Development and application of an integrated sustainability index for small-holder dairy farms in Rajasthan,India

In agrarian economy of developing nations like India, smallholder dairy production is an important enterprise and its sustainability is vital for ensuring livelihood and nutritional security to the masses. Studies on methodological aspects of farm sustainability at micro-level are limited, either confined to a particular dimension of sustainability or based on complex data requirement which is not feasible to obtain in the context of smallholder dairy farms. This study has developed a multi-attribute farm level sustainability assessment method encompassing economic, social and ecological dimensions of sustainability and has applied it to assess the sustainability of dairy farming in north-western part of India. Based on data from 120 dairy farms located in rural area of Jaipur district from the state of Rajasthan, the study computed the composite Sustainable Dairy Farming Index (SDFI). The overall substantiality status of the smallholder dairy farms in the study area was not encouraging, implying that it may not be viable for future generation to take up the enterprise. Among the three dimensions of sustainability, the average scores of ecological dimension were highest followed by the economic and social sustainability scores. Some of the core attributes like feed productivity, management of animal genetic potential and gender equality are particularly weak aspects of the dairy production system in India. The direct relationship of economic sustainability with herd size suggests for farmers with very small herds (one to two) animals, increasing the number of dairy animals to about five to six, would be a good strategy to economize on input costs and generate more marketed surplus of milk.     

Mobile Money,Smallholder Farmers,and Household Welfare in Kenya

The use of mobile phones has increased rapidly in many developing countries, including in rural areas. Besides reducing the costs of communication and improving access to information, mobile phones are an enabling technology for other innovations. One important example are mobile phone based money transfers, which could be very relevant for the rural poor, who are often underserved by the formal banking system. We analyze impacts of mobile money technology on the welfare of smallholder farm households in Kenya. Using panel survey data and regression models we show that mobile money use has a positive impact on household income. One important pathway is through remittances received from relatives and friends. Such remittances contribute to income directly, but they also help to reduce risk and liquidity constraints, thus promoting agricultural commercialization. Mobile money users apply more purchased farm inputs, market a larger proportion of their output, and have higher profits than non-users of this technology. These results suggest that mobile money can help to overcome some of the important smallholder market access constraints that obstruct rural development and poverty reduction.     

Biogas plants for small farms in Kenya

This paper reports on the authors' efforts to improve the small farm community welfare in Kenya by promoting biogas technology. The survey showed that fuel was used in Kenyan farms mainly for cooking and lighting, and wood, crop residue, and charcoal were the predominant fuel sources. Mostly women collected firewood, fetched water, and cooked. Building a fire with these fuels was time-consuming, and smoke from these fires was damaging to the living environment. Hence, applying biogas technology to Kenyan small farms not only guarantees a reliable, renewable energy source, but also provides other benefits, such as cleaner household environments, better working conditions for housewives,     

Smallholder experiences with dairy cattle crossbreeding in the tropics: from introduction to impact

Crossbreeding of indigenous tropical and improved western dairy cattle breeds as tool to improve dairy cattle performance on smallholder farms has been widely advocated, criticised and yet applied. The government of Ethiopia supported this technology for decades but adoption rate is low. Constraints are documented but there is little information about farm level introduction and development of crossbreeding. A total 122 smallholders with mixed crop livestock farms and at least 8 years of successful crossbreeding were interviewed using a pre-tested questionnaire in two contexts in Amhara Regional state in north-western Ethiopia. Crossbreeding initiator was either uncoordinated government extension or a coordinated development project, also implemented with governmental support. Qualitative and quantitative data on farmers’ motivations, crossbreeding introduction, initiator support, breeding adaptation and impacts at farm level were analysed. Results show that even though motives vary between contexts the underlying reason to introduce crossbreeding was economic profit. To be able to introduce crossbreeding support of initiators (e.g. extension) and other farmers was essential. The crossbreeding introduction context had some influence. Governmental actors were the main source of support and supplier of exotic genetics but the farmer network acted as safety net filling gaps of government support. Breeding strategies focused on performance increase. A lack of basic understanding of crossbreeding has been identified. A surprising, probably biased, result was general satisfaction with initiator support and with breeding services. It was challenged by the high proportion of farmers unable to follow a breeding strategy due to insufficient bull and/or semen supply. Crossbreeding changed the smallholder production system to a high input – high output system. Except for crossbred adaptation problems, challenges were ranked context specific and influenced by the initiator. Farmers perceived crossbreeding as success and recommended it. We conclude that farmers can realize income increase with crossbreeding. The complexity of this technology, high initial investment and the need for support services and external production inputs are probable reasons why crossbreeding uptake is low. Improving the availability of semen and/or bulls must be the top priority for breeding service providers to enable farmers to follow a breeding strategy and reach a suitable and sustainable herd performance. Access to investment capital, input supply, strong technical support and market linkages are crucial for successful crossbreeding.     

