The nutritive value of forages for ruminants highly depends on the ratio between cell content and cell walls and on the ability of the rumen microorganisms to degrade the plant cell walls (Waldo, 1986). The primary function of the NDF fraction in ruminant diets is to provide energy for microbial...

One of the characteristics of organic farming is the conservation of domestic, endogenous livestock breeds and strains. For a successful development of the organic pig sector in Southern Europe, the animals must be well adapted domestic breeds, as they are exposed to extreme weather conditions in the free range systems...

Maintaining high welfare status and allowing birds access to natural behaviour and outdoors are particular challenges in organic egg production. Feather pecking, foot problems, external parasites and poor utilisation of outdoor areas have been recognised as problems in organic layer systems (Lampkin 1997, Berg 2001, Kjilstra et al. 2003). Inexperience...

The increasing world population, in the mid-20th century, increased the demand of plant and animal products, leading to intensive and monoculture agriculture systems in conventional agriculture. The abundant and low-cost production from per unit and/or animal head were seen as primary objectives in these systems, and ecologic balance and health...

Family farming has been in focus in Sweden as well as in all traditional European agricultural policy. However the concept appears in many different contexts, it can denote both a statistically defined size or institutional form of agricultural production, or an economically defined firm with certain advantages vis a vis...

Over the last decade, the consumption of poultry products in developing countries has grown by 5.8 percent per annum, faster than that of human population growth, and has created a great increase in demand. Family poultry has the potential to satisfy at least part of this demand through increased productivity...

This study examines the characteristics of the smallholder dairy farmers in three West African countries, namely The Gambia, Guinea and Guinea Bissau. In these countries as in much of West Africa, milk is produced within mixed crop-livestock farming systems. Traditionally farmers own cattle for various purposes including milk, meat, draft...

En esta publicación, INIA Carillanca pone a disposición de los pequeños y medianos productores, técnicos y profesionales, información en producción de leche, praderas y gestión de empresas lecheras, como una forma de contribuir a mejorar capacidades que permitan hacer más eficientes los sistemas productivos lecheros.

Cette étude a pour objectifs d’identifier les principaux types d’élevage caprin existant dans la région de Chefchaouen dans le Rif marocain, décrire leurs modes de fonctionnement, identifier et analyser les principales contraintes auxquelles ils sont soumis et établir un agenda de recherche et de développement prioritaire pour l’amélioration de la...

Les parcours steppiques, région d’élevage ovin, sont marqués depuis plusieurs décennies par une forte dégradation et une réduction du couvert végétal spontané. Les principales causes de cette dégradation sont le changement du système pastoral traditionnel vers un système de production agro-pastoral, mal maîtrisé, et le déclin de l’organisation sociale tribale...

Au Maroc la culture d’orge est connue pour son importance agronomique, zootechnique et socio- économique. Différents projets de recherche et développement ont été conduits ces dernières quinze années dans la province de Khouribga qui est considérée comme région pilote en matière de production d’orge et d’ovins. L’objectif des essais était...

Keeping poultry makes a substantial contribution to household food security throughout the developing world. It helps diversify incomes and provides quality food, energy, fertilizer and a renewable asset in over 80 percent of rural households.Small-scale producers are however constrained by poor access to markets, goods and services; they have weak...

The Ethiopian highlands comprise nearly 45 percent of the total land area and support over 85 percent of the country's 64 million people that are overwhelmingly rural. The highlands are the centre of economic activity of the country and are characterized by enormous ecological, environmental, agricultural and cultural diversity. The...

Local agricultural knowledge in dry-land land-use systems is centred on the conservation, use and optimisation of soil moisture and soil organic matter. Additionally, biodiversity is carefully managed and nurtured to interface with hydrological and nutrient cycling to provide for ecosystem resilience, food security and diversity, and risk minimisation.

During the 1990’s transition period for Eastern Europe, the European Association for Animal production (EAAP) carried out numerous activities in support of restructuring the animal production sector in the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). This resulted in a large number of publications on animal production system and issues related...

A Satellite Event on Biodiversity and the Ecosystem Approach in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries was held on the occasion of the Ninth Regular Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, in FAO, Rome, 12-13 October 2002. An informal presentation of the Satellite Event’s discussions and results...

Nowhere is the link between the environment and poverty more pronounced than in highly fragile ecosystems, where inhabitants are often compelled to degrade natural resources as they struggle to survive on inhospitable land. IFAD’s drive to break this vicious cycle has led to the development of a number of replicable...

The Gambian government, with the assistance of donors, is involved in the promotion of the local milk and dairy products sub-sector. The farming system in this country is characterised by the predominance of mixed crop-livestock production. The cattle stock is mainly composed of N’Dama, a breed described as a low...

This Policy and Strategy Paper contributes to an on-going policy debate-within the Bank but also with its client governments-about the role of tree crops in various production systems, and as key commodities in the trade portfolio of various African nations. It attempts to answer the following questions: a) What is...

Present-day Central and Eastern European agriculture is characterized by a high incidence of small-scale farmers who are not producing for the market. This is partly the result of land reform procedures practiced in these countries. Post-communist land reforms predominantly restituted land to pre-communist owners, resulting in an extremely fragmented ownership...