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Animal feed resources remain a major constraint for livestock development in tropical Africa. In Rwanda, grazing lands are shrinking sharply because crop cultivation is progressively encroaching on grazing areas with increasing human pressure (Mutimura and Everson 2011). Therefore, over 60% of households cultivating less than 0.7 ha, and owning livestock, practize zerograzing, where farmers cut-and-carry forage and crop residues to feed animals that are kept exclusively under sheds (MINAGRI 2009). In general, the main feed for dairy cattle under a zero-grazing system is Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum). For more than a decade, efforts to improve the feed resource base and feeding management have been based on the introduction, characterization and evaluation of exotic forage species, including grasses and legumes. The main aim of this study was to identify and document the status of improved forages as animal feed resources and for use in environmental protection in Rwanda.

beef production, and as a result improve livelihoods and Climate change is a global phenomenon with severe negative impacts on poor people in developing countries (Morton 2007). Across many parts of Africa, rural poor communities rely for their survival on agriculture and livestock, which are amongst the most climate-sensitive economic sectors. Climate-smart agriculture helps farm-ers to increase food production, become more resilient to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-sions. The main anthropogenic GHGs are carbon dioxide (CO