Women's changing economic roles with pastoral sedentarization: Varying strategies in alternate Rendille communities

The trend of pastoral sedentarization in Africa presents new economic opportunities to women through the sale of dairy products, agricultural produce, and labor. This study of Rendille of northern Kenya shows a variety of economic strategies pursued by women in nomadic pastoral, settled agro-pastoral, and town communities. Results of household budgets and interviews with married women indicate that urban centers attract both wealthier Rendille women selling milk and poorer women engaged in wage-labor and petty commodity trade; time allocation data shows that women living in towns work as strenuously as those in pastoral communities, while men in towns work less than in pastoral communities and less than women in both communities; and anthropometric data of women and children suggest that increases in women's income may have a beneficial effect on the nutrition and well-being of their children.     

Unemployment in agriculture and opportunities for and contributions of off-farm employment to rural economy: A case study from southwestern Bangladesh

Based on a year data collected over 1 year from a sample of 200 households living in a village in southwestern Bangladesh, the present study examines the prevalence of higher rates of unemployment and underemployment in agriculture particularly among the landless and small farmers and sharecroppers. When compared with the existing previous data from other parts of the country, growing rates of unemployment and underemployment in agriculture were evidenced. Population pressure, landlessness, environmental constraints, and technological changes in agriculture are some of the causes of unemployment in farming. Both male, female, and child laborers in the farm household perform various amounts and types of off-farm work to supplement low farm income. Off-farm income accounted for 66% of the family income. Contributions of female and child labor are significant. Education and urbanization show positive effects on the availability of off-farm work as well as off-farm income.     

Use and non-use values as motivational construct dimensions for farm animal welfare: impacts on the economic outcome for the farm

This study explored how farmers’ motivation in terms of use values and/or non-use values to work with farm animal welfare are associated with the economic outcome for the farm. Use values in farm animal welfare refer to economic value derived from productivity and profitability considerations. Non-use values in farm animal welfare refer to economic value derived from good animal welfare, irrespective of the use the farmer derives from the animal, currently or in the future. The analysis was based on detailed information about the income statements of a sample of Swedish dairy farmers, obtained from the Swedish Farm Economic Survey, complemented with survey information about their perceived use and non-use values in farm animal welfare. The findings suggest that farm economic outcome is significantly associated with motivation in terms of use values, but not so much with motivation in terms of non-use values. This is interesting from a policy point of view, because it indicates that farmers with different approaches to farm animal welfare may experience different economic outcomes for their farms. Findings can, for instance, be used to strengthen farmers’ engagement in various private quality assurance standards, which generally focus on values of non-use type, by pointing to that realisation of such values will not impair the economic outcome of the farms. Moreover, findings also suggest that farmers’ economic incentives for engagement in such standards may need to be further strengthened in order to become more attractive, as findings point to that a focus on non-use values generally is not associated with more favourable economic outcomes.     

Data strategy for environmental assessment of agricultural regions via LCA: case study of a French catchment

Purpose

Various approaches have been carried out to extrapolate environmental assessments of farms to the regional level, some of them oversimplified and thus leading to high uncertainty. Key challenges include selection of a representative sample, construction of a farm/land use typology, the extrapolation strategy and dealing with data limitations. This work proposes a method for addressing these issues by means of statistically supported approaches.

