Chapter 7
The sustainable use of natural resources to provide for the needs of poor farmers is extremely important where resources are scarce and socio–economic factors are major constraints. It is therefore appropriate to focus on technologies which, with wider application and adoption, are likely to make a major impact on the development and productivity of sustainable small farm systems. Quantum leaps in productivity can only come from the direct application of technologies that involve the utilization of research results, backed by continuing institutional commitment and investment in national R & D programmes which are appropriate to animal production in the region.
ANNUAL CROPPING SYSTEMS
In irrigated lowland cereal cropping and also in rain–fed lowland and upland situations, several new approaches have been attempted which involve both crops and animals in the development of sustainable production systems. These are briefly considered in the following sections.
Food–feed inter–cropping
Food-feed inter-cropping has two principal advantages. Firstly, the system aims to provide sustainability through the complementary roles of crops and animals. Secondly, appropriate forage crops and crop residues can be made available for feeding both ruminants and non-ruminant animals. Thus the system provides a viable method of providing food for humans and/or cash income, as well as feed for animals. In upland situations, while the food crop is grown during the wet season, forage production from inter–cropping provides feed throughout the dry season.
Plate 7. Food-feed inter-cropping is a potentially important technology in small farm systems. The photograph illustrates the rice-Desmanthus system in a rainfed upland area in the Philippines.
Figure 6. Cropping patterns involving rice and food crop-forage inter-cropping.
Recently, several attempts have therefore been made in the Philippines and Thailand to develop food-feed systems. Figure 6 shows examples of this practice in the Philippines. Rice is the principal cereal crop but other crops have also been used in the cropping system with the view to increasing the production of animal feeds. Such alternative crops include cowpeas, maize, groundnut, pigeon pea, sorghum and sweet potato. The criteria for the choice of the inter-crop to be used in the system include:
Within the concept of food-feed inter-cropping is alley farming, in which rows of leguminous trees are planted between rows of annual crops or semi-perennial crops. The trees provide foliage for the crops, enabling recycling of deep soil nutrients and fixing of atmospheric nitrogen. These nutrients reduce the dependence on chemical fertilisers and enable continuous cropping. The advantages of this system are maintenance and promotion of soil fertility, increase in the supply of animal feeds and fuelwood, and contribution to the development of all year round feeding systems.
The choice and combinations of food and feed crops is important to derive maximum benefits. The following types of crops and intercrops are common in many countries in South-East Asia:
Cereals: maize, pearl millet, rice, and sorghum.
Grain legumes: cowpea, groundnut, mungbean and soyabean.
Root crops: cassava and sweet potatoes.
Grasses: good drought tolerant examples are buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris), rhodes grass (Choris gayana) and signal grass (Brachiaria decumbens).
Legumes: drought-tolerant examples include Centrosema macrocarpum, Desmanthus viragatus, stylo (Stylosanthes guianensis and S. scabra) and siratro (Macroptilium macrocarpum).
In rain-fed upland situations in the Philippines, the following intercrop combinations have given promising results (Topark-Ngarm et al., 1988):
The total dry matter yields ranged from 3.28–12.93 tonnes/ha during a one year growing period in which the grasses were cut at 60 day intervals at a 30 cm cutting height and the legumes at 50 cm cutting height.
The general tendency is to grow only one crop of rice in both the rain-fed lowland and upland areas where cropping intensity is low. Both areas are important from the standpoint of animal production but, of the two, rain-fed lowland rice areas occupy about 67% of the total land area in Asia, where the bulk of swamp buffaloes, cattle and sheep are found. The drier upland areas generally favour the presence of small ruminants (mainly goats) and large ruminants are also found.
Rice and wheat straw are the main by-products from cereal cultivation and these supply the basic diet for ruminants. They provide bulk and energy for maintenance but not for production. The intakes of these roughage is limited by the low crude protein contents (4–6%) and low digestibility, which necessitates supplementation to meet the requirements for production. Additionally, the reduced feed availability during the dry season, severe weight loss of animals and poor animal performance demand the application of strategies that can ameliorate the situation and make an increased supply of dietary nutrients available to the animal.
