A short-term improved fallow system based on forage legumes is suggested for crop-livestock farming systems in subhumid West Africa targeted to enhance soil fertility and dry season feed for cattle. At two sites, 13 legume species were compared with the natural fallow vegetation, the nutritive value of which typically fails to meet cattle requirements during the dry season. Establishment, dry matter yield and nutritive value of leguminous herbage in the year of establishment were evaluated as well as regeneration of legumes after a cropping phase.

A short-term improved fallow system based on forage legumes for enhancing crop and livestock components of mixed farming systems was tested in the subhumid zone of West Africa. As part of the evaluation, the ability of 11 legume species (Centrosema macrocarpum, C. pubescens, Stylosanthes guianensis, Pueraria phaseoloides, Mucuna pruriens, Zornia glabra, Dioclea guianensis, Arachis pintoi, Aeschynomene histrix, Calopogonium caeruleum, Flemingia macrophylla) to accumulate biomass and nitrogen after dry season harvest of herbage was assessed at 2 sites in south-west Nigeria.

In a short-term improved fallow for crop-livestock farming systems of subhumid west Africa, rotational effects from a range of forage legumes on a subsequent maize crop were studied at two sites in south-west Nigeria. Nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) export from the fallows in the form of dry season herbage and subsequent nutrient accumulation in the green manure biomass were correlated with growth patterns of maize subsequently grown on the legume plots.

What’s the future for Africa’s livestock herders as our climate changes, becomes less predictable, heats up? How can scientific research help remote pastoral communities? Among the poorest of the world’s poor, herders supply milk and meat not only for themselves but for large numbers of other poor people. Although their animals produce few of the greenhouse gasses harming the earth, these people will be among those most hurt by the climate changes we expect. Population growth and land degradation are already causing problems over much of the continent’s traditional rangelands.

Grazing reserves in Nigeria are areas set aside for the use of pastoralists and are intended to be the foci of livestock development. The stated purpose of grazing reserves is the settlement of nomadic pastoralists they offer security of tenure as an inducement to sedentarization through the provision of land for grazing and permanent water. This paper reviews problems associated with grazing reserves and offers suggestions to make them more productive and relevant to the needs of the intended beneficiaries.