Costs and benefits of livestock systems and the role of market and nonmarket relationships

Moll, Henri

doi:10.1111/j.0169-5150.2005.00210.x

Cited by 134 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Our approximation of the proportion of households owning cattle was lower than reported by others (Barrett, 1991;Shackleton et al, 2005;Moll, 2005;Dovie et al, 2006), especially in the South, where people appeared less inclined to practice agriculture compared to, for example, the northern site. Supporting evidence comes from the lower proportion of cattle-owning households, the smaller cattle to owner ratio, and the less than one third of a hectare of land cultivated per household.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 68%

Heterogeneity in a communal cattle-farming system in a zone endemic for foot and mouth disease in South Africa

Schalkwyk¹,

Clercq²,

Pus³

et al. 2016

Geospat Health

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In South Africa, communal livestock farming is predominant in the foot and mouth disease control zone adjacent to the Greater Kruger National Park (KNP), where infected African buffaloes are common.During routine veterinary inspections of cattle in this area, a large amount of production and demographic parameters were being recorded. These data were collated for a five-year period (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007) in three study sites to better understand the temporal dynamics and spatial heterogeneity in this system. A decreasing gradient from South to North with respect to both human and cattle population densities was observed. Rainfall and human population density alone could explain 71% of the variation in cattle density. Northern and central sites showed an overall decrease in total cattle numbers (15.1 and 2.9%, respectively), whereas a 28.6% increase was recorded in the South. The number of cattle owners in relation to cattle numbers remained stable during the study period. Only 4.0% of households in the South own cattle, compared to 13.7 and 12.7% in the North and Centre. The overall annual calving rate was 23.8%. Annual mortality rates ranged from 2.4 to 3.2%. Low calf mortality (2.1%) was recorded in the North compared to the South (11.6%). Annual off-take in the form of slaughter averaged 0.2, 11.7, and 11.0% in the North, Central and South sites, respectively. These figures provide valuable baseline data and demonstrate considerable spatial heterogeneity in cattle demography and production at this wildlife-livestock interface, which should be taken into consideration when performing disease risk assessments or designing disease control systems. IntroductionA large area next to the Kruger National Park (KNP) and its adjoining private and provincial nature reserves (APNR) in South Africa, is used for communal farming of both livestock and crops. Although the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) considers South Africa to be free from the foot and mouth disease (FMD) in areas where vaccination is practised, the KNP and APNR are endemic for FMD (Brückner et al., 2002;Vosloo et al., 2002;Scoones et al., 2010), and this is due to the presence of the reservoir host of the disease, the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) (Vosloo et al., 2006). To this end, a fence was erected around the KNP in the 1960s (Joubert, 2007;Scoones et al., 2010), and compulsory, weekly cattle inspections and bi-to tri-annual vaccination against FMD takes place at government livestock inspection points (IPs) within the area directly adjacent to the infected zone (the so-called protection zone with vaccination). Livestock in the remainder of the protection zone (protection zone without vaccinaCorrespondence: Ockert Louis van Schalkwyk, Office of the State

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 68%

Heterogeneity in a communal cattle-farming system in a zone endemic for foot and mouth disease in South Africa

Schalkwyk¹,

Clercq²,

Pus³

et al. 2016

Geospat Health

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“…About 96 % of African agriculture is rainfed, and irrigation infrastructure lags behind other continents (Molden 2007;FAO 2014); especially in semi-arid and sub-humid areas with high climate variability, crop production is characterized by relatively small and variable yields (Cooper et al 2008). The dependence on rainfall results in a high sensitivity to the likely changes in amounts and distribution of rainfall associated with climate change (Morton 2007).…”

Section: Vulnerability Related To Crop Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change adaptation and mitigation in smallholder crop–livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa: a call for integrated impact assessments

et al. 2016

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African mixed crop-livestock systems are vulnerable to climate change and need to adapt in order to improve productivity and sustain people's livelihoods. These smallholder systems are characterized by high greenhouse gas emission rates, but could play a role in their mitigation. Although the impact of climate change is projected to be large, many uncertainties persist, in particular with respect to impacts on livestock and grazing components, whole-farm dynamics and heterogeneous farm populations. We summarize the current understanding on impacts and vulnerability and highlight key knowledge gaps for the separate system components and the mixed farming systems as a whole. Numerous adaptation and mitigation options exist for crop-livestock systems. We provide an overview by distinguishing risk management, diversification and sustainable intensification strategies, and by focusing on the contribution to the three pillars of climate-smart agriculture. Despite the potential solutions, smallholders face major constraints at various scales, including small farm sizes, the lack of response to the proposed measures and the multi-functionality of the livestock herd. Major institutional barriers include poor access to markets and relevant knowledge, land tenure insecurity and the common property status of most grazing resources. These limit the adoption potential and hence the potential impact on resilience and mitigation. In order to effectively inform decision-making, we therefore call for integrated, system-oriented impact assessments and a realistic consideration of the adoption constraints in smallholder systems. Building on agricultural system model development, integrated impact assessments and scenario analyses can inform the co-design and implementation of adaptation and mitigation strategies.F

