scholarly journals Sustainability os small ruminant population on the Adja Plateau (South Benin)

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-76
Author(s):  
A. Van Den Broek ◽  
I.T. Gbégo
Keyword(s):  
Oil Palm ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Small Ruminant ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Small Ruminants ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Feed Production ◽  
Animal Feeding ◽  
On Farm

Since 1986 the RAMR project (Recherche Appliquee en Milieu Reel) has conducted on-farm research on the Adja Plateau in Mono Province (South Benin). In this article, technical and socio-economic aspects of small ruminant production systems on the Adja Plateau are described. Monitoring of small ruminant flocks showed that about 25% of the small ruminants were sold annually. Export of nutrients as a result of the sale of animals (85 g N. 23 g P. 12 g K and 46 g Ca per hectare) was low compared with export through crop production. In-depth studies at village level showed that farmers mainly collected oil palm leaves, constituting 75% of the small ruminant rations, to feed their animals. Nutrients in collected oil palm leaves represented a substantial fraction (about 10%) of available nutrients in fields under oil palm. Proposals for future research on small ruminant production systems have to contribute to the sustainability of farming systems. Emphasis will be put on animal feeding and feed production integrating small ruminant and crop production.

SMALL RUMINANT PRODUCTION IN TWO MIXED-FARMING SYSTEMS OF SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA: STATUS AND PROSPECTS FOR IMPROVEMENT

2008 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. LEGESSE ◽  
G. ABEBE ◽  
M. SIEGMUND-SCHULTZE ◽  
A. VALLE ZÁRATE
Keyword(s):  
Small Ruminant ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Small Ruminants ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Southern Ethiopia ◽  
Cash Income ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Mixed Farming ◽  
Entry Points

SUMMARYSmall ruminants are an integral part of mixed-farming systems throughout southern Ethiopia. Yet, they have received little research attention or institutional support. Characterizing the existing small ruminant production systems and analysing their production constraints are important tools to diagnose the status and trends of the systems, and thus to identify areas for future interventions. A survey was conducted between April and July 2004 in the Adilo and Kofele areas of the southern mixed-farming systems of Ethiopia to explore reasons for keeping small ruminants and to evaluate the existing status of and the prospects for the small ruminant sector. Additional information was obtained during discussions with key informants who had experience of small ruminant keeping. Small ruminants fill several roles in the study area. However, the principal purpose of keeping sheep and goats was to generate cash income. Sheep milk consumption was widespread around Kofele unlike most agricultural systems in the country. Nearly all respondents in Adilo reported fattening their sheep before sale, while such a practice was uncommon in Kofele. Informal insurance schemes were evolving among the sheep keepers in Adilo, and these can be considered as entry points for future interventions. The common problem identified from both individual interviews and group discussions was feed shortage. The identification of alternative feed resources and strategic feeding management might be options for development. Small ruminant disease was the major constraint in Kofele, where marshy areas are increasingly assigned for grazing in the rainy season as suitable land is more and more used for cropping. The growing demand for meat from small ruminants, the improving transportation infrastructure and the experience of farmers in small ruminant keeping are providing opportunities to enhance the contribution of the sector. A thorough monitoring of the productive and economic performance of small ruminants is required to capture the full picture of their contribution thereby directing possible intervention areas to maximize benefits to the farmers.

scholarly journals Socio-ecological factors determine crop performance in agricultural systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Libère Nkurunziza ◽  
Christine A. Watson ◽  
Ingrid Öborn ◽  
Henrik G. Smith ◽  
Göran Bergkvist ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Spring Barley ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Crop Performance ◽  
Latent Structures

