From Waste to Worth: Utilizing Agro-Residues in Climate-Smart Feed Systems to Reduce Nigeria’s Agricultural Postharvest Losses. Nigerian Journal of Post-Harvest Research, 3(1), 1-11.

Agro-residue utilisation presents a transformative opportunity to reduce postharvest losses and improve livestock feed systems within climate-smart agriculture frameworks. This systematic literature review evaluates how crop by-products are repurposed for sustainable animal nutrition in Nigeria. Drawing from 75 publications screened between April and May 2025 across Scopus, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, and institutional repositories (FAO, ILRI, FMARD), the review synthesises evidence published between 2015 and 2025. Thematic analysis followed Braun and Clarke's six-step approach, with triangulation applied to balance peer-reviewed sources and grey literature. The review identified five core themes: types and regional availability of agro-residues, nutritional composition and processing innovations such as fermentation and urea-ammoniation, socioeconomic benefits including feed cost reduction and rural employment, environmental advantages such as reduced methane emissions and soil enrichment, and policy enablers and barriers shaping adoption pathways. Findings reveal that while cassava peels, maize stover, and legume haulms offer viable feed alternatives, adoption is constrained by weak infrastructure, fragmented policies, and limited access to affordable processing equipment. Recent innovations, such as community-based feed hubs and microbial detoxification, have shown measurable improvements in feed quality and climate resilience. The review recommends coordinated policy implementation, decentralised processing investments, and gender-inclusive extension systems to accelerate scale-up. These strategies are essential for embedding agro-residue valorisation into Nigeria's livestock value chain and advancing food system sustainability.