Hybrid Napier Grass CO(BN)5 Cultivation as a Sustainable Self Employment for Livestock Farming

                                                                                                                                                                        Hybrid Napier Grass CO(BN)5 Cultivation as a Sustainable Self Employment for Livestock Farming

A renewed interest in sustainable agriculture and the development of napier grass hybrids as a source of both food and profitable crop yields has made the return of the self-employed farmer a viable and even lucrative occupation once again.

For many years, napier grass, also called elephant grass, has been used as fodder for livestock, particularly in regions where it grows wild, like Northern Africa and parts of India. It’s to grow with very little care, water, or fertilizer makes its both affordable and sustainable for both small and large scale dairy farms, in particular, those in both tropical and arid climates where the dry season makes finding an adequate, nutrient rich source of feed for milk producing animals exceptionally difficult. Using a “cut and carry method” (in which the grass is cut at its harvesting location and then brought to the livestock), it has become an invaluable resource for farmers struggling to find a reliable, renewable source of feed for their animals.

Unfortunately, the cut and carry method can present challenges to the self-employed farmer who might not have the tools or the transportation needed to harvest large quantities of napier grass from one location and bring it to another location. Additionally, traditional elephant grass can yield leafs that are “hairy” and course, making it difficult for ruminant animals to digest. These factors inspired sustainable agriculture proponents to look for ways in which they could take the benefits provided by traditional napier grass and breed a better hybrid alternative.     

Hybrid Napier Grass CO(BN)5

One of the most successful and durable hybrids in the napier grass family is the CO5 strain developed in India. It was bred to have superior qualities that made it a natural fit for sustainable agriculture. These include:

• It’s incredibly rich nutrient content, making it a near perfect source of food for livestock.
• It’s increased resistance to drought and ability to flourish even in very weak soil.
• It produces more leaves, the most palatable part of the plant for animals.
• It’s incredibly rapid growth rate, growing up to 3 meters in as many months and its ability to do so without the aid of chemical fertilizers, a must in modern sustainable farming initiatives.
• Using the slip method for establishing new crops, it quickly propagates on a new field and returns a profitable harvest for the farmer.

Due to these superior characteristics, the Napier grass CO5 hybrid varietal is one of the most popular versions of Napier grass available today.

Using Napier Grass in Sustainable Farming

One of the most popular applications of sustainable farming is the concept of “intercropping”. Rather than growing the same crop on the same field year after year, the practice of intercropping means that two or more “crops” are grown at the same time. The benefits of intercropping for the farmer and the environment include:

• Provides crop insurance. Intercropping offers protection to the farmer if one of the crops planted fails due to inclement weather conditions or attack from a pest. With intercropping, if one crop fails due to outside circumstances, the farmer would still have the other crop or crops to fall back on.
• Preservation of the soil of the field. When the same crop is tilled and planted every year on the same field, eventually the soil will be impacted by the demand for the same nutrients to support that crop, eventually striping the dirt. Varying the crops gives the soil a break and allows it to rest.
• Protection of cash crops. In the “push-pull” method of sustainable farming, one crop is planted on the outer rim of the plantation field and used as a “pull” for pests, then traps them. Napier grass is particularly effective in this capacity because it emits a scent that attracts pests, and then secretes a sticky substance that traps them in the grass, keeping them from getting to the cash crop inside the perimeter.

These days, Napier grass in the C05 hybrid variety is being used in an intercropping model with livestock being the other “crop”. This combination works especially well for self-employed farmers because the two work well in an interdependent relationship, thus promoting sustainability. Self-employed farmers are able to use the hybrid Napier grass both as a source of fodder for their livestock and as a potential cash crop to sell, giving them two options with that crop, and then are able to sustain the livestock with a ready source of feed, making for a nearly perfect model of sustainability.

As the small private farm continues to make a comeback, it’s important that self-employed farmers find methods that will make their foray into farming both sustainable and successful for years to come. Hybrid versions of Napier grass offer a solid option for both of these goals to be realized.