37 - The socio-economic aspects of livestock production in village in northern Cote d'Ivoire

A. SCHUETTERLE and M. COULIBALY

Introduction
Materials and methods
Results
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The socio-economic aspects of agricultural production play a key role when farmers make decisions about animal husbandry and crop cultivation. Nevertheless, planners often give primary attention to the technical aspects of production, for example when they are investigating the use or introduction of innovations. These technical aspects include the extent to which agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and veterinary inputs are used, the type of animal husbandry and the degree of mechanization.

Extensive, broad-spectrum, socio-economic surveys are often an important prerequisite in identifying the key areas and central factors of farming concepts. They are made necessary by the multiplicity of interactions and the complexity of agricultural production.

This paper has the following two aims:

to give a general description of the socio-economic aspects of agricultural production, and

to present the socio-economic aspects of animal husbandry based on data obtained in northern Cote d'Ivoire.

The socio-economic aspects of animal husbandry to be presented here are taken from publications by Brinkmann (1922) and Weinschenk and Henrichsmeyer (1966). They called these aspects "the factors of farm design" in the theory of site-appropriate agricultural production. Along with the technical aspects, these socio-economic aspects were finally decisive in introducing animal husbandry into farm-production plans. They generally embrace the following two areas.

Farm Specialization

Factors compelling a farming concept oriented towards farm specialization include:

- the natural, economic and structural conditions at the site,
- the general economic development and
- the state of agricultural production techniques.

These factors are expressed in:

A.1 the agricultural and property situation (such as land use, farm sizes, land ownership) and in

A.2 the level and composition of crop and livestock production.

Figure 1. Socio-economic aspects and factors affecting the farm organization and the production programme.

Variety in production goals

Factors compelling a farming concept oriented toward a variety of products include:

- specific farm conditions and
- forces interacting within the farm.

These represent the very factors of farm design which form the broad basis for farmers' decisions and actions. Thus, at the single-farm level, they create the socio-economic framework within which agricultural production takes place. The individual factors include:

B.1 the availability of production resources,

B.2 the interaction between crop-cultivation-production and animal husbandry,

B.3 the safeguarding of sustained productivity of land and animals,

B.4 the extent to which production is geared to subsistence (as opposed to marketing) and

B.5 the socio-cultural background (relationship of the family to the farm, ethnic and religious affiliation).

The socio-economic aspects and factors affecting the farm organization and the production programme are presented diagrammatically in Figure 1.

Materials and methods

The survey area at Boundiali

A basic data survey of more than 3000 farms in the districts of Boundiali and Tengrela in the northern Cote d'Ivoire was financed and carried out by the GTZ between October 1985 and April 1986.

The survey in the Boundiali region focussed on the area near the main route from Tengrela to Mankono, within a radius of about 60 km from the town of Boundiali.

The classification of farm types

Farming systems were classified according to the species of livestock kept on the farm. Animal traction was basically considered a crop-growing activity and is therefore not included with other types of animal husbandry. This means that draught oxen may be present among the livestock of any of the farm-types mentioned. All farm owners belonged to the Senoufo, Fulani or Malinke ethnic group and were followers of either Islam, Christianity or Animism. Farming systems were classified as the following five types.

Type 1:	No animal husbandry. These are crop farms where no animals are kept.
Type 2:	Small-animal husbandry around the farm house. These are crop farms with animals other than cattle or sheep.
Type 3:	Sheep farms. These are crop farms with sheep production but not cattle.
Type 4:	Cattle farms. These are crop farms with cattle production but no sheep.
Type 5:	Mixed farms. These are crop farms with both cattle and sheep production.

Results

A.1 The agricultural and property situation

The prevailing farming system (fallow-land with hoe-cultivation) has a tendency to increasingly shorten the fallow period. The result is a further spread of the relatively unstable system of crop-rotation, despite the large amount of arable land available (see also Ruthenberg, 1980).

For land no individual property rights exist.

According to the Campagne Ivoirienne des Textiles (CIDT) (1981/1985), only about 9% of arable land is being used at the present time. The 1986 Project Planning Study for Boundiali gives the figures as 5.7% (Ministere de developpement rural, 1986).

