The author can be contacted at the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, PO Box 1031, Islamabad, Pakistan. He is the national expert of FAO/UNDP Project PAK/86/027 at Gilgit.
Les zones septentrionales du Pakistan connaissent une longue saison hivernale pendant laquelle le bétail n'a pas accès aux pâturages d'altitude et doit être dans une large mesure nourri avec des résidus de récolte et du fourrage conservé dans cette intention. Cette région éloignée est d'un accès difficile et ce n'est que tout récemment qu'on y a sérieusement développé la production de fourrage. La technique utilisée s'inspire de celles qui ont été mises au point dans d'autres parties du Pakistan. Elle a été bien acceptée et judicieusement adaptée aux demandes des très petites exploitations et des systèmes d'exploitation locaux à basse altitude. L'introduction de variétés adaptées de fourrages traditionnels a grandement amélioré les rendements dans l'ensemble des zones. Cette initiative très positive, associée aux efforts constants déployés en vue d'intensifier la production fourragère, est parvenue à attirer l'attention des agriculteurs sur l'importance des fourrages dans la production animale. Il convient toutefois de poursuivre les travaux en vue d'optimiser les rendements à haute altitude. La technique est actuellement appliquée dans d'autres régions où règnent des conditions agroécologiques analogues.
Las zonas septentrionales del Pakistán tienen un invierno prolongado, en el que no se dispone de pasto alpino y el ganado depende en gran medida de los residuos de las cosechas y el forraje conservado. El acceso a esta remota región es difícil y sólo recientemente se ha estudiado con detalle el mejoramiento del forraje. La tecnología utilizada se basa en la que se ha perfeccionado en otras partes del Pakistán. La aceptación ha sido general y se ha adaptado con éxito para satisfacer la demanda de las explotaciones muy pequeñas y los sistemas agrícolas locales de altitudes menores. La introducción de variedades adaptadas de forrajes tradicionales ha mejorado notablemente el rendimiento en todas las zonas. Gracias a estos resultados muy positivos, unidos a los constantes esfuerzos para mejorar la producción de forraje, se ha conseguido que los agricultores se interesen por la contribución del forraje a la producción pecuaria. Sin embargo, hay que seguir trabajando para obtener resultados óptimos a mayores altitudes. Ahora se está transfiriendo la tecnología a otras zonas con condiciones agroecológicas análogas.
Pakistan's northern areas extend over 75 000 km2 of extremely
steep, broken and mountainous land with some of the world's highest peaks. Arable land is
very scarce and often in the form of stone-walled terraces with retaining soil imported.
The arable land holding is 0.075 ha per caput while the livestock population, mainly small
stock and cattle, is three million. The main pasture lands are in the high alpine zone,
several days' march from the irrigated lands and villages which are situated in the
valleys. These pastures, which are snow-free only in summer, provide good seasonal
grazing. The land between the pastures and the valleys is largely bare and arid,
consisting of extremely steep slopes and screes with only sparse vegetation. Access to the
area, which lies in the rain-shadow behind the Himalaya and below the great Karakoram and
Pamir Ranges, is extremely difficult, passing through the gorges of the Indus and
Himalayan rivers or over high passes. The work was carried out in the Gilgit Agency, based
at Gilgit (35o53'N; 1 482 m altitude; annual rainfall 130 mm) which is at the
lower end of the altitude range - the main inhabited lands of the northern areas are
between 1 100 and 2 200 masl (Whiteman, 1985; Dost, 1995).
Cereals are the mainstay of local annual cropping. Wheat and maize are the chief crops,
with winter wheat in the lower areas. Orchard crops, especially apricots and walnuts, are
a major agricultural activity, while fodder is an important traditional part of the
cropping system, both for conserved feed and fertility maintenance. The northern areas
have never been self-sufficient in cereals and traditionally obtain part of their
requirements by trade.
