Crop-Livestock

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October 26, 2011

Report on ‘Global livestock production systems’ is now online

Posted by Diego Valbuena under Animal Feeding, Animal Health, Climate Change, Crop-Livestock, FAO, Global, ILRI, Livestock Challenges, Pastoralism, Publication
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The book provides a stocktaking of where we are with livestock system classification. It presents the most up to date maps of global livestock production systems and provides revised estimates of the number of poor livestock keepers, globally, within the different production systems. It proposes alternative approaches to mapping production systems that are explicitly linked to livelihoods, and reviews the ways in which intensive production can be accounted for. Several examples are presented of how systems’ information can be of value. It also underscores the areas that need further development. The FAO and ILRI continue to work jointly on several of these.

Download the pdf of this FAO/ILRI book

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October 21, 2011

Intensification of crop-livestock farming systems in East Africa: A comparison of 3 sites in the highlands of Ethiopia and Kenya

Posted by Diego Valbuena under Animal Feeding, Conference, Crop Residues, Crop-Livestock, East Africa, Ethiopia, ILRI, Intensification, Kenya, Survey
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SLP East Africa team continues presenting preliminary results of the project on crop residue trade-offs. This time Kindu Mekonnen (ILRI-Ethiopia) will present a poster at the CIALCA International Conference held next week in Rwanda. The presented study concludes that “the three study sites in east Africa are found at different crop-livestock intensification level because of variability in rainfall, adoption of crop and livestock technologies, and access to input/output markets. Dealing with some of the constraints that affect crop and livestock production could lead to a more sustainable intensification of crop-livestock farming in the East African highlands”.

This poster is available from Slideshare

 

October 21, 2011

Agriculture intensification and crop residue use: some preliminary results from SLP, Southern Africa

Posted by Diego Valbuena under Animal Feeding, Conference, Conservation Agriculture, Crop Residues, Crop-Livestock, ICRISAT, Southern Africa | Tags: |
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The SLP regional team in Southern Africa writes:

“SLP Southern Africa presented the first results of the SLP-Southern Africa regional case study at the 10th African Crop Science Society Conference, 10-13 October 2011 in Maputo. Elizabeth Bandason, Bunda College Malawi, illustrated the special case of mixed crop livestock systems and crop residue uses in Mzimba district, Northern Malawi. Sabine Homann-Kee Tui, ICRISAT Zimbabwe, used comparative farming systems analysis to illustrate the different stages of crop livestock intensification at the project sites in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe and to determine site specific entry points for interventions.

The team was awarded for second best paper – the key messages in the paper are:

Mixed crop-livestock systems in semi-arid southern Africa are a function of the interplay between agro-ecological conditions, human population densities, local and national drivers: The sites in Zimbabwe and Mozambique show a strong growth potential in livestock; markets need to be improved to enhance impact; interventions in Malawi can learn from this. The Malawian case shows that investment in agricultural inputs pays off; government support can kick-start this. Livestock production and market development can lead to greater crop-livestock integration and cross-subsidization, sustainable intensification. Development programs should take recognizance of mixed farming systems in the context of local and national drivers, and align interventions with those factors as well as with farmers’ aspirations and resource endowments”.

Elizabeth’s presentation is available from Slideshare

Sabine’s presentation is also available from Slideshare

 

 

October 5, 2011

SLP participation in the 5th World Congress of Conservation Agriculture incorporating 3rd Farming System Design Conference

Posted by Diego Valbuena under Animal Feeding, Conference, Conservation Agriculture, Crop Residues, Crop-Livestock, Crop-Livestock, East Africa, Intensification, Livelihoods, South Asia, Southern Africa, Survey, West Africa | Tags: |
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SLP was part of the 5th WCCA & 3rd FSD held in Brisbane, Australia last week. Diego Valbuena (SLP Postdoc Scientist) gave an overview on the crop residue use in different mixed crop-livestock systems across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This presentation reflects the current analysis and synthesis of the village-level data of the SLP Crop Residue project. The main points of this presentation were that:

  • Crop residues in mixed systems are fundamental resources for short-term objectives, especially for livestock feed.
  • Residues as mulch is not a common practice, mainly occurring in regions with relatively very high crop production or with high crop production and relatively low feed demand. In regions with high pressure on residues, an increase of agricultural production is needed.
  • There are no silver-bullets: each region has its own potential, challenges & options for more sustainable agriculture.

Finally, the presentation shows the next steps of the SLP Crop Residue project.

