“This plant will double your cow’s milk!”

By Ibraheem Dooba

When some months ago, my consultant/forester told me that Lucina (Leucaena) could double the milk pro-duction of a cow, I thought he was exaggerating.

So I decided to check out the evidence from the scientific literature. Yet, I still didn’t believe the first paper that turned up. Is this real? The same Lucina that I’ve planted in my house and donated to our tree-planting partners?

So I read some more but even AI joined the chorus that lucina has a protein content of between 25.25% to 30.81%!

And while it wouldn’t double milk production as my forester said, research shows that it will increase it by up to 20%. This is money because it’s a solution to many of our animal feed problems. Another paper says: “Calcium, phosphorus and potassium appear to be adequate.”

What to do?
Senator Saminu Turaki, a former governor of Jigawa State, told me how he made his money. “Take an idea,” he said, “and turn it into a project.”

The essence of the senator’s insight is that an idea by itself is nothing. You’ve to ensure that it works (pilot), then bottle it, then sell it.

In our case, at our ranch in Bida, we’re planting it but one must be careful in feeding the animals the right way because Lucina keeps a bad company called mimosine, a toxic compound that can cause hair loss, poor growth and goitre.

This anti-nutrition presence is only 0.38%. But to mitigate its adverse effects one must take some processing measures such as combining it with some mimosine-degrading microbes such as yeast. You can also dry or ensile to reduce mimosine.

Already, 200MillionTrees has included Leucaena as an important component of its tree-planting initiative to save northern Nigeria from farmer-herder clashes. And because it’s a nitrogen-fixing legume, it will improve our soil in the soil-poor parts of the region.

What do you think?
PS: Humans can also roast Lucina and eat it as a snack or use it as a coffee substitute.
PPS: Join me in planting Lucina all over northern Nigeria. You can source the seedlings from me. I may even donate to you.