Improved forages allow for increased yields in meat and milk production and improved mitigation and adaptation of livestock systems to climate change, as they are more tolerant to adverse weather conditions such as prolonged droughts. They are also a good strategy for climate change mitigation as they produce more biomass of higher quality and reduce the use of space for growing animal feed. Additionally, they have the potential to reduce methane (CH4) emissions associated with ruminant diets.
During 2022 and 2023, within the framework of the OneCGIAR Market Intelligence Initiative, we conducted a study on the behavior of the improved forage seed market in East Africa, with special emphasis on Kenya, recently published in Grassland Research. Through informant interviews with key actors from the forage seed system (i.e., seed companies, research institutions, government institutions, development organizations, and producers and associations) we generated information for a qualitative analysis of the forage seed market’s recent and expected future behavior and the main challenges and opportunities for improvement it bears.