Methods

We applied a novel approach combining a sampling strategy, estimation of farm-level environmental impacts via life cycle assessment (LCA), a farm typology based on principal component analysis, a statistical method for extending the farm sample given data constraints and finally linear extrapolation based on regional production and land use, taking into account the regional import–export balance. The approach was applied to a French case study, the Lieue de Grève catchment in the dairy-intensive Brittany region. A decision flowchart was developed to generalise the approach for similar applications dealing with farm and LCA data constraints. Additionally, innovative farm practices were modelled and their impacts propagated to the regional level.

Results and discussion

The typology developed identified “dairy”, “beef”, “dairy + beef” and “swine” farms as the dominant farm types in the region. While swine farms had the highest mean impacts per hectare, dairy and dairy + beef farms had impacts two to five times as high as those of beef and swine farms, when extrapolated to the entire catchment. Multiple linear regressions based on an extended farm and LCA dataset were used to predict environmental impacts of dairy farms lacking LCA results, thus increasing their sample size before extrapolation. The inclusion of farm and LCA data from a neighbouring region did not contribute to the accuracy of predicted impacts, as determined by comparing them to those of the farm closest to the dairy cluster’s centre, but rather produced significantly larger coefficients of variation. Results of tests of including two extra-regional farm and LCA datasets helped determine decision rules for the decision flowchart. Modelling of innovative agricultural practices yielded regional impacts consistent with previous estimates.

Conclusions

This approach provides a generalisable approach for farm typologies, data handling and regional extrapolation of farm-level LCAs, applicable to estimate environmental impacts of any agricultural area if requirements of a representative farm sample are met. We demonstrate the utility of the method for estimating effects of innovative agricultural practices on a region’s impacts by modelling practices on virtual farms and extrapolating their results.

     

Seroprevalence and Risk Factors for Coxiella burnetii (Q Fever) Seropositivity in Dairy Goat Farmers' Households in The Netherlands, 2009-2010

Community Q fever epidemics occurred in the Netherlands in 2007-2009, with dairy goat and dairy sheep farms as the implicated source. The aim of the study was to determine the seroprevalence and risk factors for seropositivity in dairy goat farmers and their household members living or working on these farms. Sera of 268 people living or working on 111 dairy goat farms were tested for Coxiella burnetii IgG and IgM antibodies using immunofluorescence assay. Seroprevalences in farmers, spouses and children (12-17 years) were 73.5%, 66.7%, and 57.1%, respectively. Risk factors for seropositivity were: performing three or more daily goat-related tasks, farm location in the two southern provinces of the country, proximity to bulk milk-positive farms, distance from the nearest stable to residence of 10 meters or less, presence of cats and multiple goat breeds in the stable, covering stable air spaces and staff not wearing farm boots. Goat farmers have a high risk to acquire this occupational infection. Clinicians should consider Q fever in this population presenting with compatible symptoms to allow timely diagnosis and treatment to prevent severe sequelae. Based on the risk factors identified, strengthening general biosecurity measures is recommended such as consistently wearing boots and protective clothing by farm staff to avoid indirect transmission and avoiding access of companion animals in the goat stable. Furthermore, it provides an evidence base for continuation of the current vaccination policy for small ruminants, preventing spread from contaminated farms to other farms in the vicinity. Finally, vaccination of seronegative farmers and household members could be considered.     

