EFFECT OF"F'ORESTFIRE ON LIVESTOCK PRODUCnON··· IN THE PELWATTE AREA OF MONERAGALA DISTRICT

Abstract

Sugar-cane cultivation has been a predominant agricultural activity in the district ofMoneragala in addition to paddy and chena cultivation. Nevertheless, dairying has.become a viable family industry for many fanners in this area. Mainly cattle andbuffaloes are allowed to graze freely in adjacent forest lands but due to frequent forest fireoccurring during certain period/s of the year, the level of milk production is badlyaffected. Therefore the objectives of this study were to gather baseline information toassess the type of forest fire, their frequency of occurring, the purpose of setting forestfire and the impact of forest fire on dairy industry

Majority of fanners (>80%) were involved in the cultivation of sugar cane and other cashcrops under rain-fed condition. Women and children playa major role (74%) in livestockrearing. Main genotypes of cattle and buffaloes found were local and non-descriptivetypes.

Animals are sent for grazing in nearby forestlands and feed shortages were observedduring the dry period. It was observed at the same time of occurring forest fire, there wasa drastic decline of forages and other available feed resources such as tree fodder,legumes etc.

90% of the forest fire that occur once a year during the period of June to August.Sometimes it occurs twice a year during the periods of June to August and February toMarch where the most of the forest fire are crown fire and creeping fire. Purposes ofsetting fire are to obtain tender shoots as an animal feed (90%) and also for chenacultivation, for hunting specially undergrowth is burnt to search for animals and at thetime of harvesting the weedy sugarcane lands (under poor management) are beingsubjected to setting fire (10%). Feed shortages can be observed due to forest fire as wellas the prevailing dry spell during the periods of June to end of September and February toMarch. As a result of this a drastic decline of average milk yield (from 1.52 I± 0.326 to0.22S±0.162 1) can be observed. Visual observations proved that the body conditions ofthe animals are also badly affected during forest fire occurring periods

Gunia spp., Ipil Ipil, Acasia, Illuk and Gliricidia are the main herbage species that areused to feed animals. As they are susceptible to fire, a severe shortage of animal feed canbe observed during these periods. On the other hand forest fire as well as buffaloes/cattlegrazing in forests causes a significant competition among wild animals in finding feedrecourses.

The main impact, which is reduction of milk yield during the periods of forest fire can bereduced by introducing low inputs and particularly by training the farmers to prepareanimal feeds out of sugar cane by products such as molasses, bagasses and other wastematerials which are available in this area.