The adoption and dissemination of fodder shrubs in central Kenya

Abstract

Fodder shrubs have great potential for increasing the income of smallholder dairy farmers. This paper documents their uptake in central Kenya and the efforts of a range of institutions to promote their adoption. The successful dissemination of new knowledge-intensive practices such as fodder shrubs requires much more than the transfer of knowledge and germplasm; it involves building partnerships with a range of stakeholders, ensuring appropriateness of the practice, assisting local communities to mobilise resources, and ensuring participation of farmers' groups in evaluating the practice. The main challenge of the future is how to make such flows of information and germplasm self-sustaining.