Graph-based impact analysis as a framework for incorporating practitioner knowledge in dairy herd health management

Production diseases in dairy cows are multifactorial, which means they emerge from complex interactions between many different farm variables. Variables with a large impact on production diseases can be identified for groups of farms using statistical models, but these methods cannot be used to identify highly influential variables in individual farms. This, however, is necessary for herd health planning, because farm conditions and associated health problems vary largely between farms. The aim of this study was to rank variables according to their anticipated effect on production diseases on the farm level by applying a graph-based impact analysis on 192 European organic dairy farms. Direct impacts between 13 pre-defined variables were estimated for each farm during a round-table discussion attended by practitioners, that is farmer, veterinarian and herd advisor. Indirect impacts were elaborated through graph analysis taking into account impact strengths. Across farms, factors supposedly exerting the most influence on production diseases were ‘feeding’, ‘hygiene’ and ‘treatment’ (direct impacts), as well as ‘knowledge and skills’ and ‘herd health monitoring’ (indirect impacts). Factors strongly influenced by production diseases were ‘milk performance’, ‘financial resources’ and ‘labour capacity’ (directly and indirectly). Ranking of variables on the farm level revealed considerable differences between farms in terms of their most influential and most influenced farm factors. Consequently, very different strategies may be required to reduce production diseases in these farms. The method is based on perceptions and estimations and thus prone to errors. From our point of view, however, this weakness is clearly outweighed by the ability to assess and to analyse farm-specific relationships and thus to complement general knowledge with contextual knowledge. Therefore, we conclude that graph-based impact analysis represents a promising decision support tool for herd health planning. The next steps include testing the method using more specific and problem-oriented variables as well as evaluating its effectiveness.     

Evaluation of organic,conventional and intensive beef farm systems: health,management and animal production

The overall aim of the present study was to analyse and compare organic beef cattle farming in Spain with intensive and conventional systems. An on-farm study comparing farm management practices and animal health was carried out. The study also focussed on a slaughterhouse analysis by comparing impacts on the safety and quality of the cattle products. Twenty-four organic and 26 conventional farms were inspected, and farmers responded to a questionnaire that covered all basic data on their husbandry practices, farm management, veterinary treatments and reproductive performance during 2007. Furthermore, data on the hygiene and quality of 244, 2596 and 3021 carcasses of calves from organic, intensive and conventional farms, respectively, were retrieved from the official yearbook (2007) of a slaughterhouse. Differences found between organic and conventional farms across the farm analysis did not substantially reflect differences between both farm types in the predominant diseases that usually occur on beef cattle farms. However, calves reared organically presented fewer condemnations at slaughter compared with intensive and to a lesser extent with conventionally reared calves. Carcass performance also reflected differences between farm type and breed and was not necessarily better in organic farms.     

Animal welfare official inspections: farmers and inspectors shared concerns

Official inspections to check the compliance of farms with European legislation to protect farm animals are often perceived negatively by farmers. In addition, the inspections have a limited effect on improving farm compliance. We looked at the perceptions of both farmers and their inspectors about animal welfare and the inspections in a case study of dairy production in France. The identification of gaps and commonalities between both parties should help us to propose improvements in the inspection method by which inspections could more likely encourage compliance with animal welfare legislation. To achieve this aim, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 dairy farmers and their 19 inspectors. Both farmers and inspectors described animal welfare in terms of the state of the animal and of the living conditions and care provided to them. The majority of farmers found that the official checklist used by the inspectors is inappropriate to assess the welfare of their animals; inspectors themselves reported that they often use their own criteria and indicators (often based on the observation of animals) in addition to the official checklist. Both groups disagreed with some requirements of the legislation. These findings suggest that the content and background of the legislation to protect animals should be made clearer to both farmers and inspectors and that these two groups of actors should be involved in the definition of key points to be checked on farms, with special attention to animal-based indicators. All this could improve farmers' engagement with the results of the inspections and, hopefully, could lead to better compliance with legislation and improvements in animal welfare on farms.     

The feeding system impacts relationships between calving interval and economic results of dairy farms

