The electronic Consultation on Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems for Development: The Way Forward for Sustainable Production Intensification

An electronic consultation was held during the month of February 2010 and involved over 400 subscribers. The outcome of the electronic consultation served as an input into the stakeholder Workshop held at the Embrapa Maize and Sorghum Institute in Sete Lagaos, Minas Geráis, Brazil, from 23 to 26 March 2010. The meeting produced a number of recommendations for follow up actions. A draft Sete Lagaos Consensus was prepared and commented by the plenary with some immediate actions.

Enhancing Crop-Livestock Systems in Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Production Intensification: A Farmer Discovery Process Going to Scale in Burkina Faso

This is a story about how FAO assisted groups of farmers in five farming communities in the moist savannah zone of South Western Burkina Faso to enhance their crop-livestock systems through Conservation Agriculture (CA) practices, including crop diversification, using an innovative farmer discovery process, to bring about agricultural intensification and improvement in livelihoods. FAO's assistance was delivered largely by working with national institutions, adding value to ongoing stakeholder resources and activities.

Livestock in Mixed Farming Systems of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas: Trends and Sustainability

This report seeks to bring together various studies on the linkages that influence the livestock sector of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas (HKH) region and aims to provide better understanding of the changing linkages between livestock production systems and other components of the farming system such as soil fertility, crop productivity, and natural resources. It is based on a comprehensive review of relevant secondary sources and is supplemented by additional field data gathered from sites in three high-pressure hill districts of Nepal.

Livestock in a Changing Landscape (Volume 1)

The rapidly changing nature of animal production systems, especially their increasing intensification and globalization, is playing out in complex ways around the world. Livestock in a Changing Landscape offers a comprehensive examination of these important and far-reaching trends and presents new, sustainable, approaches to the challenges created by fundamental shifts in livestock management and production. The two volumes represent an essential resource for policy makers, industry managers, and academics. Volume 1 deals with Drivers Consequences, and Responses, examines the forces shaping change in livestock production and management; the resulting impacts on landscapes, land use, and social systems; and potential policy and management responses.

Livestock in a Changing Landscape (Volume 2)

This volume of Livestock in a Changing landscape deals with Experiences and regional Perspectives, examines region-specific contexts in detailed case studies from around the world. It explains how drivers and consequences of change play out in specific geographical areas and how they shape public and private responses.  

Livestock’s Long Shadow: environmental issues and options

This document presents a number of in-depth assessments of the various impacts of the world’s livestock sector on the environment. The assessment builds on the work of the Livestock, Environment and development (LEAD) Initiative. This multi-stakeholder initiative, coordinated by FAO’s Animal Production and Health Division, was formed to address the environmental consequences of livestock production, particularly in the light of rising demand for food products of animal origin and the increasing pressure on natural resources. Topics covered include land and water pollution from intensive livestock production, land degradation from overgrazing in drylands, and livestock-induced deforestation in the humid and subhumid tropics.

Tropical crop–livestock systems in conservation agriculture: The Brazilian experience

This publication describes how pasture, fodder and livestock production have been integrated into conservation agriculture systems in Brazil’s tropical zones. Integrated crop–livestock zero tillage systems (ICLZT) allow the sustainable production of high-yielding pasture without further deforestation; in this system, grazing livestock convert both pastures and crop residues into cash. The ability of pasture to build up the biological activity and physical quality of the soil is well known.

Mixed crop-livestock farming: A review of traditional technologies based on literature and field experience

Livestock play an important role in human society. In mixed farming systems in particular, they are able to utilize products that are not exploited by humans: kitchen wastes, grass from roadsides and wastelands, and crop residues from the cereal harvest. Animals give multiple products in return, such as meat, eggs, milk, fibres, social status and income, while dung and urine are valuable for fertilizing gardens, fields and fish ponds.

Cattle and Small Ruminant Production Systems in sub-Saharan Africa - A Systematic Review

The main objective of this study was to improve the information base on livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa by compiling and reviewing quantitative information on various aspects of ruminant production systems, estimating output from different systems, and quantifying their contribution to the overall availability of livestock products for human consumption. The study focused on cattle and small ruminants, which are the predominant livestock species in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting, in terms of tropical livestock units (TLUs), for 88 percent of the region’s total livestock resources, a proportion which is unlikely to change significantly in the foreseeable future.