The Experts below are selected from a list of 10758 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Kennedy Dzama - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Factors influencing off-take rates of smallholder Sheep Farming systems in the Western Cape Provinve of South Africa
South African Journal of Agricultural Extension (SAJAE), 2019Co-Authors: Annelin Molotsi, Simon Oosting, Steven Cloete, Kennedy DzamaAbstract:The purpose of this study was to determine off-take rates in smallholder Sheep Farming systems in the Western Cape province of South Africa. A purposeful sampling technique was used where smallholder farmers were selected based on certain criteria. The criterion set out was that farmers must own between five and 100 Sheep. Interviews were conducted with 72 smallholder farmers in three districts, namely the West Coast, Karoo and Eden. General information on the socio-economic status of the farmers was obtained through semi-structured questionnaires. The main sources of income for the Karoo farmers was livestock (46%) and crops for Eden (32%). Farmers in the West Coast area mostly relied on salaries (43%), thus off-farm income. The Karoo district sold a higher average number of lambs per year (41 ± 8.8), with West Coast and Eden selling the same average number of lambs per year at 7 ± 2.2 and 7 ± 2.6 respectively. Overall, the income derived from livestock is low and not economically sustainable. Therefore, different strategies (such as access to market, financial assistance, improved animal nutrition and health management, as well as sound breeding plans) should be employed to assist smallholder livestock farmers to increase off-take rates.
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Genetic traits of relevance to sustainability of smallholder Sheep Farming systems in South Africa
Sustainability, 2017Co-Authors: Annelin Molotsi, Bekezela Dube, Simon Oosting, Tawanda Marandure, Cletos Mapiye, Steven Cloete, Kennedy DzamaAbstract:Sustainable livestock production is important to ensure continuous availability of resources for future generations. Most smallholder livestock Farming systems in developing countries have been perceived to be environmentally, socially and economically unsustainable. Farming with livestock that is robust and adaptable to harsh environments is important in developing countries especially in semi-arid and arid environments. This review discusses the different Sheep Farming systems employed by smallholder farmers and associated sustainability problems facing them. The review also gives an overview of sustainability indicators and limitations to the sustainability for the different smallholder Sheep production systems in South Africa. It is argued that genetic diversity is important for sustainability and needs to be maintained in Sheep for sustainable production and reproduction performance. The application of traditional breeding and genomics to ensure sustainable production is explored. Animal breeding approaches, specifically genomics can be applied to improve areas of environmental sustainability of smallholder Sheep Farming systems but must be targeted to the specific production environments, challenges, and opportunities of smallholder production. The genetic traits important for sustainability, the role of genomics in improving these traits and linking these genetic traits to different Farming systems in South Africa are discussed.
Annelin Molotsi - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Factors influencing off-take rates of smallholder Sheep Farming systems in the Western Cape Provinve of South Africa
South African Journal of Agricultural Extension (SAJAE), 2019Co-Authors: Annelin Molotsi, Simon Oosting, Steven Cloete, Kennedy DzamaAbstract:The purpose of this study was to determine off-take rates in smallholder Sheep Farming systems in the Western Cape province of South Africa. A purposeful sampling technique was used where smallholder farmers were selected based on certain criteria. The criterion set out was that farmers must own between five and 100 Sheep. Interviews were conducted with 72 smallholder farmers in three districts, namely the West Coast, Karoo and Eden. General information on the socio-economic status of the farmers was obtained through semi-structured questionnaires. The main sources of income for the Karoo farmers was livestock (46%) and crops for Eden (32%). Farmers in the West Coast area mostly relied on salaries (43%), thus off-farm income. The Karoo district sold a higher average number of lambs per year (41 ± 8.8), with West Coast and Eden selling the same average number of lambs per year at 7 ± 2.2 and 7 ± 2.6 respectively. Overall, the income derived from livestock is low and not economically sustainable. Therefore, different strategies (such as access to market, financial assistance, improved animal nutrition and health management, as well as sound breeding plans) should be employed to assist smallholder livestock farmers to increase off-take rates.
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Genetic traits of relevance to sustainability of smallholder Sheep Farming systems in South Africa
Sustainability, 2017Co-Authors: Annelin Molotsi, Bekezela Dube, Simon Oosting, Tawanda Marandure, Cletos Mapiye, Steven Cloete, Kennedy DzamaAbstract:Sustainable livestock production is important to ensure continuous availability of resources for future generations. Most smallholder livestock Farming systems in developing countries have been perceived to be environmentally, socially and economically unsustainable. Farming with livestock that is robust and adaptable to harsh environments is important in developing countries especially in semi-arid and arid environments. This review discusses the different Sheep Farming systems employed by smallholder farmers and associated sustainability problems facing them. The review also gives an overview of sustainability indicators and limitations to the sustainability for the different smallholder Sheep production systems in South Africa. It is argued that genetic diversity is important for sustainability and needs to be maintained in Sheep for sustainable production and reproduction performance. The application of traditional breeding and genomics to ensure sustainable production is explored. Animal breeding approaches, specifically genomics can be applied to improve areas of environmental sustainability of smallholder Sheep Farming systems but must be targeted to the specific production environments, challenges, and opportunities of smallholder production. The genetic traits important for sustainability, the role of genomics in improving these traits and linking these genetic traits to different Farming systems in South Africa are discussed.