The calving interval (CI) can potentially impact the economic results of dairy farms. This study highlighted the most profitable CI and innovated by describing this optimum as a function of the feeding system of the farm. On-farm data were used to represent real farm conditions. A total of 1832 accounts of farms recorded from 2007 to 2014 provided economic, technical and feeding information per herd and per year. A multiple correspondence analysis created four feeding groups: extensive, low intensive, intensive and very intensive herds. The gross margin and some of its components were corrected to account for the effect of factors external to the farm, such as the market, biological status, etc. Then the corrected gross margin (cGMc) and its components were modelled by CI parameters in each feeding system by use of GLM. The relationship between cGMc and the proportion of cows with CI<380 days in each feeding group showed that keeping most of the cows in the herd with CI near to 1 year was not profitable for most farms (for the very intensive farms there was no effect of the proportion). Moreover, a low proportion of cows (0% to 20%) with a near-to-1-year CI was not profitable for the extensive and low intensive farms. Extending the proportion of cows with CI beyond 459 days until 635 days (i.e. data limitation) caused no significant economic loss for the extensive and low intensive farms, but was not profitable for the intensive and very intensive farms. Variations of the milk and feeding components explained mainly these significant differences of gross margin. A link between the feeding system and persistency, perceptible in the milk production and CI shown by the herd, could explain the different relationships observed between the extent of CI and the economic results in the feeding groups. This herd-level study tended to show different economic optima of CI as a function of the feeding system. A cow-level study would specify these tendencies to give CI objectives to dairy breeders as a function of their farm characteristics.     

Nontimber forest product gathering in Ritigala forest (Sri Lanka): Household strategies and community differentiation

Sri Lanka has a long tradition of forest product use. The relationship of people with a dry zone forest was studied using a sample of 48 households in two villages that varied in distance to the forest and access to the market. All households interviewed collected subsistence forest products and a majority of them also collected commercial products. The daily peak-season income from commercial gathering was 4.5 to 7.7 times the daily labor wage. There is a strong gender specialization, with commercial gathering dominated by men whereas subsistence gathering is almost exclusively the task of women. The average forest-derived household income in the village closer to the forest and with better market access was nearly double that of the other village. Family size as a proxy of labor availability was the main discriminating factor between those households who did and those who did not gather commercial products. A small inverse relationship between forest gathering and size of household agricultural land (particularly paddy rice) was observed. No clear relationship was found between total household income and forest derived income, contradicting the view that commercial forest gathering is an exclusive activity of the poorest households.     

International Labor Migration from a Tropical Development Frontier: Globalizing Households and an Incipient Forest Transition

This study documents labor migration and its impacts on household income, material well-being, and land-use practices in Mexico’s southern Yucatán and examines the relation of labor migration to local forest recovery. Drawing on a 203-household survey in 14 communities, we contrast migrating and non-migrating households, showing that migration earnings substitute for agricultural earnings and that migrating households cultivate significantly less farmland. A larger percentage of migrating households maintain pasture, but, on average, not more hectares. These dynamics are consistent with the decline in deforestation registered in the area for the year 2000. Incipient local forest recovery is considered in light of current forest transition theory, with an examination of three hypothesized paths to forest recovery: economic development, forest scarcity, and smallholder agricultural adjustment. The southern Yucatán case illustrates the need to explicitly incorporate the role of globalizing household economies into forest transition theory.

Farmer views on calving difficulty consequences on dairy and beef farms

Calving difficulty (CD) is a key functional trait with significant influence on herd profitability and animal welfare. Breeding plays an important role in managing CD both at farm and industry level. An alternative to the economic value approach to determine the CD penalty is to complement the economic models with the analysis of farmer perceived on-farm impacts of CD. The aim of this study was to explore dairy and beef farmer views and perceptions on the economic and non-economic on-farm consequences of CD, to ultimately inform future genetic selection tools for the beef and dairy industries in Ireland. A standardised quantitative online survey was released to all farmers with e-mail addresses on the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation database. In total, 271 farmers completed the survey (173 beef farmers and 98 dairy farmers). Both dairy and beef farmers considered CD a very important issue with economic and non-economic components. However, CD was seen as more problematic by dairy farmers, who mostly preferred to slightly reduce its incidence, than by beef farmers, who tended to support increases in calf value even though it would imply a slight increase in CD incidence. Farm size was found to be related to dairy farmer views of CD with farmers from larger farms considering CD as more problematic than farmers from smaller farms. CD breeding value was reported to be critical for selecting beef sires to mate with either beef or dairy cows, whereas when selecting dairy sires, CD had lower importance than breeding values for other traits. There was considerable variability in the importance farmers give to CD breeding values that could not be explained by the farm type or the type of sire used, which might be related to the farmer non-economic motives. Farmer perceived economic value associated with incremental increases in CD increases substantially as the CD level considered increases. This non-linear relationship cannot be reflected in a standard linear index weighting. The results of this paper provide key underpinning support to the development of non-linear index weightings for CD in Irish national indexes.     