AbstractAgricultural production systems are affected by complex interactions between social and ecological factors, which are often hard to integrate in a common analytical framework. We evaluated differences in crop production among farms by integrating components of several related research disciplines in a single socio-ecological analysis. Specifically, we evaluated spring barley (Hordeum vulgare, L.) performance on 34 farms (organic and conventional) in two agro-ecological zones to unravel the importance of ecological, crop and management factors in the performance of a standard crop. We used Projections to Latent Structures (PLS), a simple but robust analytical tool widely utilized in research disciplines dealing with complex systems (e.g. social sciences and chemometrics), but infrequently in agricultural sciences. We show that barley performance on organic farms was affected by previous management, landscape structure, and soil quality, in contrast to conventional farms where external inputs were the main factors affecting biomass and grain yield. This indicates that more complex management strategies are required in organic than in conventional farming systems. We conclude that the PLS method combining socio-ecological and biophysical factors provides improved understanding of the various interacting factors determining crop performance and can help identify where improvements in the agricultural system are most likely to be effective.

scholarly journals Pathogens in crop production systems irrigated with low-quality water in Bolivia

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 980-990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Fernando Perez-Mercado ◽  
Cecilia Lalander ◽  
Abraham Joel ◽  
Jakob Ottoson ◽  
Mercedes Iriarte ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Treated Wastewater ◽  
Quality Of Water ◽  
Risk Management Strategies ◽  
Shallow Wells

Abstract In dry areas, the need for irrigation to ensure agricultural production determines the use of all available water sources. However, the water sources used for irrigation are often contaminated by untreated or minimally treated wastewater. Microbial risks from reusing wastewater for vegetable irrigation can be addressed by installing environmental barriers that pathogens must cross to reach humans in the reuse system. Knowledge of pathogen flows inside the system and pathogen removal potential is the first step towards devising a risk management strategy. This study assessed microbe prevalence in farming systems in the Bolivian highlands that use wastewater-polluted sources for irrigation of lettuce. Samples of soil, lettuce and different water sources used in the farming systems were taken during one crop season and concentrations of coliphages, Escherichia coli and helminth eggs were measured. The results showed high spread of these microorganisms throughout the whole system. There was a significant correlation between microbial quality of water and of the harvested produce for several microorganisms. The microbial prevalence in protected shallow wells was found to be significantly lower than in other water sources. These findings can help formulate feasible risk management strategies in contexts where conventional technologies for microbial removal are not possible.

scholarly journals Caught in a Deadlock: Small Ruminant Farming on the Greek Island of Samothrace. The Importance of Regional Contexts for Effective EU Agricultural Policies

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Noll ◽  
Christian Lauk ◽  
Veronika Gaube ◽  
Dominik Wiedenhofer
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Small Ruminant ◽  
Small Ruminants ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Agricultural Policies ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Mediterranean Regions ◽  
Livestock Systems ◽  
Greek Island

Sedentary extensive small ruminant farming systems are highly important for the preservation of High Nature Value (HNV) farmland. Both the abandonment of grazing and overgrazing have led to environmental degradation in many Mediterranean regions. On the Greek island of Samothrace, decades of overgrazing by sheep and goats has caused severe degradation of local ecosystems. The present study highlights the importance of regional contexts for national and EU agricultural policies in regard to sustainable development of sedentary extensive livestock systems. By utilizing the conceptual framework of socio-ecological systems research, we analyze the interdependencies of environmental, economic and social factors on a local island level. Results show that between 1929 and 2016, the livestock and land-use system of Samothrace transformed from a diverse system towards a simplified system, solely used for small ruminant production. Total livestock units increased from 2200 in 1929 to 7850 in 2002, declining to 5100 thereafter. The metabolic analysis conducted for the years 1993–2016 shows that 80–90% of the feed demand of small ruminants was covered by grazing, exceeding available grazing resources for at least a decade. The regional implementation of CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) continues to support excessively high animal numbers, while farmers are highly dependent on subsidies and find themselves in an economic deadlock.

