C. Devendra

Agricultural productivity and economic growth have had an unprecedented rate of rural growth, improved livelihoods and increased prosperity in Asia. Feed resources, the primary determinant of productivity, are most important, but are constrained to drive the supply of animal proteins. Currently the scenario is challenged by at least four defining factors: (i) the need for more food and productivity growth, (ii) rampant poverty and malnutrition, (iii) inefficient use of natural resources, and (iv) the effects of climate change. A fifth critical factor is underutilisation of productivity-enhancing technologies, adoption, replication and intensification that link production with post-production in supply value and food chains. Serious doubts have been raised about the capacity and resource efficiency to expand food production. With ruminants, the doubts are reflected in low productivity and inadequate supplies of animal proteins, meat and milk to meet current and projected human demands. Ensuring efficient feed utilisation and production systems are thus central to innovative strategies and pathways are necessary to accelerate productivity and also cope with climate change. Current trend in research on feeds is testing the component technologies. The traditional researchfarmer-extension model for technology delivery is unacceptable, due to the “top down” prescriptions, inappropriate production systems, complex interactions of the natural resources, doubtful technical capacity of the extension personnel, and inability to respond quickly to farmers’ needs. Transformation is necessary and is determined by (i) intensive use of new technologies that are adapted to climate change, (ii) empowering farmers into agents of poverty reduction and stewards of the environment, and (iii) when there is community-based participation in economic activities and expansion. Ruminants can be the entry point for the development of LFAs. The limited availability of feeds in small farm systems enables the development of low input systems and cost-effective increased productivity. That forms the backbone of about 470 million mainly mixed small farms in Asian agriculture. They provide jobs for about 60% of the working population, and account for 50–90% of Asia's total food production. The opportunities for technology-induced feed-based productivity gains in economic production systems, policy framework, rigorous R&D, investments, and multinational engagement for improving livelihoods are most challenging. Small farmers and the landless have an enduring dream of well-fed animals, sustained food security, reduced poverty, assured survival, and ability to cope with climate change in harmony with agricultural landscapes and self-reliance. These goals are achievable, provided there is collective will to serve and vision to provide direction and lead the way.

There is an urgent need to regenerate agriculture to increase productivity, support economic development and address concerns regarding food security. The fundamental question is whether the more efficient use of natural resources can help to reduce malnutrition and food insecurity while providing adequate food supplies to feed a burgeoning population in an environmentally sustainable way. In this paper, three pathways are considered: expanding existing arable land to include crop–animal systems; intensifying existing land use; and expanding production in less favoured areas (LFAs). Silvo–pastoral systems, common in rainfed areas, are often underestimated with regard to their capacity for carbon sequestration, value addition and increased productivity. Animals can also support improved livelihoods and can be used as an entry point for the development of LFAs. However, the varied and complex issues related to such development require an interdisciplinary approach that addresses demographics, socioeconomics, resource allocation, value chains, trade and marketing. Combined with effective development policy, the goals of sustainable food production and environmental protection are achievable. This paper reviews the issues and sets out options for improving the management of natural resources to support agricultural development.

The elements that determine the success of development projects on goats and the prerequisites for ensuring this are discussed in the context of the bewildering diversity of goat genetic resources, production systems, multifunctionality, and opportunities for responding to constraints for productivity enhancement. Key determinants for the success of pro-poor projects are the imperatives of realistic project design, resolution of priorities and positive impacts to increase investments and spur agricultural growth, and appropriate policy. Throughout the developing world, there exist 97% of the total world population of 921 million goats across all agro-ecological zones (AEZs), including 570 breeds and 64% share of the breeds. They occupy a very important biological and socio-economic niche in farming systems making significant multifunctional contributions especially to food, nutrition and financial security, stability of farm households, and survival of the poor in the rural areas. Definitions are given of successful and failed projects. The analyses highlighted in successful projects the value of strong participatory efforts with farmers and climate change. Climate change effects on goats are inevitable and are mediated through heat stress, type of AEZ, water availability, quantity and quality of the available feed resources and type of production system. Within the prevailing production systems, improved integrated tree crops - ruminant systems are underestimated and are an important pathway to enhance C sequestration. Key development strategies and opportunities for research and development (R and D) are enormous, and include inter alia defining a policy framework, resolution of priority constraints using systems perspectives and community-based participatory activities, application of yield-enhancing technologies, intensification, scaling up, and impacts. The priority for development concerns the rainfed areas with large concentrations of ruminants in which goats, with a capacity to cope with heat tolerance, can be the entry point for development. Networks and networking are very important for the diffusion of information and can add value to R and D. Well formulated projects with clear priority setting and participatory R and D ensure success and the realisation of food security, improved livelihoods and self-reliance in the future.