Cereal straws (mainly rice and wheat) and other crop residues are the most widely available and cheapest feeds for ruminants. The greatest challenge to their utilization is the development of effective and economic feeding systems for various types of ruminant, based on large amounts of ligno-cellulosic materials. Table 7.1 illustrates the value of integrating two forages: Lablab (Lablab purpureus) and Clitoria ternatea. The latter is grown after rice for green pods and forage by farmers in the rainfed area of the northern Philippines.
| Crop combination | Grain | Residues | Forage yield (DM | Total forage & residue | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial cut | Regrowth | Total | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||
| Mungbean + lablab (cv. Hatiya) | 1.02 | 0.91 | 1.69 | 1.98 | 1.11 | 0.91 | 5.59 | 6.70 |
| Mungbean + lablab (cv. Rongai) | 1.00 | 0.94 | 1.99 | 2.43 | 1.83 | 1.68 | 7.93 | 8.87 |
| Mungbean + Clitoria | 1.28 | 1.14 | - | 1.53 | 1.16 | 0.93 | 3.62 | 4.76 |
| Mungbean | 1.26 | 1.19 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.19 |
| Lablab (cv. Hatiya) | - | - | 2.70 | 1.73 | 1.16 | 1.40 | 6.99 | 6.99 |
| Clitoria | - | - | 2.43 | 2.70 | 1.06 | 1.73 | 8.82 | 8.82 |
| CV (%)* | 18 | 13 | 20 | 32 | 20 | 32 | 10 | |
| LSD** | NS | NS | 0.89 | 1.17 | 0.49 | 0.71 | 1.79 | |
** Least significant difference (P<0.05)
No differences were found in grain and residue yields between this and mungbean. The combination of mungbean plus lablab (cv. Rongai) gave the highest forage yield of 7.9 tonnes/ha.
Another type of system which also has potential application and has been shown to be very successful in Africa is alley cropping with both cash crops and multi-purpose trees. This system is also receiving more attention in such countries as the Philippines and Indonesia.
Relay cropping
Relay cropping is an important means to further increase the supply of feeds for farm animals. In relay cropping, a second crop is planted into the first before harvest. Examples of relay cropping are the introduction of legumes (e.g., groundnut and pigeon pea) into the main crop (e.g., rice or wheat). The strategy extends the supply of feeds throughout the year.
Three strata forage system
Dryland farming areas present a variety of problems for crop-animal systems. One major constraint to higher productivity from ruminants is the inadequate availability of good quality feeds especially during the dry season and periods of drought. The development of feeding systems that can increase the supply of good quality forages and dietary nutrients for the animals is therefore especially important to improve the low level of animal performance.
This is shown by the situation in the island of Bali which has approximately three million people and three rainfall zones. Twenty five per cent of the land area is semi-arid with a rainfall of 900–1500 mm/year. Farmers constitute about 70% of the total population and most of them practise mixed crop-animal farming. Among ruminants, Bali cattle are particularly important and in dry parts of the island, income from livestock accounts for about 29–43% of total farm income. Farmers generally own 2–3 cattle which are used as draught animals and for beef production.
Plate 8. The three strata forage system in Bali, involving grasses and ground legumes (1), shrub legumes (2) and fodder trees (3).
Photo: I.M. Nitis.
The feed resources for ruminants in Bali come from native grasses, tree leaves and cereal straws. The dry matter production of these resources is generally very low (approximately 2-2.5 tonnes/year). Dry matter yields can be increased through the introduction of improved grasses as well as forage legumes, e.g., Leucaena leucocephala and Gliricidia sepium.
Bali cattle are the predominant cattle breed. These generally feed on wayside grasses and crop residues. Live weight gains vary between 100–200 g/day and marketable weights are only reached in about 4–5 years. With improved feeding, as well as concentrate supplementation, it has been shown that daily weight gains of Bali cattle could be increased to between 400–600 g/day and the fattening period could be reduced to less than two years.
These circumstances led to the development and successful demonstration of the Three Strata Forage System, a project supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. The system involves grasses and ground legumes (first stratum), shrub legumes (second stratum) and fodder trees (third stratum).
The project ran for 51/2 years and several relevant results were found by comparing two types of systems: the Three Strata Forage System (TSFS) and the non-TSFS (NTSFS), with two stocking rates (2 and 4 cattle/ha). The results of the project have been published (Nitis et al., 1990; Lana et al., 1990; Arga, 1990 and Nuraini, 1990). Table 7.2 presents some of the results and the following summarizes the main highlights:
Farmers in the TSFS spent less time managing their cattle and also had more access to increased supplies of firewood in the TSFS compared to the NTSFS. More importantly, these same farmers benefitted by an increase of 31% (IDR 120,631) in income compared to the NTSFS.
