Dairy development provides substantial potential economic opportunities for smallholder farmers in East Africa, but productivity is constrained by the scarcity of quantity and quality feed. Ruminant livestock production is also associated with negative environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, air pollution, high water consumption, land-use change, and loss of biodiversity. Improved livestock feeding and forages have been highlighted as key entry point to sustainable intensification, increasing food security, and decreasing environmental trade-offs including GHG emission intensities. In this perspective article, we argue that farming systems approaches are essential to understand the multiple roles and impacts of forages in smallholder livelihoods. First, we outline the unique position of forages in crop-livestock systems and systemic obstacles to adoption that call for multidisciplinary thinking. Second, we discuss the importance of matching forage technologies with agroecological and socioeconomic contexts and niches, and systems agronomy that is required. Third, we demonstrate the usefulness of farming systems modeling to estimate multidimensional impacts of forages and for reducing agro-environmental trade-offs. We conclude that improved forages in East Africa are at a crossroads: if adopted by farmers at scale, they can be a cornerstone of pathways toward sustainable livestock systems in East Africa.

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在十字路口改善饲养和饲草：东非可持续畜牧业发展的农业系统方法

乳制品的发展为东非的小农提供了大量潜在的经济机会，但生产力受到数量和质量饲料稀缺的限制。反刍牲畜生产还与负面环境影响有关，包括温室气体 (GHG) 排放、空气污染、高耗水量、土地利用变化和生物多样性丧失。改进牲畜饲养和饲料已被强调为可持续集约化、提高粮食安全和减少包括温室气体排放强度在内的环境权衡的关键切入点。在这篇观点文章中，我们认为农业系统方法对于理解牧草在小农生计中的多重作用和影响至关重要。第一的，我们概述了牧草在作物-牲畜系统中的独特地位以及需要多学科思考的系统性障碍。其次，我们讨论了将牧草技术与农业生态和社会经济背景和生态位以及所需的系统农学相匹配的重要性。第三，我们证明了农业系统建模在估计牧草的多维影响和减少农业-环境权衡方面的有用性。我们得出的结论是，东非的改良草料正处于十字路口：如果农民大规模采用，它们可以成为东非可持续畜牧系统道路的基石。我们讨论了将牧草技术与农业生态和社会经济背景和生态位以及所需的系统农学相匹配的重要性。第三，我们证明了农业系统建模在估计牧草的多维影响和减少农业-环境权衡方面的有用性。我们得出的结论是，东非的改良牧草正处于十字路口：如果农民大规模采用，它们可以成为东非可持续畜牧系统道路的基石。我们讨论了将牧草技术与农业生态和社会经济背景和生态位以及所需的系统农学相匹配的重要性。第三，我们证明了农业系统建模在估计牧草的多维影响和减少农业-环境权衡方面的有用性。我们得出的结论是，东非的改良草料正处于十字路口：如果农民大规模采用，它们可以成为东非可持续畜牧系统道路的基石。