A.2 The level and composition of agricultural production

The most significant cash crops are cotton, groundnuts and rice. Often maize, millet, sorghum, "fonio" and yams are grown as mixed crops. Since 1971, when cotton was extensively introduced as a cash crop, animal traction has received government backing. Of all crop farms 25% now have draught oxen.

Farming patterns

Most of the farmers in the region are smallholders

Table 1 shows the species and numbers of animals on the various types of farms. It is evident that farms with the highest livestock numbers not only have twice as many cattle, but also have significantly more sheep and goats.

Table 1. Animal husbandry in different farm-types (in TLU).*

Farm types	No. of farms	draught oxen TLU	digs and poultry	sheep TLU	goats TLU	cattle TLU	total TLU
No animal husbandry	810	-	-	-	-	-	-
Small animal husbandry	1115	0.53	0.55	-	0.12	-	1.20
Farms with sheep	204	0.50	0.56	0.97	0.14	-	2.17
Farms with cattle	379	1.52	0.55	-	0.14	10.46	12.67
Farms with cattle and sheep	148	1.77	0.27	1.86	0.27	19.73	23.90

*TLU = Tropical Livestock Unit

Table 2 compares cultivation patterns for the most important crops: maize, cotton, groundnuts and rice. Here we can see the different area of land cultivated for each crop and the total area of land cultivated for all 5 farm-types as well as the means for all the farms surveyed.

Table 2. The cropping pattern of farms in the region of Boundiali.

Farm-types:	Cultivated area ha.				total ha
	corn	cotton	peanut	rice
No animal husbandry	0.78	0.75	0.68	0.46	3.16
Small animal husbandry	1.06	1.10	0.87	0.70	4.73
Farms with sheep	1.13	1.28	1.11	0.93	5.27
Farms with cattle	1.69	1.59	1.42	0.78	6.56
Farms with cattle and sheep	2.05	1.75	1.68	0.87	7.49
All farms	1.14	1.12	0,95	0.66	4.88

Crop Farming

All of the predominant ethnic groups, the Senoufo, Malinke and Fulani, cultivate crops. If we compare farm-types by their "use of production-increasing means" (such as plant-protecting chemicals and fertilizers) and their "degree of mechanization", we notice that cattle production tends to be accompanied by "progressive" methods of crop-cultivation (Table 3). If we take the main crops of cotton and rice, twice as many farms in this category are intensively operated compared to farms without cattle. Farms keeping sheep or small animals are also run much more intensively than those with no animal husbandry at all.

Table 3. Percentage of farms within each farm-type producing specific crops with extensive or intensive management.

Farm-types	cotton		corn		peanut		rice
	ext. (%)	int. (%)	ext. (%)	int. (%)	ext. (%)	int. (%)	ext. (%)	int. (%)
No animal husbandry	4	10	91	-	93	-	86	2
Small animal husbandry	2	33	88	5	94	-	64	14
Farms with sheep	2	33	92	5	79	-	72	12
Farms with cattle	3	64	75	22	93	1	54	41
Farms with cattle and sheep	2	73	62	28	91	1	42	41

^a Management level determined by relative use of manure and pesticides and degree of mechanization.

Animal Production

Traditionally, the region's cattle and sheep production is divided into the following two branches: the "transhumant" form of animal husbandry (carried out by the Fulani), and the animal husbandry practiced by the "settled" Senoufos and Malinke.

The transhumant animal husbandry of the Fulani, comprising nearly half of the cattle stock in the region, represents an important economic factor. Of all the Fulani livestock owners, one in five possesses a herd of more than 100 animals, mostly composed of zebus and crossbreds.

The socio-cultural background of the Senoufos and Malinke has a special influence on the type and extent of animal production in this group, as described by Coulibaly (1978). Traditionally the children herded the animals, but today Fulani herdsmen have largely taken over this function.

Table 4. Fixed and current assets for the various farm-types, expressed as percent of total net value.

Farm-type	Percent of total net value			Total in CFAF	Property Index
	Buildings	Vehicles, Equipment	Livestock
1	54	46	-	193,767	100
2	32	50	18	510,424	263
3	27	52	21	786,689	406
4	14	37	49	1,939,217	1,001
5	13	34	54	3,341,318	1,724
Average	23	41	36	797,026	411

B.1 The availability of production resources

The availability of production resources is a major factor to be considered. Studies on the "labour" resource show no essential differences in manpower needs per hectare of cultivated land (the average being about 1 manyear/ha).