Further research and development, with the objective of creating a more sustainable TSFS, involves the introduction of goats into the system. The justifications for this are twofold: the provincial government of Bali is officially promoting their value, especially in dryland farming areas, and potential possibilities exist for generating increased additional income. Goats will also provide greater flexibility of resource use by farmers. On a live weight basis, one Bali bull weighing 375 kg is equivalent to 6 goats of 30 kg live weight each. When feed is limited during the dry season, it is easier to reduce the number of goats than that of cattle. A theoretical calculation suggests that, with shrubs and tree fodders, increased carrying capacity is feasible. The continuing efforts will also involve detailed studies on the utilization of Gliricidia forage.
Crop-animal systems in lowland rain-fed areas
The value of crop-animal systems lies in their positive contribution to sustainability and economic growth. The economic impact can be considerable and is reflected in the results of work done over 6 years (1985–1990) in difficult transmigration farming system sites in Sumatra, Indonesia. Each farming family was allocated 5 ha of land (1.5 ha for food crops, 1 ha reserve for food crops, 1 ha for rubber, 0.25 ha for grass and 0.25 ha home lot) within the settlement.
| Parameter | TSFS* | NTSFS** |
|---|---|---|
| Food | 853 | 1268 |
| Straw | 750 | 1218 |
| First stratum | 455 | - |
| Second stratum | 310 | - |
| Third stratum | 15 | - |
| Shrubs | - | 132 |
| Trees | - | 2 |
| Improved grasses | - | 10 |
| Native grasses | - | 242 |
| Firewood | 1049 | 475 |
| Cattle live weight gain (kg/3 years) | 186 | 166 |
| Carrying capacity (cattle/ha) | 4 | 2 |
| Maximum live weight (kg/head) | 300 | 200 |
| Soil erosion (mm/2 years) | 11 | 20 |
** Non-three strata forage system
The main objective of the research and development effort is to assess the value and contribution of four models aimed at achieving sustainable farming systems and stability of transmigrants. A central goal was to generate a minimum target income of US$ 1500/family/year. The models tested were:
The results indicated that Model C was the most promising and was able to generate the minimum target income. Over the 6-year study period, the increased net income compared to Model A was Rp 900,000/ha/year, equivalent to US$ 458/ha/year. Of this, the contribution by rubber, food crops and animals were 53, 30 and 17% respectively (Table 7.3)
| Farming system* | US$/ha/year** | Contribution to income (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model A | 1230 | Rubber | - | 53% |
| Model C | 2055 | Food crops | - | 30% |
| Net gain | 825 | Animals | - | 17% |
** 1 US$ = 1963 In. Rups (approx.)
INTEGRATED ANIMAL-FISH-CROPS SYSTEMS
A variety of integrated systems are prevalent throughout Asia involving one or more animals. These are of two broad categories (Devendra, 1991a):
Systems combining crops, non-ruminants, ponds and fish
These systems directly involve the use of fish, mainly non-ruminants like pigs and ducks and also crop production such as vegetables and rice. The systems are more prevalent in annual cropping systems.
A sustainable system which is widely practised in South-East Asia and China involves pig production integrated with fish farming, duck keeping and vegetable production, or a combination of these (Devendra and Fuller, 1979). The inter-relationships between the component parts of the system was illustrated in Figure 3. The system is based on the use of ponds which not only meets the needs of pigs, but also enables fish and ducks to be reared. Water is also useful for vegetables production.
The main advantages of the system are:
Increased self-reliance.
Systems combining crops and ruminants
These are essentially terrestrial and are concerned mainly with perennial crops and ruminants (buffaloes, cattle, goats and sheep) in systems that do not involve ponds. This is described under the section on tree cropping systems.
TREE CROPPING SYSTEMS
Integrating ruminants with tree crops such as coconuts, oil palm and rubber constitutes an important production system but it has not been adequately explored in South-East Asia and the Pacific. Systems integrated with tree cropping are especially common in the humid and sub-humid regions where there is intensive crop production. Although the system is not new, the process of integration with tree crops to ensure more sustainable land use has not been given adequate research and development attention. The advantages of the system have already been indicated (Chapter 5).
