Assessment of ecosystem services knowledge, attitudes, and practices of coffee farmers using legume cover crops

The objective of our study was to find out the level of adoption of desmodium legume fodder cover crops in coffee cultivation, which is associated with enhancing ecosystem services in coffee cultivation and providing fodder production for livestock. This was evaluated using a structured face to face questionnaire with a sample of 97 farmers on knowledge, attitude and practices, which was conducted in Gewa ward, Githuguri Constituency in Kiambu County by replicating similar conditions of Arabica coffee growing areas in the tropics, where most farmers practice mixed farming. A linear regression model was used to evaluate the relationship between commercial feeds and milk production. The results indicated a significant contribution of close to 70% implying that commercial feed contribution to milk production, which was estimated to be US$ 0.2 (KSh 19) per liter of milk produced, was indicative of the impact of the lack of adequate fodder. Despite the possibility of using the desmodium legume fodder production as a coffee cover crop, the attitude varied, and there is still a significant reliance on commercial feeds for the success in milk production. Farmers generally intercrop coffee with various annual crops with a notable lack of knowledge on complementarity and related ecosystem services of desmodium as cover crops. The coffee and livestock farmers reported that weather variability exacerbates feed scarcity, increasing dependence on commercial livestock feed purchases. Milk production, being a major economic focus in many coffee areas, is mainly supported by the purchase of commercial feeds, whose volume increases when rainfall is inadequate or delayed. Our findings indicate that the adoption of legume fodder cover crops in coffee cultivation would reduce farmers' reliance on commercial feeds and increase incomes, while benefiting from ecosystem services, when adopting sustainable agricultural intensification with changing climate remaining a major concern thereby increasing their resilience.