A Survey of Management Practices That Influence Performance and Welfare of Dairy Calves Reared in Southern Brazil

Here we report dairy calf management practices used by 242 smallholder family farmers in the South of Brazil. Data were collected via a semi-structured questionnaire with farmers, inspection of the production environment and an in-depth interview with a sample of 26 farmers. Herds had an average of 22.3 lactating cows and an average milk production of 12.7 L/cow/day. Calves were dehorned in 98% of the farms, with a hot iron in 95%. Male calves were castrated in 71% of the farms; methods were surgery (68%), emasculator (29%), or rubber rings (3%). No pain control was used for these interventions. In 51% of the farms all newborn male calves were reared, sold or donated to others; in 35% all newborn males were killed on the farm. Calves were separated from the dam up to 12 h after birth in 78% of the farms, and left to nurse colostrum from the dam without intervention in 55% of the farms. The typical amount of milk fed to calves was 4 L/day until a median age of 75 days. In 40% of the farms milk was provided in a bucket, in 49% with bottles, and in 11% calves suckled from a cow. Solid feeding in the milk-feeding period started at a median age of 10 days. Calves were housed individually in 70% of the farms; in 81% of the farms calves were housed in indoor pens, in 6% in outdoor hutches and in 13% they were kept on pasture. Diarrhoea was reported as the main cause of calf mortality in 71% of the farms. Farmers kept no records of calf disease, mortality, or use of medicines. Changing the scenario identified in this survey is essential to support the sustainable development of dairy production, an activity of great economic and social relevance for the region.     

The economics of fibre and meat on Norwegian dairy goats

Seasonal variations in the volume of milk in Norwegian goat dairy farming complicate the production of brand goat cheeses. In the specialised goat dairy farming system most kids are culled shortly after birth without utilising the meat. In this paper the farm economics of an alternative system with altered period of kidding (currently from January to March) combined with the production of meat and cashmere fibre, is examined. May kidding combined with raising the kids for 8 or 20 months yielded the most promising economical return. Raising the kids for 1 year is also profitable when kidding takes place in February while December kidding seems to perform best with the present system of culling the kids right after birth. Cashmere fibre production seems to be profitable on Norwegian dairy goat farms and fibre and meat could become an option in countries seeking to improve incomes on dairy goat farms. Compared to the present system the changes would also be favourable from an animal welfare point of view.     

Epidemiology of brucellosis in cattle and dairy farmers of rural Ludhiana,Punjab

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease imposing significant impacts on livestock production and public health worldwide. India is the world’s leading milk producer and Punjab is the state which produces the most cattle and buffalo milk per capita. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of bovine brucellosis to provide evidence for control of the disease in Punjab State, India. A cross-sectional study of dairy farms was conducted in humans and livestock in rural Ludhiana district using a multi-stage sampling strategy. The study suggests that brucellosis is endemic at high levels in cattle and buffalo in the study area with 15.1% of large ruminants testing seropositive and approximately a third of dairy farms having at least one animal test seropositive. In total, 9.7% of those in direct contact with livestock tested seropositive for Brucella spp. Persons that assisted with calving and/or abortion within the last year on a farm with seronegative livestock and people which did not assist with calving/abortion had 0.35 (95% CI: 0.17 to 7.1) and 0.21 (0.09 to 0.46) times the odds of testing seropositive compared to persons assisting with calving/abortion in a seropositive farm, respectively. The study demonstrated that persons in direct contact with cattle and buffalo in the study area have high risk of exposure to Brucella spp. Control of the disease in livestock is likely to result in benefits to both animal and public health sectors.