The Workshop on Area-Wide Integration (AWI) of Crops and Livestock activities was attended by about 30 participants from the Asian-Pacific Region, officials of FAO, and selected country-representatives, including Denmark and Canada. FAO introduced the concept of AWI as well as general issues related to intensive livestock production. A few case studies (China, Thailand and Vietnam) and country reports (Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore) were also presented together with area-based policies for development of the agricultural sector by Denmark and Canada.
Following the paper presentations, two discussion groups were formed to elaborate on the definition, rationale, issues and objectives of the Workshop as well as to make recommendations to further develop the concept of AWI. The results of the discussion and the recommendations made are summarised in the sections below.
The demand for livestock products is increasing rapidly in urban areas of the developing world which rural land-based livestock production is unable to meet. As a consequence, intensive livestock production has been developing and expanding closer to urban centres, creating four major problems: an increase in land and water pollution to unacceptable levels; effects on the health of both humans and animals; small producers becoming marginalised; and increased income disparities between producers.
AWI is a concept whereby crops and livestock activities are integrated and livestock are distinctly land-based, rather than being an element of urban industrial production. A major environmental advantage of the former is that waste from livestock production can be recycled as fertiliser for crops rather than being discharged into waterways. However, AWI is a framework for focusing on food security, poverty alleviation, resource integrity, public health and environmental protection.
The traditional smallholder land-based production system can be seen as an original form of integration whereas area-wide means farm-wide. These systems of agricultural production are now under pressure from the more intensive specialised non-land-based production system. AWI focuses on wider agricultural production systems, based on the relocation of intensive livestock production into rural areas, integrating the advantages of a land-based system as a remedy to more effective resource use with intensive production principles and improved technologies.
Area-Wide Integration of crops and livestock activities is defined as agricultural system that promotes the efficient use of natural resources towards the attainment of equitable rural development, food security and ecologically sound environment.
The trend towards industrial and vertically integrated livestock production systems, which characteristically involve high animal concentrations, increases problems of environmental pollution. This is further aggravated by the location of the production units, especially for the pig and poultry industries, close to urban centres and detached from areas of feed production. Pollution from animal production takes various forms and affects the air, soil and water resources. Animals are invariably fed with products high in nutrient density and pigs and poultry excrete some 65 and 70 percent, respectively, of their nitrogen and phosphorus intakes. If animal wastes are discharged directly into the waterways, as is currently practised in some countries, the high nutrient load increases algal and other plant growth, leading eventually to eutrophication. Additionally, the high biological oxygen demand to decompose the organic component of manure leads to rapid depletion of the life-sustaining oxygen in the water. In countries where the industrial animal production systems were developed, e.g. the U.S., attention was paid to the collection, processing and disposal/recycling of excreted nutrients. However, when these systems were exported to developing countries, the responsibility of the producer ended at the farm. The absence of comprehensive legislation regarding discharge of animal wastes and/or the lax enforcement of existing regulations are partly to blame for the low priority accorded to the management of wastes. The industrial system of animal production is largely profit-driven and, being found in the urban areas, are subject to strict government rules and regulations.
The detachment of animal production units from areas of feed production precludes the recycling of the excess nutrients to supply the needs of the growing plants. Animal wastes are often bulky, difficult and expensive to transport over long distances. As a result, crop growing areas suffer from extensive nutrient depletion while at the same time animal production centres have a nutrient overload to contend with. Such discrete systems do not allow for the optimum utilisation of the available resources.
Pollution from animal wastes can also affect air quality through increased emissions of ammonia. Excess nitrogen in manure can evaporate as ammonia, which has a direct effect on plant growth by damaging leaf absorption capacities. Ammonia contributes to odour problems and it can also combine with sulphur compounds in the atmosphere and be deposited on the ground where it may cause soil acidification.
Intensive animal production systems, especially in areas close to population concentration, result in increased risks of disease infection to livestock as well as to humans. Pathogens may occur in dirty water, farm-yard manure and slurry, depending on the health of animals or the management level of livestock unit. If contaminated wastes get into water courses, they can spread the disease to other livestock, wildlife and humans. The recent spread of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly called "mad cow disease" which is thought to cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease among humans, is an example of an inter-species disease transmission. To mitigate disease infection in densely stocked production units, antibiotics are used routinely, either as feed additives or injected to animals. Indiscriminate or long-term use of antibiotics, particularly in poultry, has led to the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli.
Another source of health concern in intensive animal production arises from the accumulation of toxic levels of heavy metals in animal wastes. Trace elements are often added to animal feeds to supply micro nutrients and to enhance feed conversion efficiency. Copper and zinc are deliberately added to a variety of animal feed concentrates while heavy metals like cadmium are introduced involuntarily via feed phosphates. During digestion, the elements are concentrated in the faeces and as a consequence, manure and slurries can contain high concentrations of the elements. Soils on which pig and poultry manure are continuously applied at high rates, accumulate heavy metals, jeopardising the good functioning of the soil, contaminating crops and posing human health risks.
The emergence of large-scale industrial livestock production systems with high capital inputs, support infrastructure, economies of scale and marketing network often results in the displacement of traditional land-based producers. Many of the large livestock enterprises are vertically integrated, from feed production, supply of animals, processing and marketing. In these circumstances, the small land-based livestock producers have very little influence on market forces and are subject to the vagaries of prices of their products. The industrial system generates relatively little employment opportunities, even if upstream and downstream activities are included. The concentration of industrial production units in urban consumption centres further aggravates the rural-urban income disparity and encourages rural-urban migration. Very often, government policies tend to favour the large-scale animal producers e.g. through tariff-free importation of feed grains, better infrastructure in urban areas, ready access to credit and little attempt to internalise environmental costs incurred by pollution.