With respect to "land" as a production resource, Coulibaly (1978) pointed out that by tradition one can only inherit the rights to the use of land; no individual property rights exist. Thus, only the fixed and current assets of a farm are under individual ownership. Three types of assets were selected and compiled in Table 4 (see also Traub, 1987).

It thus becomes apparent that an introduction of cattle production alters the proportion of property in buildings (from 27 to 14/13%) and in equipment and vehicles (from 52 to 37/34%) and at the same time raises the property index from 406 to 1001 and 1724 points, respectively.

The rural Boundiali Region, with its unfavourable rural infrastructure, has an additional disadvantage: there are no banks available for savings deposits. Alternate opportunities for capital investments (such as land purchases) are also nonexistent due to a lack of collateral and property rights. This emphasizes the savings and investment function of cattle production.

An expansion of animal husbandry brings a parallel increase in available capital resources in relation to the amount of land used: from about CFAF66,500/ha in farms without animal husbandry to as much as CFAF168,000/ha in farms with both cattle and sheep production (Table 5).

Table 5. Farm Capital in CFAF.

Farm-type	Invested capital	Total capital	Invested capital per family labour	Invested capital per hectare	Invested capital per TLU
No animal husbandry	193,768	193,768	61,746	66,546	n.a.
Small animal husbandry	420,814	510,263	106,221	92,252	1,120,286
Sheep farms	623,770	786,689	110,230	90,260	588,532
Cattle farms	988,958	1939,217	255,975	147,801	108,267
Mixed farms	1,549,007	3341,318	190,814	168,232	91,727

B.2 The interaction between crop-farming and animal husbandry

In taking a closer look at the extent to which animal husbandry is integrated into crop-growing farms, we see in cotton, maize, groundnut and rice cultivation, with respect to "the use of dung as fertilizer" and "the use of animal traction" the following trends.

1. On farms with no animal husbandry, 3% of smallholders with up to 5 hectares of arable land use draught animals. They do not use the dung as fertilizer.

2. On farms where small animals are kept, draught oxen are used in about one farm in four. The incidence rises with an increase in arable land area. Animal dung is seldom used as fertilizer and then only when draught oxen are kept.

3. On sheep farms, the proportion of draught oxen increases with the expansion of arable land. The dung is not used.

4. Most cattle farms use animal traction. Dung is occasionally used on those farms keeping draught animals.

5. About two-thirds of cattle and sheep farms use draught oxen. There is more frequent use of dung (on about 12 to 15% of the farms), but here again, only in combination with animal traction.

Where no cattle production is involved, more than half of the farms with 10 hectares of arable land or more use draught oxen. On cattle farms, however, one hectare of cultivated land suffices for animal traction to be used in over 50% of the cases. Whereas only a quarter of those farms without cattle production possesses its own pair of oxen, two-thirds of livestock owners on cattle farms have one.

B.3 The safeguarding of sustained productivity of land and animals

The analysis of animal nutrition, a central part of herd management, has shown that in cattle farms about 25% of the herds are held only on natural pasture. Only about 50% of the herds are given salt as well as kitchen wastes and crop residues. About 18% of the herds are supplemented with by-products of grain production and 2 to 3% are additionally fed with protein concentrates.

Analysis of the level of animal nutrition in sheep farms has shown that between 6 and 14% of the herds are put only to pasture. About 4% are given salt or kitchen wastes while about 80% are supplemented with by-products of grain production. Approximately 1 to 3% of the herds are additionally fed with protein concentrates.

B.4 The degree of subsistence production

On some farms, cultivation is still heavily geared to subsistence production. While a quarter of all farms without animal production are still heavily subsistence-oriented, this fraction drops with the expansion of animal husbandry; only one in seven cattle-production farms is still subsistence-oriented. On the other hand, Table 6 shows that one-third of all crop farmers are heavily market-oriented. The type and extent of animal production make little difference here.

Table 6. Percentage of farms with subsistence, intermediate or. market orientation within animal-husbandry type.

