Integrated Agriculture Production Systems for Meeting Household Food, Fodder and Fuel Security

Abstract

Agriculture including crop production and animal husbandry provides for the food, fodder, and fuel needs in rural regions of many countries such as India. Using the knowledge pertinent to complex mixed cropping-livestock systems at the village level, the goal of this study is to develop a rational method for crop selection, such that the capacity for production of food, fodder and biomass fuel can be examined under various cropping patterns.An agricultural survey is carried out in November 2007 for three villages located in the dryland agro-ecozone of Karnataka State, India. Various demands, including human food energy and protein requirements, and constraints, including land area, are modeled for optimal cropping pattern.A clear recommendation of the study is that a substantial shift in village-wide area planted to cereal crops, in all cases over 50%, is necessary to satisfy human and livestock demands. Additionally, there are visible and growing population pressures on the resources in the dryland, semi-arid regions of India, and these strategies will need to be supplemented by improved agronomic practices directed toward increased productivity.

Achieving Household Food Security:How Much Land is Required?

“…These base year data describe the situation for the kharif crop harvested in late 2006 and the rabi crop harvested in 2007. A detailed account of the region, survey methodology, primary data collection procedures, and social indicators can be found in Ralevic et al (2010).…”

“…In the present study, the definition of household size or population is based on consumptive units (CU) as set out in Table 1, and from this the nutritional demands were calculated (Ralevic et al, 2010). All livestock-related calculations are similarly done on a livestock unit (LSU) basis, where 1 livestock unit represents an equivalent of 1 bullock, buffalo or lactating dairy cow.…”

“…Using the collected demographic data, the average household nutritional needs within the landholding categories were determined. A linear optimization model was then used to run various land area requirement scenarios using a variety of constraints and objectives as in Ralevic et al (2010). The linear model was constructed in excel using the What'sBest LINDO software ad-ins for optimization.…”

“…The food energy and protein demand constraints, as well as the fodder demand constraints and the input data are outlined in Ralevic et al (2010).…”

Potentials of Biogas and Bioslurry Utilization and Subsidy Incentives Policy Recomendation in Indonesia

“…The possibility of producing food, fodder and biomass fuel in an integrated farming system (IFS) therefore be examined, particularly in developing countries, which are so heavily dependent on agriculture (Ralevic et al 2012). Preston & Leng (1989) explained that in a system the processing of the livestock manure by anaerobic digestion is a key component as it has many positive features such as reduction in emission of methane (a major actor in global warming), decrease in pathogens (better health of people and animals), production of biogas for cooking (reduced pressure on forests for fuel wood; more comfortable working conditions in the kitchen for women) and improved nutrient recycling (reduced need for chemical fertilizer).…”