The importance of integrating small ruminants with tree crops such as coconuts, oil palm and rubber also involves the use of multi-purpose trees such as Leucaena leucocephala, Acacia spp., Gliricidia spp. and Prosopis spp. Agro-forestry systems have the complementary advantages of forage production, supply of fuelwood and domestic tree products, improvement of soil fertility and maintenance of permanent soil cover, which together are coupled to efficient use of the natural resources and environmental protection. Additionally, combined cultivation of such trees and forests also promotes integrated watershed management, especially in semi-arid and arid areas where water is critical for upland catchment situations.
A specific example of the economic benefits of integrating ruminants with tree crops concerns the case study on an oil palm estate that allocated a portion of the grazing land within the estate to the workers for grazing their animals. For the first two years (1980 and 1981), only cattle were owned and grazed; in 1982 and 1983 however, goats were also introduced in addition to cattle. This was done because of their economic importance and capacity to supply both meat and milk in the estate.
The comparison of the grazed and non-grazed area involving both young and mature trees is valid in that it involved both the same area of 71–135 ha and, more particularly, the fact that both areas were on the same type of soil type. The improvement in yield due to the effect of grazing cattle and goats over the four years was 2.15–5.16 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches per hectare per year (Table 7.4). When translated into the total area available for grazing and adding the sale value per tonne of fresh fruit yield, the economic advantage is substantial. The result in economic terms is similar to the findings in West Java of integrating goats and sheep under rubber. The presence of legumes is of definite advantage and it has been calculated that the amount of nitrogen utilized by the animal and excreted in the faeces and urine increases with the presence of the legume cover.
More recently, a study has been reported on the integration of goats with pine (Pinus insularis) in the Philippines. A stocking rate of four goats/ha did not cause significant soil loss nor reduction in soil bulk density, compaction and infiltration rates. Thinning or reducing the crown density of the pine stand increased tree growth as well as forage production. The daily weight gains were impressive and averaged 99 to 129 g/day/goat. The integration demonstrated an ecological and economically viable farming practice for the forest dwellers which is sustainable (Penafiel and Veracion, 1987).
| Year | Grazed area | Non-grazed area | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh fruit bunches (Tonnes per ha per year) | ||||
| 1980 | 30.55(C)* | 25.61 | 4.94 | |
| 1981 | 17.69(C) | 15.87 | 1.82 | |
| 1982 | 25.12(C&G) | 22.97 | 2.15 | |
| 1983 | 23.45(C&G) | 18.29 | 5.16 | |
| Mean | 24.45 | 20.69 | 3.52 | |
* C = cattle
C & G= cattle and goats
PRACTICAL BENEFITS OF SUPPLEMENTATION
Two innovative approaches that combine the new concepts in feeding and nutrition of animals and which provide a more balanced supply of nutrients concern firstly the use of multi-nutrient blocks licks and secondly leguminous forages as strategic supplements for ruminants.
Multi-nutrient block licks are now being increasingly used in many parts of Asia by small farmers to correct the imbalanced nutrient supply in feeding systems for ruminants. These blocks primarily provide for the needs of an efficient rumen ecosystem: a source of fermentable nitrogen, minerals and vitamins, amino acids and peptides. The response have been very favourable in terms of economic benefit and increased milk production which is normally achieved by concentrate supplementation. In India, backed by official support, this has led to more widespread development and use of the blocks in the village situation.
In recent years, there has been considerable progress in the use of multi-nutrient block licks as an innovative system of providing supplements to ruminants subsisting mainly on coarse roughage such as cereal straws. These block licks have several advantages:
An example of large scale acceptance of a specific technology, which demonstrates how feed composition properly integrated with nutritional knowledge can have an impact, is the on-farm utilization of multinutrient blocks based on urea-molasses in India. Under village conditions, providing cattle and buffaloes with blocks has led to a substantial increase in milk yield and milk fat percentage (Table 7.5). When these blocks were introduced into the traditional system, the average increase in milk yield of buffaloes and cows was about 0.5 1/day, indicating that these block licks corrected a widespread deficiency of nutrients in diets normally fed to cattle and buffaloes in village situations and proved cost-effective.