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“…There is no market for manure in the study area and farmers consider it a free resource; hence the value of manure used for analysis of gross margins was estimated using two indirect approaches. In the first approach manure was given the same value as that of the amount of fertilizer supplying a similar amount of P. Although manure supplies other nutrients and organic matter, only the value of P was considered since this is the focus nutrient of this study (Moll 2003). Manure use is labour intensive and in the second approach the cost of labour required to dig manure from the kraal, transport and apply it in the fields was added to the value of manure estimated in the first approach.…”

Section: Gross Margin Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only P was valued in manure and it is noted that the value could be higher if other nutrients are taken into account as well. For instance, in some smallholder farming systems where manure is scarce and has a market, the value of manure can be five times greater than that of fertilizer with an equivalent amount of nutrients (Moll 2003).…”

Section: Economics Of Targeting P In Soyabean-maize Rotationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variable grain legume yields, responses to phosphorus and rotational effects on maize across soil fertility gradients on African smallholder farms

Zingore

Murwira²,

Delve³

et al. 2007

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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Promiscuous soyabean varieties have potential to contribute significantly to income generation, food security and soil N budgets on smallholder farms. One of the major factors limiting this potential is farmers' preference to allocate nutrient resources to food security cereal crops on the most fertile fields, leaving grain legumes to grow on residual fertility on infertile fields. Two experiments were conducted to: (i) compare the current farmer practice with targeting manure and single super phosphate (SSP) to soyabean in a three-year rotation cycle on two fields with different soil fertility: an infertile sandy soil and a more fertile clay soil; and (ii) assess the effects of variability of soil fertility within and across farms on productivity of soyabean and groundnut. In the first experiment, soyabean (<0.2 t ha À1 ) and maize yields (<0.7 t ha À1 ) without fertilizer were poor on a degraded sandy soil. Both crops responded poorly to SSP due to deficiency of other nutrients. Manure application significantly increased soyabean and maize yields, led to yield stabilization over three seasons and also significantly increased the proportion of N 2 fixed by soyabean (measured using 15 N natural abundance) from 60% to 83%. On the sandy soil, P was used more efficiently and gross margins were greater when SSP and manure were applied to maize in a maize-soyabean rotation. Soyabean and maize yields without fertilizer inputs were larger on clay soil with moderate fertility (0.4-0.7 t ha À1 and 2.0-2.3 t ha À1 respectively) and were significantly increased by application of SSP and manure. Within rotations, P recovery was higher when manure and SSP were applied to maize (43 and 25%) than when applied to soyabean (20 and 19%). However, application of manure to soyabean on the clay was more profitable than application to maize for individual crops and within rotations. In the second experiment, soyabean and groundnut yields were largest (*1 and *0.8 t ha À1 respectively) on plots closest to homesteads on wealthy farms, which were more fertile due to good past management. Yields were poor (< 0.5 t ha À1 ) on other fields which previously had received little nutrient inputs. Soyabean and groundnut yields correlated well with available P (R 2 = 0.5-0.7) and soil organic C (SOC) contents (R 2 = 0.4-0.6). For smallholder farmers to maximise benefits from legume production they need to focus attention on the more fertile plots, although production should be optimized in relation to maize. Targeting nutrients to maize as currently practiced by farmers was more efficient and economic under poor soil fertility conditions, whilst potential exists to increase income by targeting manure to soyabean on the more fertile soils.

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Costs and benefits of livestock systems and the role of market and nonmarket relationships

Cited by 134 publications

References 15 publications

Heterogeneity in a communal cattle-farming system in a zone endemic for foot and mouth disease in South Africa

Heterogeneity in a communal cattle-farming system in a zone endemic for foot and mouth disease in South Africa

Climate change adaptation and mitigation in smallholder crop–livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa: a call for integrated impact assessments

Variable grain legume yields, responses to phosphorus and rotational effects on maize across soil fertility gradients on African smallholder farms

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