Anders Skonhoft - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Silence of the Lambs: Payment for Carnivore Conservation and Sheep Farming
2015Co-Authors: Anders SkonhoftAbstract:During the last few decades, the number of large carnivores (wolf, bear, lynx and wolverines) has increased significantly in Scandinavia. As a result of more predation of livestock, conflicts with livestock farmers have deepened. We model this conflict using Sheep Farming as an example, and in instances in which farmers are given compensation for the predation loss. The compensation scheme is composed of a fixed per animal loss value (ex-post), but also a compensation just for the presence of the carnivores (ex-ante). Ex-post compensation payment is practiced in many countries where farmers are affected by killed and injured livestock, but also damages to crops. Ex-ante payment implies payment for environmental services (PES) and is also widely practiced. In the first part of the paper, the stocking decision of a group of farmers is analyzed. In a next step, the Directorate for Natural Resource Management (DNRM), managing the carnivores and compensation scheme, is introduced. The strategic interaction between the Sheep farmers and DNRM is modelled as a Stackelberg game with DNRM as the leader. We find that it is not beneficial for DNRM to use ex-post, but only ex-ante compensation. The solution to the game is compared to the social planner solution, and numerical illustrations indicate that the efficiency loss of the ex-ante compensation scheme to be small.
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Optimal exploitation of a renewable resource with capital limitations: Nordic Sheep Farming with and without grazing externalities
European Review of Agricultural Economics, 2014Co-Authors: Asle Gauteplass, Anders SkonhoftAbstract:A model of interaction between a renewable natural resource with capital limitations, as exemplified by the optimal investment problem of Sheep Farming in a Nordic context, is analysed. Both private and social optimality are considered; with the difference that a stock value related to the number of grazing animals is attached to the social management problem due to landscape preservation. The efficiency of alternative policy tools in terms of obtaining the socially optimal management scheme is discussed. The model builds on existing studies from the fisheries literature, but the important difference is that while capital is related to harvesting effort in the fisheries, capital contributes to production capacity to keep the animal stock during the winter in our farm model. The paper provides several results where both optimal steady states and the optimal approach paths are characterised analytically. The results are further supported by a numerical example.
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THE DYNAMICS OF AN ANIMAL—VEGETATION SYSTEM: Sheep Farming
Natural Resource Modeling, 2013Co-Authors: José-maría Da Rocha, Anders SkonhoftAbstract:The paper studies the economy and ecology of Sheep Farming at the farm level in a Nordic context, with a crucial distinction between the outdoors grazing season and the winter indoors feeding season, and where climate conditions fix the length of the grazing season. Two different categories of animals, ewes (adult females) and lambs, and one plant species are included in our ecological model. The farmer is assumed to maximize present-value profit where the revenue is made up income from meat and wool production, and we find that livestock cycles may represent an optimal management policy. We also show that, in a possible steady state with a constant number of animals and constant vegetation quantity, slaughtering either only lambs or only ewes is optimal.
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Livestock management at northern latitudes: Potential economic effects of climate change in Sheep Farming
Ecological Economics, 2013Co-Authors: Anne Borge Johannesen, Anders Nielsen, Anders SkonhoftAbstract:We study the economy and ecology of Sheep Farming under future climate change scenarios. The analysis is at the farm level and includes two different categories of the animals, ewes (adult females) and lambs with a crucial distinction between the outdoor grazing season and the winter indoor season. The model is formulated in a Nordic economic and biological setting. During the outdoor grazing season, animals may experience growth constraints as a result of limited grazing resources. The available grazing resources are determined by animal density (stocking rate) and weather conditions potentially affecting the weight, and hence, the value of lambs. Because empirical evidence suggests that climate changes, e.g., increased temperature, have contrasting effects on lamb weights depending on the location of the farm, the spatial effects of such changes are analyzed.