Lack of quality fodder, especially during winter, is a major constraint to improving
livestock production. Small stock and all cattle not required for household milk
production range long distances to obtain summer feed on the high pastures. All stock in
winter have to rely on crop residues and fodder and, consequently, many animals are
undernourished and weak in spring. The poor state of the livestock in spring is not due to
a lack of knowledge - the polo ponies are usually in excellent order - but rather a lack
of feed. Improving the management of the high-altitude summer pastures would be a very
difficult and time-consuming task and would not alleviate the winter problem. All emphasis
has therefore been put on improving fodder production and conservation on the agricultural
holdings. Since holding size is minute, the aim must be to maximize production per unit of
area.
Fodder production in these isolated, high areas had been little studied before the present
livestock production development project. The population has had no easy access to the
technology and seed supplies available on the plains and, for the higher areas, technology
from lower down is not appropriate. The three years of demonstration and adaptive research
have been highly successful and, in the lower areas, the technology has been rapidly
accepted by farmers. These techniques are now being demonstrated in similar zones of the
Chitral Agency towards the Afghan border.
Berseem grown near the homestead
Culture de bersim près d'une exploitation familiale
Trébol de Alejandría cultivado cerca del recinto familiar
Photo/Foto: J.M. Suttie
Fodder is an important crop throughout Pakistan and a great deal of research has been carried out in other provinces as part of a coordinated national programme, so the first priority was to try "best bet" techniques and varieties from among those already available in Punjab and North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), the adjacent provinces. For the lower, milder areas, some technologies were ready to hand for demonstration. The main ones were the use of non-dormant lucernes; the use of berseem instead of the traditional shaftal, since berseem is more productive in autumn and winter; the use of broad-leaved, multicut oat varieties instead of cutting green wheat or using old, poor oats; and the introduction of multicut hybrid sorghums as summer fodder (Table 1). Seed of the varieties demonstrated is available commercially in Punjab or North-West Frontier Province.
1
Yields of some leguminous
Rendements de diverses légumineuses fourragères
Rendimiento de algunas leguminosas forrajeras
Variety |
Green feed |
Air-dry matter |
(tonnes/ha) |
||
Local lucerne |
55 |
19 |
Sundar lucerne |
120 |
45 |
Sundar + oats |
190 |
58 |
Shaftal |
45 |
14 |
Berseem + oats |
130 |
47 |
All demonstration and adaptive research work is carried out in the fields
with the participation of the farmers themselves, using tools available on the farm.
Husbandry standards are generally high and farmers have shown great enthusiasm. This
method of working has assured that testing and demonstration were really aimed at true
farm conditions and allowed instant feedback from the farming community. Those varieties
and techniques which gave good results have been rapidly accepted by the community, but
only after much dialogue at the beginning and after field demonstrations. The work is not
complex but it did require patience and much attention to detail.
In parallel with the fodder technology, disease-resistant, higher-yielding varieties of
the main field crops, especially wheat and maize, were available. Demonstrations of these
were included in the programme, since they are essential to the farming system as much as
straw is necessary for the livestock sector. The demonstration of better wheat cultivation
has often served as a useful first contact with farmers.
Non-winter-dormant lucerne varieties, introduced by the project (Sundar is the main
variety), have been very successful. In some cases they may suffer some frost-burn but
they produce throughout the year and yield more than double the yield of the landrace in
the lower areas (the lower lands are in the majority). The new variety also provides green
feed in the difficult December-January period when traditional crops are dormant.
Berseem provides five to six cuts per season (October to May), whereas the traditional
shaftal varieties provide only two to three and do not produce during the winter. The
mixture of oats with berseem is very popular; as well as increasing overall yield, oats
provide feed during the coldest and most problematic part of the season.
Fodder oat cultivation has advanced greatly in Pakistan in recent years. Improved oat
varieties are a potentially valuable fodder for the northern areas, since they grow much
earlier and more vigorously than other winter-grown cereals. They resist temperatures down
to -16°C, and fodder was produced at Gilgit and Chilas at a time when no other green feed
was available. Yields of 100 to 108 tonnes per ha of green feed were obtained. Oats are
excellent for mixing with berseem or lucerne. All lucerne was row-sown at 30 cm, which
permits intercultivation and seeding with oats in autumn, thereby maximizing yields from
very limited land.