Supplementation with leguminous forages is very promising and Gliricidia sepium and Erythrina offer considerable potential. They provide valuable rumen fermentable nitrogen and by-pass proteins to diets based on fibrous crop residues. Since such forages are grown by small farmers, their more intensive use is an important strategy to reduce the cost of feeding and dependence on concentrates for dairy animals, as well as to promote increased productivity. The potential benefits of using a variety of leguminous forages and the beneficial responses in buffaloes, cattle, goats and sheep has been reported (Devendra, 1990a).
| Village | Average milk sold | Fat (g/day) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before (no block) | With Block) | Before (no block) | With block | |
| Alwa | 4.8 | 5.9 | 330 | 450 |
| Punadhara | 4.0 | 4.8 | 270 | 340 |
| Fulgenamuwada | 2.4 | 3.5 | 160 | 280 |
| Hirapura | 4.2 | 5.2 | 350 | 480 |
| Banroli | 3.6 | 4.2 | 270 | 380 |
| Dehgam | 4.3 | 4.7 | 310 | 350 |
PROCESSING AND CHOPPING
Processing (chopping and grinding) of some crop residues may be feasible in some small farm situations and, associated with this, is the development of complete feeds. However, this will be largely dependent on the availability of feeds such as rice straw, cassava roots or leucaena forage, type and number of animals to be fed and extent of intensification. An overriding consideration that will determine the value of these approaches is the demonstration of economic benefits. For successful application and acceptance at the farm level however, practical technologies need to be simple, within the limits of the farmers' capacity and resource availability, convincing and consistently reproducible.
ALL YEAR ROUND FEEDING SYSTEMS
The strategy to increase feeds within small farm systems should have the final objective of developing all year round feeding systems appropriate to the prevailing situations. This objective has to be identified with sustainability in order to ensure efficient use of both animals and crops in integrated systems. In this quest, maximizing feed production is essential and the following approaches are feasible:
The two key elements in the use of one or more of these approaches are quantification of the feeds produced throughout the year and efficiency of utilization of the feedstuffs by the available animals. The former enables in turn, the determination of feed balance sheets, the extent to which animals can be supported and associated with feed supplies and the critical periods during which feed deficits need to be corrected to ensure that animals production is not impede but can be sustained.
The scope for increasing the efficiency of feed utilization is enormous. More innovative feeding systems are necessary that can sustain all year round feeding in more intensive systems of production. These include various pre-treatments, supplementation and also the use of multi-nutrient block licks.
UTILIZATION OF RESEARCH RESULTS AT THE SMALL FARM LEVEL
The utilization of such research results in Asia and the Pacific merits the highest priority because feeds and feeding represent the main constraint to animal production. The bulk of the work done in this discipline has been mainly concerned with screening and evaluation at the research station level, with only limited attention to development. This is borne out by a review of the proceedings of national and regional meetings on the subject.
There have been a total of 31 regional meetings in Asia, over the period 1977–1991 equivalent to about two meetings annually. The results and information presented in all these meetings are generlly sound and have significantly contributed to increased fundamentgal knowledge. Yet, the results of research have not made any discernable impact on the more intensive and expanded utilization of the available feeds or the productivity of farm animals. This observation is reflected further in the conclusion on a review of research on the utilization of rice straw (Doyle, Devendra and Pearce, 1986). The authors concluded that the importance of evaluating new technologies through on-farm testing and demonstration far out-weighed the need for further documentation of the effects of supplementation or pre-treatments.
Phases in on-farm research
The question can then be asked: how can the utilization of research results on cereal straws be accelerated and applied to the farm level? Associated with this: why has there been poor rate of adoption of the available technologies? On-farm animal research (OFAR) is a way to extend the adoption of technology packages that are likely to be acceptable both economically and socially to the farmers, taking into account all the interacting components unique to farming systems and specific ecosystems. It is a means of identifying and addressing the constraints on the adoption of new feeding systems and the extent to which these can contribute to sustainability (Devendra, 1990b). Two phases are involved:
Phase I: Information needed by farmers and their advisers
Phase II: Mechanisms for the delivery of information to farmers
Intensification of feed resource use is implicit and, with it, a shift from more extensive systems to semi-intensive and intensive systems. Presently, small farmers, agricultural labourers and agricultural tenants raise ruminants mainly in extensive grazing systems. The poorest of these resource-poor farmers, and especially the landless, will obviously continue practising the system but the long term sustainability of such grazing systems is questionable. The strategy to promote semi-intensive and intensive feeding systems would reduce prevailing grazing pressures. The more progressive of the poor farmers are willing to adopt improved systems which can provide greater control of animals and higher incomes, provided the benefits can be demonstrated by on-farm testing of sustainable production systems.