New Technologies and Approaches for Weed Management in Sustainable Agriculture Systems

1994 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 403-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald L. Wyse
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Weed Management ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Agriculture Systems

Weed science has a long history of solving weed management problems for farmers. Over the last four decades most of the solutions to weed problems have been based on herbicide technology. Thus, most crop production systems in the United States rely heavily on herbicides as the primary method of weed management. During the last decade environmentalists, farmers, agricultural scientists, policy makers, and the general public have begun to question the long-term sustainability of conventional farming systems. The sustainability of these systems is being questioned because of environmental, social, and economic concerns caused by global competition, cost of production, soil erosion, water pollution, and concern over the quality of rural life. Weeds are the major deterrent to the development of more sustainable agriculture systems. Since weeds dictate most of the crop production practices (e.g., tillage, herbicides, cultivation, row spacing) weed scientists must become the leaders of collaborative integrated approaches to agriculture systems research. New crop production systems must be developed that are less destructive to the environment, are profitable, conserve energy, and support rural community development. The goal is to facilitate the development of ecologically based alternative methods of weed management that will support crop production systems that require less tillage and herbicide inputs. To accomplish this goal, research efforts must be radically expanded in weed/crop ecology and in the development of ecologically based technologies for weed management.

The Development of Integrated Arable Production Systems to Meet Potential Economic and Environmental Requirements

1998 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 145-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.W.L. Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Ecological Interactions ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Intensive Farming ◽  
Environmental Requirements ◽  
Crop Management Systems ◽  
On Farm

The development of less intensive crop management systems is being increasingly recognized as the long-term objective for arable crop production. Such systems must be economically sound, environmentally acceptable and sustainable in the long term, with the flexibility necessary to meet the varying requirements in different agro-ecosystems. The Less-Intensive Farming and Environment (LIFE) Project builds upon a sound base of ecological research aimed at understanding and optimizing the ecological interactions within the system, with effort focused on the need to resolve the conflicting requirements for control of pests, diseases and weeds and to minimize the environmental impact of crop production. The major consideration in this approach is the stepwise replacement of ‘off-farm’ inputs by integration of natural regulation processes, on-farm alternatives and management skills, in order to maintain species diversity, minimize pollution and losses, provide a safe and wholesome food supply, and to sustain income.

scholarly journals Preface

2021 ◽  
Vol 935 (1) ◽  
pp. 011001
Keyword(s):  
Veterinary Medicine ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Limited Liability ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Program Committee ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Feed Production ◽  
Research Institute

International AgroScience Conference (AgroScience-2021) was held on 16 April 2021 in Cheboksary, Russian Federation. The Conference was jointly organized by Chuvash State Agrarian University (Russia), Life Science University of Bradford (Great Britan), Grodno State Agrarian University (Republic of Belarus), and Research Institute of Livestock and Feed Production (Republic of Kazakhstan). The Conference brought together 129 scientists, academicians, practitioners, and professionals from manufacturing sector in planting, veterinary, farming, agro-engineering, and agro-management sectors from Russia, Belarus, Great Brittan and Kazakhstan. The conference program was structured to encourage mutual inspiration and fruitful debate among researcher. Participants were offered the chance to contribute to the conference in various roles, to demonstrate novel results, and to exchange new ideas and application experiences with each other. AgroScience-2021 was carried out face-to-face in Chuvash State Agrarian University and remotely via Zoom due to COVID pandemic situation. Any person wishing to participate in the event could contact Zoom meetings. Conference topics The AgroScience-2021 was mainly focused on (1) Actual issues of production and processing of agricultural products: Modern technologies for the production and processing of agricultural products; Technologies for the production of environmentally friendly products; Automation of agricultural production processes; Technologies for improving the efficiency of agricultural production; (2) Actual problems of livestock and veterinary medicine: Current issues of veterinary medicine; Private and general animal husbandry; (3) Agro-engineering: Agricultural implements and machinery, Precision farming systems in agriculture, Electrification and automation of agriculture; and (4) Economics and management: challenges and directions of development: Transition to an innovative economy; The digital economy of agriculture in the context of globalization; Management in agricultural enterprises. Keynote speakers Prof. Asylbek Baimukanov, Limited Liability Partnership “South-West Research Institute of Livestock and Crop Production”, professor of the department “Technology of production of livestock products”, Kazakh National Agrarian University, chief researcher of the Kazakh Research Institute of Livestock and Feed Production, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan with lecture: “Influence of the new feeding technology of milking dromedary camels on their milk productivity”. List of Conference Proceedings, Program Committee, Organizing Committee, Web-page, Editors of AgroScience-2021 Proceedings are available in this pdf.