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A BIOECONOMIC Sheep–VEGETATION TRADE-OFF MODEL: AN ANALYSIS OF THE NORDIC Sheep Farming SYSTEM
Natural Resource Modeling, 2010Co-Authors: Anders Skonhoft, Gunnar Austrheim, Atle MysterudAbstract:The paper studies the economy and ecology of Sheep Farming at the farm level and includes 2 different cat- egories of the animals, ewes (adult females) and lambs. The model is analyzed in a Nordic economic and biological setting. During the outdoor grazing season, animals face limited graz- ing resources so that the weight gain of lambs is determined by the per-animal vegetation consumption. On the other hand, the number of grazing animals, lambs as well as ewes, deter- mines the grazing pressure. This problem is studied under the assumption of a rational and well-informed farmer who aims to maximize profit in ecological equilibrium with zero animal and vegetation growth. We find that lamb-only slaughtering is optimal and that it is never beneficial for the farmer to keep livestock that overgraze pasture. It is also shown that higher meat prices and more profitable slaughtering make it econom- ically rewarding for the farmer to keep more animals. A nu- merical illustration indicates that the optimal Sheep Farming decision may be more sensitive to changes in pasture quality and productivity than changes in economic conditions.
Rafael Caballero - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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policy schemes and targeted technologies in an extensive cereal Sheep Farming system
Agriculture and Human Values, 2002Co-Authors: Rafael CaballeroAbstract:Many commentators and experts arguethat extensive agricultural systems across theEuropean Union (EU) should be supported toreach the two main functions of the EuropeanModel of Agriculture (EMA): lively economicsystems and environmental awareness. We arguethat the main current policy instrument of theEMA, the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy),should be targeted to take advantage ofexisting regional diversity in social realitiesand agricultural structures. Community-basedresearch work has been carried out throughoutthe 1990s in the cereal–Sheep Farming system ofCastile-La Mancha (south-central Spain), wherea system of land-use operates in which cerealcropping and Sheep Farming are carried out onthe same land. Local agricultural staff andfarmers acted as collaborators in rating themain constraints and devising proposals forstructural, social, and institutional reforms.Results showed that the two social groupsinvolved (cultivators and pastoralists) haddivergent interests and unbalanced numbers forcollective action to be effective. Governmentintervention is required, but current EUagricultural policy is not accomplishing therestructuring objectives. Results of theopinion survey also support switching the EUsubsidy scheme to Sheep from a per-head basisto a per-hectare basis and making grazing landmore accessible to landless shepherds. Regionalpolicy schemes should be devised that aretailored to meet the circumstances ofparticular land areas, but sensible policyschemes can only be devised after properknowledge of the structure and institutionalframework of EU agricultural systems.
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Policy schemes and targeted technologies in an extensive cereal–Sheep Farming system
Agriculture and Human Values, 2002Co-Authors: Rafael CaballeroAbstract:Many commentators and experts arguethat extensive agricultural systems across theEuropean Union (EU) should be supported toreach the two main functions of the EuropeanModel of Agriculture (EMA): lively economicsystems and environmental awareness. We arguethat the main current policy instrument of theEMA, the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy),should be targeted to take advantage ofexisting regional diversity in social realitiesand agricultural structures. Community-basedresearch work has been carried out throughoutthe 1990s in the cereal–Sheep Farming system ofCastile-La Mancha (south-central Spain), wherea system of land-use operates in which cerealcropping and Sheep Farming are carried out onthe same land. Local agricultural staff andfarmers acted as collaborators in rating themain constraints and devising proposals forstructural, social, and institutional reforms.Results showed that the two social groupsinvolved (cultivators and pastoralists) haddivergent interests and unbalanced numbers forcollective action to be effective. Governmentintervention is required, but current EUagricultural policy is not accomplishing therestructuring objectives. Results of theopinion survey also support switching the EUsubsidy scheme to Sheep from a per-head basisto a per-hectare basis and making grazing landmore accessible to landless shepherds. Regionalpolicy schemes should be devised that aretailored to meet the circumstances ofparticular land areas, but sensible policyschemes can only be devised after properknowledge of the structure and institutionalframework of EU agricultural systems.
