Livestock carrying capacity evaluation of land resources in integrated farming system : a case study from the mid hills of Nepal | |
| Author | Das, Romy |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AS-05-13 |
| Subject(s) | Integrated agricultural systems--Nepal Livestock--Nepal Hill farming--Nepal |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. AS-05-13 |
| Abstract | The crop-livestock integrated farming system practiced in the hills of Nepal depends to a greater extent on the ecosystem as a whole. More specifically, the livestock component of farming system heavily relies on land resources such as forest, grazing and agricultural land for supply of feeds and fodder. The importance of animals as nutrient recyclers, source of rural energy in terms of draft power and the major contributors of the farm economy has resulted in increased population of ruminant stock in the hilly regions. This study attempts to evaluate the carrying capacity of land resources as a source of feed supply to sustain the existing population of livestock as well as formulate the optimum livestock number at household level in Kumpur sub watershed. Considering the overall livestock situation in the sub watershed, variation has been found in livestock production and management system between the upper and lower zones of the sub watershed. Independent T- test showed significant difference in livestock holding between the two zones (p x.05). Income from livestock enterprises has contributed 43 % and 35 % of the total faun income in the upper and lower zones respectively. Milk production from buffalo is significantly higher in the lower zone than in the upper zone. Market accessibility in the lower zone has enabled its farmers to derive higher benefits from milk sales than in the upper zone. Lack of veterinary treatment and health services in remote areas are the major difficulties of livestock raising in the upper zone whereas dwindling supply of feed resources is a severe problem for livestock production in the lower zone. Evaluation of livestock carrying capacity revealed that ruminant population in the sub watershed is above the feed carrying capacity of the land resources. The total feed supply from different land resources is 12,668mt/yr where as the current livestock TDN demand is 14,060mt/yr, with a negative TDN balance of 1393mt/year. The available TDN is enough only for 11,696 livestock unit where as the current stocking is 12,986 LU, which shows overstocking of 1289 LU. Analysis of variance showed significant variation in feed supply from various sources among small, medium and large farm categories. The household level analysis depicted high TDN gap in the large farm categories in both agroecological regions. Excess livestock directly implies that there is a high livestock holding of farm households in the sub watershed. Findings of linear programming simulation indicate that farmers in the large, medium and small farm categories can optimize their livestock holding up to 7, 6 and 5.4 LU respectively without significantly increasing their existing number of ruminants. The households in the respective farm categories can fulfill their goal of return maximization with 3 LU of buffaloes and 4 LU of goats, 2 LU of buffaloes and 4 LU of goats and 1 LU of buffalo and 4.4 LU of goats respectively. Analysis indicates that buffalo and goat raising are the most profitable enterprises in the study area and yield high return over family labor. Therefore, technical intervention is required in these types of livestock. Moreover, there should be improvement in the feed resource base emphasizing on plantation of fodder tree and forage grasses to increase the feed carrying capacity of livestock. Overall local economic growth through livestock development not only demands improvement in livestock feed supply but also institutional support through reliable marketing facility and credit services |
| Year | 2005 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. AS-05-13 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Aquatic Systems(AS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Shivakoti, Ganesh Prasad; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Ranamukhaarachchhi, S.L.;Vogt, Dietrich Schmidt; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Danish International Development Agency; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005 |