Crop-Animal Interactions in Mixed Systems
Crop Production
Crops provide by-products in the form of residues and concentrates that can be utilized by ruminants and non-ruminants.
Improved forages can be introduced into annual and perennial cropping systems to provide feed for ruminants.
Animal Production
Large ruminants provide draught power for land preparation and for soil conservation practices.
Both ruminants and non- ruminants provide manure for the maintenance and improvement of soil fertility. In many farming systems it is the only source of nutrients for cropping.
The sale of animals and animal products and the hiring out of draught animals can provide cash income.
Animals grazing vegetation under trees crops can control weeds and help to increase yields of the plantation crops.

Source: Devendra, et al 1998.

Mixed Farming Systems and Equity

Helps in diversifying the sources of income and employment for resource poor farmers and landless laborers and thus offers considerable potential for poverty alleviation.
Livestock acts as a storehouse of capital and an insurance against crop production risks.
Development of livestock sector promotes gender equity since women play an important role in animal production.
Livestock rearing are a means of security and survival and supply vital dietary protein.

MCLS in India

In India small- scale mixed crop-livestock farming is the common and most dominant form of animal husbandry. For small and marginal farmers animal husbandry based on family labour and residues and by- products of crops grown on their own land continue to be a substantial source of income and employment.
Livestock in these systems are more equitably distributed compared to land. Small and marginal farms account for only 32% of the total land but own 59% of total bovines and 64% of total ovines (Table 1).
The animal land intensity in India is high with an average land holding size of 1.57 ha supporting nearly 2.94 bovines and 1.14 ovines. This in turn puts pressure on common property resources.
Table 1. Distribution of livestock according to the size of holdings: All India, 1991- 92
Size of Holding No. of Holdings (000's) Area per Holding (Ha) Area Operated (%) Livestock per Holding Bovine (%) Ovine (%)
Marginal
Small
Semi-medium
Medium
Large
All size classes		 62110
19970
13910

7630
1670
105290		 0.4
1.44
2.76

5.90
17.3
1.57		 14.87
17.34
23.16

27.20
17.45
100		 1.74
3.66
4.71

6.36
8.48
2.94		 0.80
1.38
1.54

1.95
3.79
1.14		 34.88
23.62
21.21

15.70
4.58
100		 41.61
22.93
17.80

12.40
5.27
100
Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics 1997.

 

 

 

Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in India
 P Parthasarathy Rao, T Bhowmick, and D Kar

http://www.icrisat.org/gt-mpi/ResearchBreifs/livestock1.asp

India has high population pressure on land and other resources to meet its food and development needs. The natural resource base of land, water and bio-diversity is under severe pressure. Food demand challenges ahead are formidable considering the non-availability of favourable factors of past growth, fast declining factor productivity in major cropping systems and rapidly shrinking resource base. Vast uncommon opportunities to harness agricultural potential still remain, which can be tapped to achieve future targets. There are serious gaps both in yield potential and technology transfer as the national average yields of most of the commodities are low, which if addressed properly could be harnessed. Concentration was on enhanced production of a few commodities like rice and wheat, which could quickly contribute to increased total food and agricultural production. This resulted in considerable depletion of natural resources and the rainfed dry areas having maximum concentration of resource poor farmers remained ignored, aggravating problems of inequity and regional imbalances. This also led to a high concentration of malnourished people in these rainfed, low productive areas. This era also witnessed rapid loss of soil nutrients, agro-biodiversity including indigenous land races and breeds. The agriculture policy must accelerate all-round development and economic viability of agriculture in comprehensive terms. Farmers must be provided the necessary support, encouragement and incentives. It must focus both on income and greater on?farm and off?farm job and livelihood opportunities.
Agriculture Policy: Vision 2020
by , indiaagronet.com, 19 February, 2009
Towards the end of the 1990s, the incidence of unemployment on the basis of CDS (current daily status) has exceeded seven per cent. There are also evidences of deterioration in the quality of rural employment; casualization of rural workers for instance, has increased many- fold. Real wages of rural workers however, increased and the disparity in rural and urban wages also reduced during the 90s. In this context, the present study investigates the nature and pattern of rural diversification in India.
RURAL NON-FARM EMPLOYMENT IN INDIA: MACRO-TRENDS, MICRO-EVIDENCES AND POLICY OPTIONS
by Brajesh Jha, Institute of Economic Growth , 01 January, 2006
It is a universally accepted fact that the agricultural sector is, by itself, incapable of creating additional opportunities of gainful employment in the wake of increasing population. As a result, the impetus for achieving sustained development in rural areas has to pivot around expanding the base of non-farm activities. If such a comprehensive planning approach can be evolved it could provide the solution to the problems of rural areas such as poverty, unemployment and out-migration of the rural work force. The significance of the non-farm sector is even more pronounced in the agriculturally backward and low productivity regions such as the hill districts of Uttaranchal.
NON-FARM ECONOMY AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
by G.S. MEHTA, GIRI INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, 01 February, 2002