Criteria for development orientation
Increased and more concerted development to promote the better utilization of feedstuffs by farm animals also requires attention to several important criteria affecting on-farm activities. These include:
The strategy for large-scale testing needs to consider project formulation and relevance of the research from inception and basic research, through to on-farm work involving the participation of farmer and subsequent development. The benefits of coordinated programmes are likely to be: more efficient resource use, increased animal performance, cost effectiveness, increased farm incomes, reduced pollution and maintenance of environmental integrity. Unfortunately, few such development-oriented programmes exist or have been attempted and much more can be done to formulate such activities in the Asian region.
The protocols for such efforts need to be adequately examined. Carefully designed programmes and increased on-farm testing are priorities. The on-farm tests need to be simple, practical, appropriate to the farmers' resources and need to be conducted jointly by participating farmers who are receptive to change and the benefits of new technology. At present, there are few such programmes concerned with feed utilization.
The final objective is to link the work to the development of all-year-round feeding systems. Such systems enable a definition of what types of feedstuffs can be used at different times of the year, including necessary interventions to overcome critical periods of feed shortages.
Large scale on-farm testing
Beyond the demonstration of the economic benefits of new feeding systems at the station level, the next step is to implement large-scale application of the results on-farm. Community-based participation is essential and such work should also address important gender issues.
Wider adoption of new technologies can be achieved through the on-farm application of complete systems and the development of sustainable crop-animal components that addresses the totality of production, post-production and consumption systems. Figure 7 identifies the potential technologies and the components of whole farm production to consumption systems.
Figure 7. Whole farm production and consumption systems.
On-farm testing and demonstration needs to take into account the economic and social impact on farmers and to consider all of the interacting components unique to small farm systems. This is a means of addressing constraints to the adoption of new technologies and, in many countries, the importance of such trials merits the highest priority in comparison to further documentation of the effects of supplementation or pre-treatments. Appropriate methods for conducting on-farm research, procedures and economic analysis have recently been reported (Amir and Knipscheer, 1989).
Presently, there is an imbalance in the proportion of research programmes undertaken at the station level compared to on-farm participatory research with farmers. A major shift is required towards a farm-based approach. This calls for a move away from the more fundamentally-oriented research at the station or university farm level, to increased application in real farm situations. These efforts will require more initiative, innovative efforts, increased commitment to extend the work beyond the laboratories and a will to work with farmers under more difficult but interesting situations. In view of the logistical difficulties and increased time, resource use and costs of on-farm research, improved delivery systems are required. These increased costs can be justified on the grounds of the value of transfer of technology, the potential impact on increased productivity of farm animals through more sustainable systems of production and the promotion of self-reliance, self-sufficiency and rural development.
Figure 8 illustrates the potential levels of productivity that can be achieved through the development of sustainable small farm systems. Currently, development strategies have focused mainly on improving traditional methods to achieve optimum production in an intermediate situation, with variable success. The next stage from the intermediate position still depend on achieving a more consistent and sustainable growth to a market-oriented situation where maximum production is feasible. That objective remains to be realized and will depend to a very large measure on the extent, effectiveness and commitment to technology application that can directly contribute to the sustainability of small farms, as well as benefit the livelihoods of rural households.
Figure 8. Potential levels of producitivity from traditional market-oriented systems and the development of sustainable small farms.
Figure 9 provides one example of the magnitude of differences that could be achieved in the total meat yield of goats (adapted from Devendra, 1979b). The potential yield differences are 12.8% and 36.8% in the intermediate and market-oriented levels. The factors contributing to these in terms of orders of magnitude are feeding and nutrition 40%, technology application 30%, reduced disease 20%, adaptation 10% and marketing 5%. Potential improvements through improved feeding and nutrition have also been demonstrated in sheep (Soetanto, 1986) and buffaloes (Putu et al., 1983) in Indonesia and cattle in Malaysia (Devendra and Lee, 1975).
Figure 9. The magnitude of the difference in total edible meet yields of goats and factors contributing to them.