Farm-type	Market orientation of farma
	Subsistence	Intermediate	Market
No animal husbandry	23	51	26
Small animal husbandry	18	57	25
Farms with sheep	20	51	29
Farms with cattle	15	60	26
Farms with cattle and sheep	13	55	32

^a Percentage of total crop production gross margin from cash crops
- subsistence, up to 30%
- intermediate, 30 to 70%
- market, more than 70%.

B.5 The socio-cultural background

The function of animal husbandry depends very much on being members of a certain religion and/or ethnic group (Table 7). The analysis of the relationship between the scale of cattle and sheep production and membership of an ethnic group gives the following results:

- more than 80% of the Senoufos and 75% of the Malinke neither have cattle nor sheep production;

- the cattle herds of the Fulanis are significantly larger than those of the Senoufos and Malinke; and

- of farms having more than 5 TLU of sheep, the 10 percentage points belonging to Malinke farmers place them in an intermediate position between the Senoufos (with 3% points) and the Fulani (with 25% points).

For further information about animal husbandry in the various socio-cultural groups see publications by Jahnke (1984) and Bernadet (1984).

Table 7. Percentage of cattle and sheep holders according to size of herd/flock within the Senoufos, Fulani and Malinke ethnic groups.

Ethnic group	Size of cattle herd (TLU)
	0	1-5	5-10	10-15	15-25	>25
Senoufos	82	1	10	6	1	-
Fulani	18	-	4	32	36	11
Malinke	75	-	10	8	7	-
Ethnic	Size of sheep herd (TLU)
	group 0	1-5	5-10	10-15	15-25	>25
Senoufos	90	7	2	1	-	-
Fulani	54	21	21	-	4	-
Malinke	74	16	9	1	-	-

Conclusion

Farmers mainly focus on socio-economic aspects in designing their farming concepts. In doing so, they consider complex technical, economic and socio-cultural opportunities and objectives. We have been examining the factors involved, which of course also include animal husbandry. Our analysis of overall farm activities derives from a survey of local conditions.

We have seen that insufficient capital resources, extensive, traditional methods of crop-farming, and socio-cultural restrictions pertaining to various animal species and their uses hinder an introduction or expansion of cattle and sheep production.

We have also identified factors which have a positive impact on the development of animal husbandry in the region, particularly with respect to ruminants. These are a proportionally greater cultivated area of land, the chance to use surplus capital for animal purchases - as an alternative to buying land, and economically "intensive" methods of crop farming.

The results of this socio-economic analysis of animal husbandry could provide a general basis for more thorough investigations of animal production at tropical and sub-tropical sites, as well as for further studies on traditional animal husbandry at the village level.

References

Bernadet, Ph. 1984. Association agriculture - elevage en Afrique Les Peuls semi-transhumants de Cote d'Ivoire, l'Harmattan, Paris.

Brinkmann, T. 1922. Die Okonomik des landwirtschaftlichen Betriebes. In Grundriss der Sozialokonomik, Tubingen: Verlag J.C.B. Mohr.

CIDT. 1981-1985 Rapport annuel 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1984/85. Boundiali, Cote d'Ivoire.

Coulibaly, S. 1978. Le Paysan Senoufo Les nouvelles editions africaines. Abidjan.

Jahnke, H.E. 1984. Systemes de production animale et developpement de l'elevage en Afrique tropicale. Kiel: Kieler Wissenschaftsverlag Vauk.

Ministere de developpment rural. 1986. Etude d'identification d'un projet de developpement regional dans le departement de Boundiali. Direction de la Planification du Budget des Finances et du Controle de gestion, Ministere du developpement rural, Abidjan, Mars 1986.

Ruthenberg, H. 1980. Farming Systems in the Tropics. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Traub, D. 1987. Zur Verbesserung der Wirtschaftlichkeit landwirtschaftlicher Betriebe durch Beratung im Norden der Cote d'Ivoire, Diplomarbeit, Hohenheim.

Weinschenck, G. and W. Henrichsmeyer. 1966. Zur Theorie und Ermittlung des raumlichen Gleichgewichts der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion. In: Berichte uber Landwirtschaft. Heft 2, Hamburg - Berlin.