Indigenous knowledge on the nutritional quality of urban and peri-urban livestock feed resources in Kampala, Uganda

This study identified the indigenous criteria used by livestock farmers in urban and peri-urban areas of Kampala to assess the nutritional quality of available feed resources. Focus group discussions and questionnaire interviews (with a total of 120 livestock farming households) were conducted. The findings showed that banana peels, leftover food and own-mixed feeds were the most commonly used feed resources for cattle, pigs and chickens, respectively. Farmers use several indigenous criteria to judge the nutritional quality of the available feed resources. These included perceived effects on disease resistance, feed intake, growth/body condition, hair coat appearance, faecal output, faecal texture and level of production, among others. According to farmers, animals offered with a feed resource of good nutritional quality are more resistant to diseases, ingest much of the feed, gain weight with well-filled bodies, have smooth hair coats, produce large quantities of faeces that are not too firm or watery and exhibit good performance (lactating cows produce more milk, sows produce piglets of good body size, hens lay more eggs of normal size, etc.). Although this indigenous knowledge exists, farmers put more importance on availability and cost as opposed to nutritional quality when choosing feed resources. This explains why banana peels were among the feed resources perceived to be of low nutritional quality but, at the same time, were found to be the most commonly used. Hence, there is a need to sensitise farmers on the importance of nutritional quality in ensuring better and efficient utilisation of the available feed resources.