Multicut forage sorghums (sorghum/Sudan grass hybrids), which were unknown in the area,
provide an excellent means of increasing fodder production in summer, producing three to
four times as much fodder as the local maize. Local maize yields averaged 39 tonnes of
green fodder, whereas the sorghum hybrids ranged from 110 to 138 tonnes with an average of
38 tonnes per ha of air-dry material (Table 2). Trials of conserving excess production as
silage have been encouraging.
2
Comparison of forage sorghums, local and improved maizes
Comparaison de sorghos fourragers, du maïs local et de diverses variétés de maïs
améliorées
Comparación del forraje a base de sorgo con el de maíz local y mejorado
Variety |
Average green fodder |
Average dry yield |
Average grain |
MAIZE VARIETIES |
|||
Local maize |
39 |
16 |
2.25 |
C-77 |
54 |
28 |
4.50 |
Gauhar |
45 |
26 |
3.75 |
Kisan |
58 |
31 |
5.35 |
Pahari |
40 |
23 |
3.40 |
Azam |
43 |
31 |
4.50 |
FORAGE SORGHUMS |
|||
Forage sorghum |
110 |
33 |
- |
Sordan-91 |
138 |
36 |
- |
S.S.G-988 |
135 |
34 |
- |
There is adequate technology to deal with the preliminary improvement of
fodder production and conservation in the lower areas of the Agency but practical
investigations continue. Adaptive research has been carried out in parallel with the
demonstrations - further variety testing continues on farms and at local stations. The
search for species and varieties for the highest, coldest areas involves lucerne,
crown-vetch (Coronilla sp.) red clover, oats and vetches. Fertilizer trials have
shown that, for leguminous crops, sulphur is a major limiting factor, more so than
phosphorus.
The problem of assuring seed supply still has to be solved. Some can be produced locally,
such as oats and shaftal, but holding size is so small that the full demand cannot be met.
Seeds of the varieties recommended are readily available in other parts of Pakistan and it
is hoped that, as the demand increases, local merchants will assure the supply in the main
villages as they do for other major crops.
Taking home summer fodder
Enfants rentrant du fourrage
Transporte a casa de forraje de verano
Photo/Foto: J.M. Suttie
Straw stored for use as fodder
Paille conservée comme fourrage
Paja almacenada como forraje
Photo/Foto: J.M. Suttie
It is not easy to assess impact in a scattered community with a crop which is consumed by animals. In the third year of activities, however, 2 550 farmers are participating in improved fodder production and some 1 650 kg of seed have been sold by the project in addition to those brought in by local merchants. In 1995, 800 farmers in Gilgit, 500 in Ghizer, 300 in Skardu, 250 in Ghanche and 700 in Diamar participated in the project. It is safe to assume, therefore, that the technologies introduced by the project have been taken up widely by the farming community.
Farmers know that both quantity and quality of fodder must be maximized and they have developed the following practices, many of which are prevalent in other hilly areas in the Himalaya-Hindu-Kush region:
Fallows and stubbles are grazed and the opening of all land to grazing during some seasons, especially between harvest of summer crops, and wheat sowing (which is usually delayed for this reason) is a widespread custom. This causes considerable damage to standing fodders and, in many villages, farmers are now enclosing their fields and orchards with stone walls. The local lucerne variety withstands grazing very well, developing a prostrate habit if grazed. Shaftal, the common annual clover here, also stands up well to direct grazing, whereas berseem does not. Any general improvement of the local agriculture and fodder production will probably have to involve enclosure. The argument that "the livestock have to graze" is false, since wandering stock destroy a lot of fodder which, if carefully managed, would provide far more feed.
Dost, M. 1995. Report on fodder component. PAK/86/027 Gilgit.
Islamabad, FAO/UNDP.
Whiteman, P.T.S. l985. Mountain oases. Technical report of agricultural
studies in Gilgit District. PAK/80/009. Islamabad, FAO/UNDP.