The presentation is available from the Slideshare website

 

September 20, 2011

Competing uses, dynamics, and production and utilization constraints of crop residues in East Africa: Implications for CA

Posted by Diego Valbuena under Conference, Conservation Agriculture, Crop Residues, Crop-Livestock, Crop-Livestock, East Africa, Ethiopia, ILRI, Intensification, Kenya
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Kindu Mekonnen, SLP associate researcher of the East Africa team writes:

“Biomass is a crucial resource for smallholder farmers. Crop residues form an important source of biomass but there are competing demands for its use. The key trade-off is between use of crop residue for feeding of livestock and retaining residues on the field to sustain soil fertility. This issue has formed the basis of a global research project on trade-offs in residue use in smallholder systems. In East Africa, the research has focused on two sites in Ethiopia and one in Kenya.

As part of this research a village survey was conducted each site with the objective understanding diversified and competing uses of crop residues; analyze past trends of uses of crop residues; and identify production and utilization constraints of crop residues. A total of 8 villages per site were surveyed in two sites in Ethiopia (Kobo and Nekemte) and one site in western Kenya (Kakamega).

The most important findings from the research so far are (1) The use of crop residues for animal feed (stall feeding and direct grazing) surpassed the other competing uses in all the sites; (2) The practice of mulching crop fields using crop residues has declined in the last 10 years in the three sites because of competing use of the resources for various services and products; (3) Soil/land related problems, weed, insect and pests, high input/low output prices, poor distribution of rainfall/drought and lack of information/services are some of the constraints associated with low crop productivity and production of crop residues; and (4) Lack of modern crop residue processing technologies limited the efficient utilization of crop residues in the three sites.

The pressure on residue use and the decline in its use as a mulch raise serious concerns for system sustainability. Our next task will be to look at policy, institutional and technical options for reducing pressure on biomass in smallholder systems for the long term benefit of poor smallholders.

We will present this work at the International Congress: Water 2011– Integrated water resources management in tropical and subtropical dry-lands. The congress will be held from 19 to 26 September 2011 in Mekele, Ethiopia. The title of our presentation is “Competing uses, dynamics, and production and utilization constraints of crop residues in East Africa: Implications for conservation agriculture”.

This presentation is available from Slideshare

 

September 19, 2011

Multi-actor systems as entry point for action research – Burkina Faso & Ghana

Posted by Diego Valbuena under Crop-Livestock, ILRI, Innovation Systems, Livelihoods, Livestock-Water, West Africa | Tags: , , |
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The Volta Basin Development Challenge (VBDC) aims “to strengthen integrated management of rainwater and small reservoirs so that they can be used equitably for multiple uses.”.

One way by which to do this is to increase crop and livestock productivity through Rainwater Management Strategies (RMS) and improve water productivity at the farm level.

Another solution is to implement Innovation Platforms (IPs) that are multi-actor systems. These platforms provide a mechanism to facilitate learning, sharing and communication amongst value chain actors, including farmers, to promote joint action and stimulate innovation. IPs also create common ground for different actors with varied interests and challenges to identify opportunities to enhance their benefits in a given value chain. Membership is based upon peoples’ interest and need to improve the value chain for their own benefit.

The IP approach involves dynamic and fluid platforms of multiple actors at various levels that support action learning and strategies for scaling up and out. Through the Volta BDC project on integrated management of rainwater (V2), the CPWF is working with the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) in Burkina Faso and Ghana to develop appropriate innovation platforms around identified crop-livestock value chains.

The complete document is available from the CPWF website

 

September 7, 2011

Crop Residues in Sustainable Mixed Crop/Livestock Systems: past literature on-line

Posted by Diego Valbuena under Africa, Animal Feeding, Asia, Conference, Crop Residues, Crop-Livestock, Crop-Livestock, ICRISAT, ILRI, Latin America, South Asia, South East Asia, Southern Africa, West Africa
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These proceedings are an important source of information for animal and crop scientists working on the challenges of feeding the developing world’s rapidly rising livestock population and improving the productivity of its agriculture. It is hoped that, by collaborating more closely, these scientists will be able to develop the innovative approaches and new technologies needed in the next century

Pdf book available from ICRISAT website

 

September 6, 2011

5th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture; 3rd Farming Systems Design Conference: Full Program

Posted by Diego Valbuena under CIMMYT, Conference, Conservation Agriculture, Crop Residues, Crop-Livestock
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The co-location of WCCA and FSD, with input from Landcare, provides a great opportunity to explore the application of conservation agriculture practices and principles in a systems context with broader environmental awareness. The common objective is the design of more productive, economic, and sustainable farming systems to meet the challenges of expanding population, global change, and environmental degradation.