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Typology of cereal-Sheep Farming systems in Castile-La Mancha (south-central Spain)
Agricultural Systems, 2001Co-Authors: Rafael CaballeroAbstract:Abstract There is still no pan-European assessment of the typology of low-intensity Farming systems and of the changes which they are undergoing under current European Union (EU) farm policy. This study examines the variability of farm structure and Farming practices of a typical cereal-Sheep Farming system under continental Mediterranean conditions with the aim of providing regional data of policy relevance. The collection of quantitative and qualitative data was planned with collaborative effort from regional extension agencies and followed the Delphi technique. Arable land in Castile-La Mancha occupied more than 70% of total agricultural land in 1997, the rest being natural pasture, shrub-steppe, and Mediterranean forest. Dry low-intensity arable systems still included a sizeable proportion of fallow to cropped land (20%) or somewhat more than 1,000,000 ha, and the winter cereal stubble was often grazed by Sheep. These systems were of low intensity in the sense that they used low inputs per ha, particularly of nutrients and agrochemicals. They involved the exploitation of land, particularly for grazing, on an open and large scale. In this sense, they can also be considered extensive systems. On average, only 20% of arable farmers kept Sheep, while 80% of the Sheep producers were landless pastoralists. Young farmers tend to be disinclined to became involved in the Sheep sector, because of the harsh working conditions of Sheep Farming operations. Response to new economic circumstances involved the evolution of traditional practices with corresponding lower use of farm labour. Although still low-intensive, these systems can be considered as modified forms of traditional practices which have responded to new technologies and the need to cut labour costs. The new objectives for agriculture in Castile-La Mancha, must create or maintain a way of life that is socially and economically attractive to young farmers, without the acceptance of environmentally damaging practices. These new objectives will require a new regionally-targeted EU aid scheme. In turn, there is a need to understand regional agriculture systems before we can hope to achieve successful policy.
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Castile-La Mancha : A once traditional and integrated cereal-Sheep Farming system under change
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, 1999Co-Authors: Rafael CaballeroAbstract:Farming systems are often complex elaborations of the human societies to which they belong, with many traditional and social implications. Untangling the main social and structural constraints may improve productivity without an increase in environmental costs. Integration of cereal and Sheep Farming throughout the Mediterranean basin has been traditional. Mutually beneficial relationships between the Sheep industry and cereal Farming, and the vital role of forage legumes in meeting the modest needs of Sheep for nitrogen, are stressed. This agropastoral system, however, is endangered in central Spain mainly because the pastoralist (Sheep owner) is land-less, while the cultivator (land owner) has little interest in enforcing the law; fees for grazing rights are very low. Farmers, particularly young farmers, reject the current Sheep operation because of the harsh working conditions. Restructuring of the grazing system would require a new policy scenario that would link European Union farm subsidies to structural reforms and would stress cooperative behavior.
Simon Oosting - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Factors influencing off-take rates of smallholder Sheep Farming systems in the Western Cape Provinve of South Africa
South African Journal of Agricultural Extension (SAJAE), 2019Co-Authors: Annelin Molotsi, Simon Oosting, Steven Cloete, Kennedy DzamaAbstract:The purpose of this study was to determine off-take rates in smallholder Sheep Farming systems in the Western Cape province of South Africa. A purposeful sampling technique was used where smallholder farmers were selected based on certain criteria. The criterion set out was that farmers must own between five and 100 Sheep. Interviews were conducted with 72 smallholder farmers in three districts, namely the West Coast, Karoo and Eden. General information on the socio-economic status of the farmers was obtained through semi-structured questionnaires. The main sources of income for the Karoo farmers was livestock (46%) and crops for Eden (32%). Farmers in the West Coast area mostly relied on salaries (43%), thus off-farm income. The Karoo district sold a higher average number of lambs per year (41 ± 8.8), with West Coast and Eden selling the same average number of lambs per year at 7 ± 2.2 and 7 ± 2.6 respectively. Overall, the income derived from livestock is low and not economically sustainable. Therefore, different strategies (such as access to market, financial assistance, improved animal nutrition and health management, as well as sound breeding plans) should be employed to assist smallholder livestock farmers to increase off-take rates.
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Genetic traits of relevance to sustainability of smallholder Sheep Farming systems in South Africa
Sustainability, 2017Co-Authors: Annelin Molotsi, Bekezela Dube, Simon Oosting, Tawanda Marandure, Cletos Mapiye, Steven Cloete, Kennedy DzamaAbstract:Sustainable livestock production is important to ensure continuous availability of resources for future generations. Most smallholder livestock Farming systems in developing countries have been perceived to be environmentally, socially and economically unsustainable. Farming with livestock that is robust and adaptable to harsh environments is important in developing countries especially in semi-arid and arid environments. This review discusses the different Sheep Farming systems employed by smallholder farmers and associated sustainability problems facing them. The review also gives an overview of sustainability indicators and limitations to the sustainability for the different smallholder Sheep production systems in South Africa. It is argued that genetic diversity is important for sustainability and needs to be maintained in Sheep for sustainable production and reproduction performance. The application of traditional breeding and genomics to ensure sustainable production is explored. Animal breeding approaches, specifically genomics can be applied to improve areas of environmental sustainability of smallholder Sheep Farming systems but must be targeted to the specific production environments, challenges, and opportunities of smallholder production. The genetic traits important for sustainability, the role of genomics in improving these traits and linking these genetic traits to different Farming systems in South Africa are discussed.
