Accra, Ghana, March 18, 2019//-Ghana is a country where between 60 and 70 per cent of the population is engaged in agriculture.
Most of these farmers are into mono-cropping like rice, cocoa, coffee, yams, etc., with little or no intercropping or mixed farming.
The result is that in many parts of the country farmers have nothing to do during certain periods of the year making poverty levels soar up.
To address the issue and reduce the level of poverty among peasant farmers experts in rural economy suggest mixed farming.
According to agriculturalists mixed farming is a type of agriculture that involves both cropping and livestock. This kind of farming yields high profitable returns and is considered an efficient method of farming.
The main characteristic is that it produces both crops and livestock and the grass is the important crop of this mixed farming system. The application of fertiliser per head of arable land for mixed farming depends on the area and the climatic condition of the area.
Its three main advantages are: protects the farmer against the risk of poor prices and disease; the labour requirement will be even throughout the year; and, maintenance of the soil fertility of the crop will be rotationally maintained
Instead of growing the same crop different crops will be grown so it will reduce the risk of plant disease more than one enterprise being carried out on the same farm over a period of time depending on seasons.
Research shows that since these enterprises – livestock and cropping are independent of each other; they may be complimentary but not dependant, they offer true diversification of income leading to improved financial performances which is the main goal.
Swedish farmers and researchers incorporated the natural behaviour of pigs in the design of farming systems to improve crop and animal performance.
They dealt with the behaviour and performance of outdoor pigs on clover/grassland and with tillage effects resulting from rooting by pigs on winter wheat performance. Environmental loading in an ecological pig production system (EPS) was 64 percent less than in a conventional production system (CPS) but labour requirements were higher in EPS.
On-farm production of feed in the EPS reduced purchased inputs for feeds by 48 percent compared with CPS. Levels of tillage caused by rooting pigs and yields of winter wheat grain in the following year were significantly correlated.
Grain yields were greater from the areas treated by pigs compared with mechanical tillage, when soil moisture content was high enough. Mean daily weight gain varied between 626 g and 811 g for EPS and CPS, respectively. The increasing live weight indicated a large maintenance requirement for energy, especially in young pigs, probably due to high levels of activity in EPS. Rooting activity increased when soil moisture content increased or supplemental feeding was restricted. Daily allocation of new land stimulated foraging activity and deposition of urine and faeces in the newly allotted land.
In Asia, the integration of livestock, fish and crops has proved to be a sustainable system through centuries of experience. In China, for example, the integration of fishpond production with ducks, geese, chickens, sheep, cattle or pigs increased fish production by 2 to 3.9 times while there were added ecological and economic benefits of fish utilising animal wastes.
Environmentally sound integration is ensured where livestock droppings and feed waste can be poured directly into the pond to constitute feed for fish and zooplankton. Livestock manure can be used to fertilise grass or other plant growth that can also constitute feed for fish. Vegetables can be irrigated from the fishponds, and their residues and by-products can be used for feeding livestock.
Additionally, mixed farming systems: maintain soil fertility by recycling soil nutrients and allowing the introduction and use of rotations between various crops and forage legumes and trees, or for land to remain fallow and grasses and shrubs to become re-established; maintain soil biodiversity, minimise soil erosion, help to conserve water and provide suitable habitats for birds; make the best use of crop residues.
When they are not used as feed, stalks may be incorporated directly into the soil, where, for some time, they act as a nitrogen trap, exacerbating deficiencies. In the tropical semi-arid areas, termite action results in loss of nutrients before the next cropping season. Burning, the other alternative, increases carbon dioxide emissions; and, allow intensified farming, with less dependence on natural resources and preserving more biodiversity than would be the case if food demands were to be met by crop and livestock activities undertaken in isolation.
Grazing of livestock under plantation trees such as rubber, oil palm or coconut is a form of crop-livestock integration that is often found in Southeast Asia. Experiments in Malaysia with cattle and goats under oil palm showed better oil palm bunch harvest and comparable results were found where goats fed under rubber trees.
In rubber and oil palm plantations in Malaysia, the integration of livestock to utilise the vegetative ground cover under the tree canopy increased overall production and saved up to 40 percent of the cost of weed control. Similarly, sheep helped to control weeds in sugar cane fields in Colombia. This suppressed the costs of herbicides, reduced the cost of weed control by half and provided additional income from meat production. This also occurs where cows graze under coconuts
Mixed farming systems provide farmers with an opportunity to diversify risk from single crop production, to use labour more efficiently, to have a source of cash for purchasing farm inputs and to add value to crops or crop by-products. Combining crops and livestock also has the potential to maintain ecosystem function and health and help prevent agricultural systems from becoming too brittle, or over connected, by promoting greater biodiversity, and therefore increased capability to absorb shocks to the natural resource base.
The government in its quest to transform agriculture must not gloss over the high illiteracy rate among the majority of farmers and put into place pragmatic policies and systems tailored to the needs and comprehension of those farmers at the grassroot levels. Meeting the ground operators at their level is of vital importance.
It is true that presently in the country all the necessary information such as the prices of products in different markets, the right kind of fertiliser and so on could be delivered on the mobile phone but the authorities and policy makers should not lose sight to the fact that many rural farmers cannot afford the cost of such mobile phones. In situations where they can afford, their application is another thing.
By Oppong Baah, African Eye Report
