Location: Kirehe district is located in the Eastern Province (30°45’E and 2°13’ S), occupies 1,225 km2 with population of 229,468 and elevation of 1,478 m a.s.l.
Climate: Its average annual rainfall and temperature is 750 mm and 21°C, respectively.
Soil: The vegetation is a savannas woodland with xerophilous thickets. Soils in Kirehe is of sandy loam, dominated by ultisoils (Figure 1) texture with lower amounts of soil organic matter with pH > 5.5.
Farming: Mixed crop-livestock system is prevalent in the district. The main crops in Kirehe are maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, sorghum and beans.
Livestock: Major livestock are cattle, goats, sheep, chicken, pigs and rabbits. Drought stress and small land holdings are the major constraints to improve crop-livestock production in Kirehe district.
Infrastructure: The majority of the population is limited to traditional farming system without any mechanization. They use for instance hoes soil tillage. Crops are rainfed. Some farmers have introduced irrigation systems. The farmers distribute their crops and other items to the nearby located markets. Most of them use public transport to approach the markets and other destinations. Almost all farmers have mobile phones, some few of them even smart phones.
For the InnovAfrica project, selected sites in Kirehe district were Nasho and Mpanga sectors (Figure 2) for forage farmer participatory selection and dissemination.
