Farmers' experiences in the management and utilisation of Calliandra calothyrsus, a fodder shrub in Uganda

Abstract

Understanding farmers’ experiences and practices is important in facilitating the development and introduction of technologies that meet farmers’ aspirations and are thus likely to be adopted by them. This paper documents farmers’ experiences in the management and utilisation of an important agroforestry tree species, Calliandra calothyrsus, in Uganda. Specifically the report provides information on farmers’ knowledge, perceptions and practices in the cultivation and utilisation of calliandra; and their experiences of the species’s pest and disease problems. We conducted a survey using a pre-tested questionnaire in three agroecological zones. Implications of the findings for scaling up the adoption of calliandra and agroforestry technologies, in general, are discussed