Animals in Agroecosystems - Agroecology: The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems - page 282

of agrobiodiversity. In addition, to the extent
that animals provide other environmental services
and lessen the negative off-farm impacts of
agriculture, they enhance and protect bio-
diversity and the entire landscape.

require few off-farm inputs and relatively small capital
investment; for these reasons they are effective and real-
istic ways of creating greater economic security for many
people in developing countries (LEISA, 2005).
The animal portion of the system itself represents much
of its economic value to poor farmers. A livestock animal
is a living bank. It acts as a storehouse of capital, an invest-
ment in future productivity, and an insurance against crop
production risks. Where diets tend to be protein- and
calorie-deficient, livestock animals supply vital protein-rich
food. In addition, since women often play an important role
in animal husbandry activities, agricultural systems that
incorporate livestock animals can promote gender equality,
both socially and economically (Figure 19.11).
In many developing countries, mixed crop-livestock
systems are already primary economic activities in rural
areas, but these systems operate inefficiently, without tak-
ing advantage of all the potential synergies, and as a result,
they don't realize their full potential for economic return.
This is the case in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, for
example, where a study determined that several different
alternative modes of structuring the typical small-holder
agroecosystem could result in significant improvement of
the socioeconomic status of the tribal farmers (Ramrao et
al. 2005). In every case, the alternative system involved
diversification and increase of the animal component and
tighter integration of all system components.
Table 19.2 compares mixed crop-livestock systems,
grazing systems, and industrial confinement systems in
terms of three important characteristics. It demonstrates
the high correlation between crop-livestock integration,
ecological qualities, and potential for achieving social and
economic equity.

S OCIAL AND E CONOMIC B ENEFITS OF I NTEGRATION

Up to this point, we have focused mostly on the ecological
benefits of mixed livestock-crop systems. As we have
seen in many other cases, practices that have ecological
benefits often have economic and social benefits as well,
and livestock-crop integration is a good case in point.
Many economic and social benefits, of course, are implicit
in the points made above: increasing crop yields, improv-
ing soil health, and reducing costly purchased inputs all
have direct positive impacts on the farmer's bottom line.
But two socioeconomic benefits of integration deserve
discussion on their own.

Diversifying Enterprises and Reducing Economic
Vulnerability

One of the original reasons why animals and crops were
raised together on farms was that this mixing allowed a
greater diversity of food types and agricultural products to
be produced. This diversification had a simple economic
logic: it increased economic security by spreading the risk
of failure among more enterprises. While this was based
on a self-sufficiency situation long gone in most parts of
the world today, the same logic still applies in the context
of producing food as a commodity. Raising animals in
addition to crops provides the farmer with additional mar-
ketable products, whether they be eggs, milk, wool, honey,
silk, lambs, or beef cattle. Depending on local market con-
ditions, these animal-based enterprises can provide a valu-
able income stream and protect against crop failures and
market fluctuations (Schierea et al., 2002).
Further, the various enterprises that may be based on
an integrated farm are often ideal for marketing on a local
or regional basis. By selling products at local stores, res-
taurants, and farmers markets, and through food coopera-
tives and community-supported agriculture organizations,
the money that would otherwise go to distributors, whole-
salers, transporters, and brokers goes to the farmer instead.
We will discuss the importance of such localized food
networks in more detail in Chapter 23.

Alleviating Poverty in Developing Countries

Mixed crop-livestock systems are ideally suited to helping
alleviate poverty in developing countries, the underlying
cause of high infant mortality, chronic hunger, food inse-
curity, resource degradation, and the high societal costs
that result from these problems. Integrated crop-livestock
systems can be operated profitably on a small scale, com-
prise a multiplicity of income-producing activities, and

FIGURE 19.11 An agroforestry system in Tonga integrating
cattle and coconut palms. The palms provide coconut fruit,
copra, and construction materials, and the cattle provide meat
and milk. Systems such as this, combining agriculture, animal
husbandry, and forestry, are especially appropriate for small
holders in developing countries. Photo by Molly Wilson.