The Crop-Livestock Integration Programme in Direct Drilling has awoken the interest of farmers who want to diversify their production systems and overcome the problems resulting from successive annual crops such as pasture degradation and pests, inherent to the traditional cultivation system. From one aspect the technology allows the reduction in risk as the farmer is not subject to one source of income and from another it permits an increase in livestock earnings as it reduces the lack of quality feed for animals - even in the dry season.

However, according to the authors, the complex of advantages of crop-livestock integration has not yet been totally qualified nor even quantified. “Present knowledge indicates that this practice will certainly be the foundation of crop and animal husbandry sustainability in the cerrado region”, they say.

The experimental area of the Emprapa Crop-Livestock Integration Project (CLIP) in Santo Antônio de Goiás comprises 100 hectares and is divided into six plots in which the crop-pasture rotations are followed as shown in Table 1 and Figure 1.

Table 1. Crop-pasture rotation systems.

Season	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
Summer	Maize+Brach.	Pasture	Pasture	Soybean	Rice	Maize+Brach.
Winter	Pasture	Pasture	Pasture	For/sorg	For/sorg	Pasture

Brach. = brachiaria; For/sorg = forage sorghum.

Figure 1. CLIP land occupation systems, year one and two.

Therefore, in each plot, there are 2,5 years of crops and 2,5 years of pasture. In summer, half of the experimental area is planted with forage grasses and the other half with crops. Livestock is predominant in the winter dry season.

The economic results of this crop-livestock integration project in the 2003/4 cropping season were positive: there was an average stocking rate (summer and winter) of 3,25 animal units and a meat production of 780 kg/ha/year, which guaranteed a gross income of R$ 2 860,00/ha. Discounting production costs of R$ 2 200,00/ha (which does not include the cost of land or capital investment interest), a net receipt of R$ 660,00/ha is achieved. The net income was from 315 kg of meat/ha/year, which was needed to compete with highly profitable crops as in the case of soybean in this harvest. “It was an excellent result when one considers the average profit from traditional livestock production, which oscillates between R$ 100,00 and 150,00/ha” says Balbino.

In the crop plots, such as soybean, 2 500 kg/ha were harvested; with maize, 4 750 and with rice, 3 250 kg/ha. The cost of animal production includes the value of the calves. This is why it was well above that of the crops: R$ 2 200,00/ha against R$ 1 103,00 for rice, R$ 1 184,00 for maize and R$ 1 200,00 for soybean. The calves were introduced when 8-9 months old, weighing on average 142,5 kg and then gained 97,5 kg/head during 12 months of feeding (May to April), reaching 240 kg/head. Discounting the production costs (not including the cost of land or capital investment interest), a net receipt of R$ 550,00/ha for soybean, R$ 431,00/ha for maize and R$ 1 302,00/ha for rice was achieved. When considering all the activities developed in the project’s 100 hectares the profit was R$ 70 898,00 or R$ 708,00/ha; an excellent profit with diminished risks.

^[i] Embrapa Arroz e Feijão. Rodovia Goiânia- Nova Veneza, Km 12, Caixa Postal 179, Santo Antônio de Goiás - GO, CEP 75375-000, Brazil.