Push-pull agroforestry-fodder and insect-protein production in women-led climate-smart livestock systems in Botswana and South Africa

Smallholder farmers in developing countries, particularly marginalized and women-headed families, face significant challenges due to climate change. Livestock provides food, income and a safety net, yet farmers are often unable to manage the impacts of climate change on livestock productivity. Feed scarcity and pest and disease outbreaks threaten livestock health and resilience. Supplementary feeding using sustainable legume-fodder and insect-based protein could help address feed shortages but may also introduce economic and environmental challenges. There is limited research on practical, low-cost ways to manage the environmental and financial impacts of these interventions or on local ethnoveterinary practices to control goat parasites, such as gastrointestinal nematodes, which reduce dependence on costly drugs.

This project investigates the circular, on-farm integration of sustainable practices to improve goat productivity and health while reducing environmental impacts and generating income for women. The research incorporates push-pull technology for pest and weed management in fodder production. It supplements fodder with insect-based protein, uses ethnoveterinary plants to control gastrointestinal nematodes in goats, and assesses the potential reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. With local farmers, the project will co-develop pest-repellent plants to limit pesticide/herbicide use in fodder production, establish community seedbanks for women farmers and evaluate the feasibility and impact of combining these interventions into goat diets.

This project is part of the Climate-Resilient Animal Fund initiative (RECAF), co-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and IDRC. RECAF is a six-year initiative aimed at developing new climate-smart livestock technologies and business models to improve animal productivity and lower emissions for smallholder livestock farmers in climatic hotspots in Africa.