scholarly journals Animal-Based Indicators for On-Farm Welfare Assessment in Goats

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3138
Author(s):  
Adrian Minnig ◽  
Romane Zufferey ◽  
Beat Thomann ◽  
Sibylle Zwygart ◽  
Nina Keil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Production Systems ◽  
Body Condition Score ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Dairy Goats ◽  
Hair Coat ◽  
Welfare Indicators ◽  
Current State ◽  
Condition Score ◽  
On Farm ◽  
Full Text Screening

This review describes the current state of knowledge relating to scientific literature on welfare indicators for goats. Our aim was to provide an overview of animal-based indicators for on-farm welfare assessments. We performed a literature search and extracted 96 relevant articles by title, abstract, and full-text screening. Out of these articles, similar indicators were aggregated to result in a total of 32 welfare indicators, some of which were covered in multiple articles, others in only a single one. We discuss a set of three established assessment protocols containing these indicators, as well as all individual indicators which were covered in more than one article. As single indicators, we identified lameness, body condition score (BCS), qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA), and human–animal relationship (HAR) tests with substantial evidence for sufficient validity to assess welfare in goats. A multitude of indicators (e.g., hair coat condition) was studied less intensively but was successfully used for welfare assessments. For some indicators (e.g., oblivion, lying behaviour), we highlight the need for future research to further validate them or to optimise their use in on-farm welfare assessments. Moreover, further investigations need to include kids, bucks, and meat and fibre goats, as well as extensively kept goats as the literature predominantly focuses on dairy goats in intensive production systems.

Commercial experience in developing ley farming systems for the Katherine-Darwin region, Northern Territory

1996 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1059 ◽  
Author(s):  
TP Price ◽  
F O'Gara ◽  
ESC Smith ◽  
R Pitkethley ◽  
P Hausler
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Commercial Development ◽  
Plant Disease Control ◽  
Ley Farming ◽  
Control And Management ◽  
On Farm ◽  
Ley Farming Systems

This paper examines the past, present and likely future commercial development and adoption of ley farming systems in the Katherine-Darwin region(about 12-14�S, 131-132�E, elevation 30-1 10 m) of the Northern Territory. Producers' current practices, adaptations and the extent to which they have adopted a systems approach are reported. Advantages of ley farming and the constraints to its more rapid adoption are described. Also discussed are aspects of crop, cattle and hay production; weed, insect and plant disease control, and management; on-farm demonstrations and the economics of crop production, from the producer's perspective, in the context of ley farming.

scholarly journals Sensing solutions for improving the performance, health and wellbeing of small ruminants

2020 ◽  
Vol 87 (S1) ◽  
pp. 34-46
Author(s):  
Gerardo Caja ◽  
Andreia Castro-Costa ◽  
Ahmed A.K. Salama ◽  
Joan Oliver ◽  
Mario Baratta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Small Ruminant ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Small Ruminants ◽  
Dairy Goats ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Economic Barriers ◽  
Multiple Sensor ◽  
Large Animals ◽  
Research Initiatives

AbstractDiversity of production systems and specific socio-economic barriers are key reasons explaining why the implementation of new technologies in small ruminants, despite being needed and beneficial for farmers, is harder than in other livestock species. There are, however, helpful peculiarities where small ruminants are concerned: the compulsory use of electronic identification created a unique scenario in Europe in which all small ruminant breeding stock became searchable by appropriate sensing solutions, and the largest small ruminant population in the world is located in Asia, close to the areas producing new technologies. Notwithstanding, only a few research initiatives and literature reviews have addressed the development of new technologies in small ruminants. This Research Reflection focuses on small ruminants (with emphasis on dairy goats and sheep) and reviews in a non-exhaustive way the basic concepts, the currently available sensor solutions and the structure and elements needed for the implementation of sensor-based husbandry decision support. Finally, some examples of results obtained using several sensor solutions adapted from large animals or newly developed for small ruminants are discussed. Significant room for improvement is recognized and a large number of multiple-sensor solutions are expected to be developed in the relatively near future.

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