The importance of rainfed areas and animal agriculture on productivity enhancement and food security for economic rural growth in Asia is discussed in the context of opportunities for increasing potential contribution from them. The extent of the rainfed area of about 223 million hectares and the biophysical attributes are described. They have been variously referred to inter alia as fragile, marginal, dry, waste, problem, threatened, range, less favoured, low potential lands, forests and woodlands, including lowlands and uplands. Of these, the terms less favoured areas (LFAs), and low or high potential are quite widely used. The LFAs are characterised by four key features: i) very variable biophysical elements, notably poor soil quality, rainfall, length of growing season and dry periods, ii) extreme poverty and very poor people who continuously face hunger and vulnerability, iii) presence of large populations of ruminant animals (buffaloes, cattle, goats and sheep), and iv) have had minimum development attention and an unfinished wanting agenda. The rainfed humid/sub-humid areas found mainly in South East Asia (99 million ha), and arid/semi-arid tropical systems found in South Asia (116 million ha) are priority agro-ecological zones (AEZs). In India for example, the ecosystem occupies 68% of the total cultivated area and supports 40% of the human and 65% of the livestock populations. The area also produces 4% of food requirements. The biophysical and typical household characteristics, agricultural diversification, patterns of mixed farming and cropping systems are also described. Concerning animals, their role and economic importance, relevance of ownership, nomadic movements, and more importantly their potential value as the entry point for the development of LFAs is discussed. Two examples of demonstrated success concern increasing buffalo production for milk and their expanded use in semi-arid AEZs in India, and the integration of cattle and goats with oil palm in Malaysia. Revitalised development of the LFAs is justified by the demand for agricultural land to meet human needs e.g. housing, recreation and industrialisation; use of arable land to expand crop production to ceiling levels; increasing and very high animal densities; increased urbanisation and pressure on the use of available land; growing environmental concerns of very intensive crop production e.g. acidification and salinisation with rice cultivation; and human health risks due to expanding peri-urban poultry and pig production. The strategies for promoting productivity growth will require concerted R and D on improved use of LFAs, application of systems perspectives for technology delivery, increased investments, a policy framework and improved farmer-researcher-extension linkages. These challenges and their resolution in rainfed areas can forcefully impact on increased productivity, improved livelihoods and human welfare, and environmental sustainability in the future.

This paper discusses the potential importance and growing expansion of integrated oil palm–ruminant systems. It focuses on the significance of productivity-enhancing technologies and intensification consistent with economic benefits, social acceptance and environmental integrity, and alludes to potential opportunities associated with the sustainable development of such systems. The inclusion of animals in oil palm plantations has the distinct advantages of increasing productivity, providing supplies of animal proteins, and adding value to the oil palm crop. The principal feeds from the oil palm are oil palm trunks, oil palm fronds, palm kernel cake and palm oil mill effluent. These feeds, together with leguminous tree forages, provide for very efficient in situ development of oil palm-based feeding systems for ruminants that provide balanced diets and are relatively low-cost and cost-effective. A review of available data involving cattle in integrated systems indicates the following economic impacts: increased productivity from animals and offtakes, increased yield of fresh fruit bunches, increased income, savings in weeding costs, and an internal rate of return of about 19%. These economic impacts clearly encourage large-scale development of the systems: for this to happen, there is a need for supportive policies and more aggressive technology application on-farm. In addition, complacency needs to be overcome if there is to be wider adoption of the systems. Interest in integrated systems is increasing as intensification and the search for demonstrable efficiency in natural resource management and sustainable production pose challenges for the future.

The paper describes the rationale and importance of the approaches and methodologies of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) to enable constraint analysis, to understand the complexities of farming systems and to improve integrated dairy productivity. Implicit in this objective is Farming Systems Research (FSR), which focused on cropping systems in the 1970’s, with the subsequent addition of animal components. The methodology for FSR involves the following sequential components: site selection, site description and characterization (diagnosis), planning of on-farm research, on-farm testing and validation of alternatives, diffusion of results, and impact assessment. PRA is the development of FSR, which involves the active participation of farmers to identify constraints and plan appropriate solutions. In the Coordinated Research Project (CRP), the approach was adapted to 10 different country situations and led to Economic Opportunity Surveys (EOS) and Diagnostic Surveillance Studies (DSS), allowing the planning and implantation of integrated interventions to improve dairy productivity.

In animal production systems, the value of a species increases in relation to its adaptation, capacity to make socioeconomic contributions, capacity to fill market opportunities, and potential for increasing productivity. In the case of goats, their role and potential contribution to increased productivity are impeded by controversy about their destructive habits, poor understanding of their attributes, functional values, and links to the poverty focus, which together have not helped their contribution to improving natural resource management. Research and development efforts that can significantly improve productivity from goats can simultaneously enhance the livelihoods of the poor. Resource allocation by national programmes and donor agencies to research and development projects on these animals is generally poor. In the search for efficiency in the improved use of the available animal genetic resources, more enlightened thinking is necessary about the role that goats could play. This must be backed by more resources and the use of interdisciplinary systems in priority agroecological zones to increase their productivity, and by so doing, this will enhance the livelihoods of the poor, and protect the environment.