Assessing farmer perceptions on livestock intensification and associated trade-offs using fuzzy cognitive maps; a study in mixed farming systems in the mid-hills of Nepal

Victoria Alomia‐hinojosa, Jeroen C. J. Groot, Jens A. Andersson, Erika N. Speelman, Andrew J. Mcdonald and Pablo Tittonell ()
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Victoria Alomia‐hinojosa: WUR - Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen]
Jeroen C. J. Groot: WUR - Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen]
Jens A. Andersson: CIMMYT - Centre international d'amélioration du maïs et du blé
Erika N. Speelman: WUR - Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen]
Andrew J. Mcdonald: CIMMYT - Centre international d'amélioration du maïs et du blé
Pablo Tittonell: UPR AIDA - Agroécologie et intensification durables des cultures annuelles - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement

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Abstract: Intensified livestock production is considered as a promising pathway for smallholder farmers. Nevertheless, this pathway may entail prohibitive investment requirements of labour, capital or trade-offs at farm level that preclude sustainable intensification. We used fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) to assess farmers' perceptions of changes in the farm household system resulting from adding livestock to their mixed farms. Farmers identified trade-offs between the increased income and farmyard manure production versus increases in labour requirements for fodder imports. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis performed on the FCMs showed that an increase in milk market demand could have strong positive effects on livestock production and income. We conclude that FCM is a good tool to rapidly identify trade-offs and analyse perceptions of farmers which revealed that although they consider intensification a promising strategy, the perceived deepening of labour constraints and increasing dependency on fodder import makes a concurrent (sustainable) intensification of these farm systems unlikely.

Keywords: Népal; production animale; revenu de l'exploitation; système d'exploitation agricole; intensification; élevage intensif; polyculture élevage; participation des agriculteurs; force de travail; cartographie; Livestock intensification; Farming systems; Nepal; Decision-making; Ex-ante methods; Household farm systems analysis; Intensification constraints; Smallholder farmer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05179260v1
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Published in Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 2023, 40 (1), pp.146-158. ⟨10.1002/sres.2830⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05179260

DOI: 10.1002/sres.2830

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