Livestock in Tropical Farming Systems
Format - General
Emphasis is on activities that facilitate learning by adults. Learning forums rely on group participation in discussion and information sharing, not lectures. Such participatory forums (a.k.a. "classes") are partly governed by topics with required reading assignments, by guest discussants (some on video), and by visual and multimedia aids selected to inform and to catalyze exchanges. Participants are responsible for self-preparation for fruitful discussion. Student teams lead discussion on designated topics. Sharing information is encouraged, which is the goal of written and oral presentation of semester projects.
Resource materials. The basic course with literature support of core topics and learning aids are provided electronically. The course materials and learning aids are also available on a set of CD-ROMs. Learning aids include a Multimedia Library and a Video Clip Library. For users in developing countries, these materials were developed to complement The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library. TEEAL is a library in a box of compact disks that comprises complete text articles from hundreds of selected journals.
Format - Problem Focus
This course is about faith and hope. Faith that scientific inquiry can empower all stakeholders to better choose options for managing tropical agroecosystems thus becoming better stewards of the environment. Hope that an integrated, participatory approach to problem-solving will accrue greater benefits from greater mutual understanding and communication among producers, scientists, and development practitioners. Hope that rural families--mothers, fathers and children--can be better nourished, healthier stewards; that adequate food and family income can be produced sustainably from land, water, plant and animal resources by communities in a healthy environment. Translated to expectations, this course is aimed at enabling applied science to better serve the stakeholders in rural landscapes--from resource-poor and vulnerable rural households to community and urban dwellers to policy makers at all levels.
Societies around the world are being challenged to find agroecosystems more in harmony with the environment. Ultimately, farmers and rural communities--the real environmental caretakers--will determine the fate of our landscapes, our stocks of natural resources, and our food systems (see Environment, text/photos, text only).
However, choosing systems is a complex process--partly by its multifactorial nature and high information demands, partly because objectives differ among stakeholders. Herein lies the urgent need for integrated thematic research to meet this complex challenge. Better information and nutrient management tools are fundamental to sustainably improving productivity of soils, plants and animals, and deciding the corresponding land uses. This biophysical complex is at the core of agrosilvopastoral (ASP) system management, which integrates crops, trees, and livestock in various rotational or spatial configurations.
Better nutrient management decision making for resilient ASP system productivity is linked to human nutrition and social issues, and is hypothesized to be congruent with a healthy environment and well-maintained natural resources. Consequently, a key hypothesis originates in a biophysical domain, where nutrients recycle between ASP components of the ecosystem: productivity or profitability in all ASP systems can be increased through more efficient cycling and utilization of nutrients among soils, plants, animals and humans. The corresponding goal is rational land use and better husbandry of the stocks, flows, and utilization of nutrients in the food system, which are the key factors underwriting family, community, and environmental well-being. Our emphasis is on diagnosing problems, screening options, designing and evaluating technological "best bets", and adapting or developing decision-making tools. The goal is to improve food and family security and farm profits in contrasting ecoregions by systematically and sustainably managing the flows, supplies and utilization of nutrients in various ASP systems. An effective farmer-scientist dialogue begins by asking how each understands the world, and continues through evaluation and eventual recommendations for modifications in ASP system management.
The mixed crop-livestock systems of resource-poor farmers contain various crops and a livestock resource gradient correlated to household wealth. Farm decision makers must manage competing demands from the various subsystems; soil health and fertility, water, multipurpose crops (for food and livestock feed), multipurpose trees and forest, shrubs and green manure species, livestock (nutrition of dual-purpose cattle, swine, poultry, small ruminants), medicinal plants and forest products. Thus, ASP management integrates expected payoffs from nutrient cycling decisions through implementable soil, water, crop, green manure, tree and livestock technologies. For example, by determining the baseline nutrient budgets in the dominant ASP systems and by assessing the land, labor, and organic and inorganic input allocations to livestock and crop subsystems we will be able to generate corresponding yield and net income potentials.
Dual-purpose cattle production systems. The most widespread cattle system in the tropics, especially Latin America, is a dual-purpose one, where cattle produce milk and beef based on pastures and crop residues of low quality and with little supplementation. Although yields of these products are low, farmers maintain this system because relatively few inputs are required, several of which are outputs from other ASP system components. Thus, overall system efficiency is promoted by enhancing nutrient cycling among components. Dual-purpose cattle systems provide a continuous cash flow to the household from the sale of milk, where the livestock holding is also a strategic financial account for meeting family needs.
This facilitative role, promoting nutrient flows between crop-pasture-tree-fallow components and the accumulation of nutrient and financial stocks, makes livestock an important linchpin in ASP systems. Therefore, ASP management integrates expected payoffs from nutrient cycling decisions through implementable soil, water, crop, green manure, tree and livestock technologies and practices.