Our objective in program design has been to provide a stimulating Congress for all, regardless of participant’s background – high or low resource, scientist or farmer, and regardless of speciality –Conservation Agriculture, Farming Systems Design or Landcare. By mixing traditional oral/poster paper presentations, with workshops, “so what” sessions and the field day we have tried to balance specialist requirements with opportunities for broader discussion between people with different backgrounds and disciplinary perspectives.

Pdf document available from the WCCA website

 

September 2, 2011

Biomass production, chronosequence and vegetation indexes: Outputs of students working with SLP

Posted by Diego Valbuena under Africa, Animal Feeding, Crop Residues, Crop-Livestock, Crop-Livestock, Drought, East Africa, Ethiopia, Food security, ILRI, Modelling, Publication, Survey, Wageningen University | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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SLP has been strengthening links with different academic institutions. The result of these links has been a small set of internships, BSc or MSc thesis with various universities. Research topics are diverse trying to investigate the complexity of mixed crop-livestock farming systems from different but complementary disciplines, tools and scales. Topics include: biomass production and management; chronosequences, land-use/cover and soils evolution; and remote sensing,  NDVI analyses and R scripting.

Crop residue management and farm productivity in smallholder crop-livestock system of dry land North Wollo, Ethiopia (Hailu Terefe, Wageningen University, The Netherlands).

The objective of this study is to explore and analyze crop residue and manure management practices and their influence on farm productivity. Data collection and analyses include farmer resource allocation and socio-economic by semi-structured questionnaire; biomass production, N content and digestibility of crop residues and soil nutrients; and crop-growth simulations to explore the influence of crop residue management use on farm production. The results show that nutrient contents and physical structures of arable plots are declining. Modelling results suggest that to reverse this situation, farmers should retain about 70% of crop residues in the field; but retention should ensure incorporation into the soil. To achieve this strong interventions are needed.

Pdf document available from ILRI website

Development of an open source tool to analyze Vegetation Index from Remote Sensing data (Romain Frelat, INSA, France).

During this internship, I have developed a free package in R to conduct automated analysis of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from different optical satellite instruments (AVHRR and Spot Vegetation). Land Surface Phenology metrics can be easily computed from points or polygons generated either in GIS software (shp) or Google Earth (kml). Metrics and vegetation anomaly maps are calculated for every cropping season to support the study vegetation dynamics in agricultural landscapes.

Pdf document available from ILRI website

R package available from CRAN

Evolution de l’occupation des terres en lien avec les caractéristiques physico-chimiques du sol dans un village pres de Nekemte, Ethiopie (Matthieu Crespin, UCL, Belgium).

C’est dans ce but que ce travail, réalisé à l’échelle du village, devrait permettre de quantifier et de comparer la qualité des sols pour des occupations et des situations topographiques différentes : cultures, pâturages, forêts d’une part et vallées, pentes et sommets d’autre part. Il devrait également permettre de tracer l’évolution de la fertilité pour des sols de forêt jusqu’à des sols convertis à la culture et ce pour trois groupes d’âges différents.

 

March 29, 2011

An international consultation on integrated crop-livestock systems for development – The Way Forward for Sustainable Production Intensification

Posted by brugerard under Brazil, Conservation Agriculture, Crop-Livestock, Embrapa, FAO, Forum, Intensification, Meetings, Publication
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The Technical Consultation on Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems for Development reported in this document was the culmination of a collaborative process in which FAO, IICA, EMBRAPA and IFAD and
many individuals from a number of organizations participated over several months to ensure its success. The Consultation process was initiated by the Office of the Assistant Director General of the Agriculture Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization (AG-FAO) of the United Nations. The process comprised two parts – an electronic Consultation during February and March 2010 in which some 300 individuals from a number of organizations participated, and a face-to-face Technical Consultation that was held at the EMBRAPA Maize and Sorghum Institute in Sete Lagaos, Brazil, from 23-26 May 2010. Institutions that helped to plan and organize the Consultation included: FAO, IICA/PROCITROPICOS, EMBRAPA, IFAD, FARA, ICRAF, ILRI, CGIAR-SLP.

Pdf document is available from FAO website

 

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