Better feed for livestock

UAE farmers are being taught to enhance their productivity by improving the nutrition levels of the animal feed for their livestock.

Farmers are being taught to enhance their productivity by improving the nutrition levels of the animal feed for their livestock.

The International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture is teaching them to add value and improve feed storage life so they can use it at any time.

Fodder crops can be processed into silage or feed blocks, and made more nutritious by adding urea for protein or molasses for fermentation.

Other aspects of farming that are being taught include fertiliser types, irrigation methods, soil preparations, ploughing, and care of the plants from seed to harvest.

Researchers at the centre hope farmers will pass their knowledge on to their peers.

The next step will involve selecting the most suitable seeds and fodder crops.

With the demand for seeds being very high, the centre is focusing on ways to produce them locally so it can distribute them to farmers across the region.

* Caline Malek