Crop and Livestock Integration System for soil fertility management in sloping uplands
In India, smallholder farmers with scarce capital resources are common in upland environments, which are generally classified as marginal land for agriculture. To adapt to this environment, farmers often integrate their farming activities. In several districts of Mizoram, a state in northeastern India, farmers combine crop and dairy production, or crop and pig production. The integration of animal and plant production is an efficient farming system in the uplands. It increases farm incomes and capitalizes on the interactions among the different components of the production systems. This integration can reduce land degradation and play an important role in nutrient cycling.
The soils on the hilly terrain in Mizoram are highly susceptible to erosion, which is often aggravated by the practice of shifting cultivation (Jhuming). The soils are shallow and not fertile and there has been severe nutrient mining of the already depleted soil resources. By integrating agricultural production, farmers minimize soil erosion as much as possible and, in some cases, increase the soil depth, which enhances soil fertility.
Dairy production, which is an important part of the farm economy in the area, is an efficient converter of low-value crop by-products into nutritious high-value milk. The livestock manure is a source of organic fertilizer and its application helps maintain the health and fertility of soil. The farmers usually erect bamboo based housing structures with perforated flooring for housing 3 to 5 cows at the top of a hill. The dung and urine is deposited on the sloping land, and the nutrients flow downhill. The crops fertilized in such a manner can meet the animals feed and fodder requirements (Brajendra et al., 2007). Fodder production on the farm is used to meet at least 50 per cent of the fodder requirements. The distribution of organic matter rich materials over the sides of the hillslope result in improving the soil fertility and in minimizing the top soil losses. Natural re-distribution of organic matter rich soils to the lower parts of the hillslope result in increasing the soil depth.
Figure B7.8. Dairy-Crop integration
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Dairy - Crop integration |
