	88	17.0	2.7	*
Annual milk yield (kg)		5052			5937

Locally reared Holstein cows on government farms out-yielded those placed on smallholdings because the former were better fed and managed than the latter. The results also indicate that the productivity of Canadian Holstein is much higher than that of the British Friesians under similar conditions.

The effect of urea-treated maize stover on the performance of lactating crossbred dairy cows

A diet based on urea-treated maize stover was introduced in an attempt to find ways to improve on-farm feeding of dairy cows. A total of 12 half-bred Sahiwals (Sahiwal x Friesian x Malawi Zebu) and high-grade Friesian crosses (Friesian and Malawi Zebu) were used in the experiments. The treatments were as follows:

· Maize stover sprayed with water at the rate of 1 litre of water to 1 kg of maize stover dry matter (DM) (control)

· Maize stover sprayed with 2% urea solution (20 g urea in 1 litre water) at the rate of 1 litre of urea solution to 1 kg of maize stover DM

· Maize stover sprayed with 4% urea solution at the rate of 1 litre of solution to 1 kg of maize stover DM.

The sprayed maize stover was ensiled before feeding. Treatment groups of cows were balanced according to breed, initial mean weekly milk yield, lactation number and days in lactation.

Ensiled maize stover was fed ad libitum and each cow received 5 kg of maize bran fed in equal proportions in the morning and afternoon. Dry-matter intake, liveweight change and milk yield were recorded for 84 days in mid-lactation.

Maize stover treated with water alone had a pleasant silage-type smell, whereas an ammonia smell was evident in the stover treated with urea solutions. The crude protein content in au three treatments was similar, at an average of about 10.8%.

The performance of the cows fed the three ensiled maize stovers is given in Table 6. All cows were healthy, although they lost an average of 0.5 kg of body weight daily. Silage intake was similar, although cows that received stover treated with water alone tended to consume more silage than cows fed urea-treated stover. As expected, all the maize bran was consumed. Milk yields were 6.1, 5.2 and 4.5 kg/cow per day for the 0, 2 and 4% urea-treated maize stover, respectively. Treating maize stover with urea did not show any advantage over treating it with water alone in both liveweight changes and milk yield.

Table 6. Performance of dairy cows fed ensiled maize stover treated with urea solution.

Parameter	Maize stover + water	Maize stover + 2% urea	Maize stover + 4% urea
Number of animals	4	4	4
Initial liveweight (kg)	358.0	303.0	378.6
Final liveweight (kg)	316.0	271.1	346.2
Liveweight change (kg)	-42.0	-39.0	-32.4
Days on test	84	84	84
Daily weight change (kg)	-0.5	-0.4	-0.4
Feed intake/cow per day (kg)	7.5	6.8	6.6
Milk yield/cow per day (kg)	6.1	5.2	4.5

Source: Beef Dairy Production System (Malawi) Project (1990).

Weight loss was attributed to the generally low overall feed intake of the test group animals. Feed intake was depressed by ammonia. A possible solution might, therefore, be to feed the urea-treated stover with other feed ingredients or to sprinkle the stover with a saline solution. In some cases, a combination of urea treatment with other processes, such as lacerating or chopping, might improve penetration of the chemicals and water, resulting in improved delignification.

Evaluation of the research programme

The objective of Malawi's agricultural production policy remains the attainment of self-sufficiency in production of all food crops and livestock. The National Rural Development Programme (NRDP) has involved as many smallholder farmers as possible, not only to increase the supply of food energy and protein but also to enhance the earning capacity of the rural population by providing an incentive to increase production.

Institutional capabilities

The Bunda College of Agriculture (University of Malawi) and the Department of Agricultural Research (Ministry of Agriculture) both have long histories of research in animal sciences and have highly qualified staff. Staff involved in the study covered a range of disciplines and included one reproductive physiologist (PhD), one animal nutritionist (PhD), two animal breeders (PhD and MSc), one dairy production/general management specialist (PhD), two pasture agronomists (PhD), one agricultural economist (PhD), one field services/disease control specialist (MSc) and one farm structure specialist (PhD). During the course of the project two MSc students and others were trained in statistical analysis and accounting.

Appropriateness of technologies

Results show that reduction in the availability of land, shortage of stock and poor management practices are still the major constraints to dairy production in Malawi. Thus farmer training should focus on improving animal management, feed production and feed conservation.

Although most of the studies on nutrition need to be repeated both on-station and on-farm, the indication is that milk yields can be increased through improved feeding.

The studies on socio-economic constraints indicated that the lack of foundation stock was a major limitation to the expansion of dairying. The on-farm and on-station studies showed large differences in milk yields between breeds and animals with different proportions of exotic blood. However, performance was strongly influenced by management, especially on farms.

In summary, these results have helped in the understanding of how the performance of beef and dairy cattle are influenced by various factors.

Future research programmes

The next phase of the project should emphasise on-farm trials on genotypic evaluation of cattle, feeding, management, disease control, housing and reproduction. Primary objectives should be to shorten calving intervals, improve milk production and reduce the cost of production.

References

Agyemang K and Nkonjera L P. 1986. Evaluation of the productivity of crossbred d airy cattle on small holder and Government farms in the Republic of Malawi ILCA. ILCA Research Report 12. ILCA (International Livestock Centre for Africa), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Beef/Dairy Production System (Malawi) Project. 1988. Annual technical report. IDRC (International Development Research Centre), Nairobi, Kenya.

Beef/Dairy Production System (Malawi) Project. 1990. Annual technical report. IDRC (International Development Research Centre), Nairobi, Kenya.

Department of National Statistics. 1986. National sample survey of agriculture 1985/86. Government Printer, Zomba, Malawi.

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 1985. Production yearbook. FAO, Rome, Italy.

Kasowanjete M B B and Sill O. 1988. Crossbreeding of indigenous breeds with Friesians in Malawi. Paper presented at the 7th World Holstein/Friesian Conference, 1-6 February, 1988, Nairobi, Kenya.

Munthali J T. Mtukuso A P. Kumwenda M S. Msiska H D, Jere J A, Msiska E M and Zimba A W. 1992. Malawi livestock pastures: Research action plan, 1992-2002. Department of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Lilongwe, Malawi.

von Massow V H. 1989. Dairy imports into sub-Saharan Africa: Problems, policies and prospects. ILCA Research Report 17. ILCA (International Livestock Centre for Africa), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 46 pp.

Zimba A W. 1990. A report on ILCA's assistance in statistical data analysis of dairy/beef production systems (Malawi). Department of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Lilongwe, Malawi.