To produce and supply sufficient and safe animal proteins to the rapidly growing and urbanising populations in social and environmentally acceptable terms.
Three levels of issues can be identified concerning AWI.
Traditional farming is based on minimal or no imported inputs where livestock and crop activities are integrated. Farm products are mainly for domestic consumption and the excess is sold locally. As the demand for livestock products increases rapidly in the urban centres, traditional land-based livestock production with limited resource use is unable to meet the increased demand. Specialised farms are created to produce specific livestock products to meet the increasing demand by the urban populations. The commercial nature of livestock production encourages these specialised farms to move nearer to the market place in the city. This has led to animal concentrations that are out of balance with the absorptive and feed supply capacity of the land, causing environmental pollution and affecting public health. On the other hand, because of its non-commercial nature, the smallholder farms have no access to credit facilities and modern technologies to enhance their activities, thus, further losing their competitiveness and resulting in them being supplanted and marginalised.
The rapid development of large-scale urban and peri-urban livestock industrial systems, particularly pigs and poultry farms, in many developing countries is facilitated by factors including (i) non-existence or lax enforcement of legislation regarding the discharge of animal waste, (ii) weak infrastructure (cold chains and road transport) in rural areas, (iii) biased policies in terms of tax subsidies favouring the industrial production systems and no attempt to internalise costs incurred by environmental pollution. It is therefore necessary to apply "polluter pays" principle to industrial livestock production systems and to remove market distortions in favour of intensive production, taking advantage of lower rural production costs to make land-based AWI systems more competitive with those of industrial systems.
Land is the primary requisite for AWI production systems. In most instances, the allocation of land for any development projects is in the hands of state or municipal authorities following a set of national guidelines. In many cases, land allocation by the authorities in the majority of the developing countries is based primarily on economic returns of the project. This rule often encourages the authorities to promote development of industrial and dwelling projects over agricultural, and in particular, livestock production projects. Livestock farms are therefore left to establish without proper planning and infrastructure support from the local authorities. Local authorities need to play a more active role in the planning and restructuring of livestock production systems in their respective districts so that livestock production is economically viable, sustainable and environmental-friendly, in the contex of improving rural prosperity.
Agricultural policies in developing countries tend to be biased towards increasing production to meet the immediate demand of food by the rapid urbanisation without giving parallel considerations on the long-term adverse effects on environment, health and socio-economic welfare of the general (particularly the rural) population. Although environmental regulative policies exist in many of these developing countries, the implementation and enforcement of the policies are far from satisfactory (as in China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand). The lack of proper enforcement of the regulative policies in these countries reflects the short-sightedness of government planners with regard to the environment and socio-economic welfare of the general population. Steps are being taken to alleviate the situation by the relocation of industrial farms to rural areas or specific production zones (see reports by China, Thailand and Vietnam) and integrating crops and livestock activities (e.g. Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand), by both the governmental and private bodies. Such projects, however, have not proven its economic competitiveness with the existing industrial farms.
The role of Governments at the national level that could enhance the relocation of industrial livestock production to land-based AWI systems in the rural areas are associated with:
Governments can therefore play a key role in the relocation programmes in several of the countries that participated in the Workshop (China, Vietnam and Singapore). The degree of success differs from country to country, however, the Singapore experience has shown that it is technically possible to design and develop economically viable intensive-pig farming estates with appropriate waste treatment facilities which can meet effluent standards. Although pig production in Singapore was finally terminated due to space constraints in the small island country, the Singapore experience provides a good model for other neighbouring countries to develop their pig farming in their respective countries.
The Workshop agreed that the expansion of industrial livestock production in urban and peri-urban areas implies unacceptable environmental impact and deprives small-scale rural farmers of the opportunity to profit from increasing urban demand for livestock products. In order to prevent further deterioration and to improve the current situation, a holistic approach integrating efforts from different levels comprising policy implementers, livestock producers, livestock R&D personnel, and extension personnel, is necessary. The Workshop recommended that the concepts of AWI be further developed in the form of project profiles by international organisations and individual countries. Several project possibilities were discussed, but the following five project profiles were considered potentially most important and are therefore recommended for further development.
This system includes the integration of cattle, sheep and goat in oil palm, coconut and rubber plantations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and some Pacific islands. However, negative perceptions, such as damage to crops, soil compaction, buildup of obnoxious weeds through selective grazing, and animal droppings, prevent open acceptance of the concept by some commercial plantations. Integrating other species of livestock, including indigenous chicken and possibly pigs, into the system deserves some consideration.
This system is suitable for small ruminants such as goats, sheep and game animals in mountainous areas. The use of duel purpose trees (fuel and fodder), under-utilisation of indigenous species and their conservation are some of the factors to be studied. This production system needs controlled management of livestock to prevent destruction of the natural environment.
The existing Thailand model and possibly the Singapore experience in intensive pig farming could serve as the basis for future development of this concept. It requires strong institutional support, infrastructure, credits etc from the government and relevant livestock production agencies.
This production system is found widely throughout the APHCA region. Because of inadequate land in the peri-urban areas, almost all the feeds are brought in while excreted wastes are retained. Ways to recycle the excreted waste economically for crop production is one approach to make this farming system more sustainable.
Development of the traditional smallholder system is in line with the concept of AWI, involving land-based livestock production using modern technology to sustain productivity and in equilibrium with the environment. Development of novel approaches to efficiently utilise rural resources (land, animals, crops and humans) is the key to the success of this production system.
Regional Workshop on Area-Wide Integration of Crop-Livestock Activities, 18-20 June, 1998, FAO Regional Office, Bangkok Thailand.
