Assessment of the sustainability of dual-purpose farms by the IDEA method in the subtropical area of central Mexico

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the sustainability of 10 dual-purpose cattle farms in a subtropical area of central Mexico. The IDEA method (Indicateurs de Durabilité des Exploitations Agricoles) was applied, which includes the agroecological, socio-territorial and economic scales (scores from 0 to 100 points per scale). A sample of 47 farms from a total of 91 registered in the local livestock growers association was analysed with principal component analysis and cluster analysis. From results, 10 farms were selected for the in-depth study herein reported, being the selection criterion continuous milk production throughout the year. Farms had a score of 88 and 86 points for the agroecological scale in the rainy and dry seasons. In the socio-territorial scale, scores were 73 points for both seasons, being the component of employment and services the strongest. Scores for the economic scale were 64 and 56 points for the rainy and dry seasons, respectively, when no economic cost for family labour is charged, which decreases to 59 and 45 points when an opportunity cost for family labour is considered. Dual-purpose farms in the subtropical area of central Mexico have a medium sustainability, with the economic scale being the limiting factor, and an area of opportunity.

Is the increase of scale in the tropics a pathway to smallholders? Dimension and ecological zone effect on the mixed crop-livestock farms

“…In American tropic regions, it is located from Mexico (Hernández- Morales et al, 2013;Albarran-Portillo et al, 2015;Salas-Reyes et al, 2015) to northern Brazil (García-Martínez et al, 2016), including Venezuela (Urdaneta et al, 2013), Colombia (Cortés-Mora et al, 2014), Ecuador (Torres et al, 2015), Costa Rica and Peru (Bartl et al, 2009;Lentes et al, 2010). DP is a variation of smallholder mixed crop-livestock system with a part of grazing native pasture on communal lands, within a multifunctional livestock that produces both milk and meat (FAO, 2012;Herrero et al, 2013;Oosting et al, 2014).…”

Caractérisation de la diversité et de la durabilité des exploitations laitières familiales au Vietnam : étude de cas en zone périurbaine de Hanoï

“…Les questions ont porté sur les capitaux disponibles sur l'exploitation, parce que la diversité des exploitations agricoles se base sur les ressources et les objectifs des agriculteurs, en référence au cadre d'analyse des moyens d'existence durables (Carney et al, 1999 ;Bosc et al, 2014), sur le fonctionnement technique de l'élevage (pratiques d'alimentation, de reproduction, de traite, et de commercialisation), et sur les performances économiques, environnementales et sociales de l'exploitation. Les critères à renseigner pour chaque thème (capitaux, fonctionnement technique et performances) ont été choisis en fonction d'une synthèse de la littérature sur la durabilité des systèmes d'élevage (Vilain et al, 2008 ;Lebacq et al, 2013 ;Chand et al, 2015 ;Salas-Reyes et al, 2015) et des discussions avec les experts locaux (Lopez-Ridaura et al, 2002). Comme peu d'exploitants disposaient de comptes bancaires pour la gestion de leur trésorerie, nous avons choisi le revenu brut (ou produit brut d'exploitation) comme indicateur du capital financier car il rend compte du volume de trésorerie disponible sur l'exploitation.…”

Productive and economic response to partial replacement of cracked maize ears with ground maize or molasses in supplements for dual-purpose cows

“…Farmers' decision on the amount of supplement offered to each cow, and the time to start supplementation during the dry season, depends on the availability of forage on pastures. The second half of the dry period (March to May) is the most critical for farmers, since forage in pastures becomes scarce, so that farmers use supplements to sustain animal production (1,2) .…”

“…Supplements represent between 50 to 70 % of milk and beef production costs. Due to supplementation, milk production costs increase 22 % in the dry season, in comparison to the rainy season, reducing the already slim profit margins (1,2) .…”