Decoupling livestock and crop production at the household level in China

Shuqin Jin, Bin Zhang, Bi Wu, Dongmei Han, Yu Hu, Chenchen Ren, Chuanzhen Zhang, Xun Wei, Yan Wu, Arthur P. J. Mol, Stefan Reis, Baojing Gu () and Jie Chen ()
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Shuqin Jin: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China
Bin Zhang: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China
Bi Wu: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China
Dongmei Han: Hebei University
Yu Hu: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China
Chenchen Ren: Zhejiang University
Chuanzhen Zhang: Zhejiang University
Xun Wei: University of Science and Technology Beijing
Yan Wu: Nanjing Audit University
Arthur P. J. Mol: Wageningen University
Stefan Reis: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Baojing Gu: Zhejiang University
Jie Chen: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China

Nature Sustainability, 2021, vol. 4, issue 1, 48-55

Abstract: Abstract Animal manure used to be the major source of additional nutrients and crucial for maintaining soil fertility and crop yield in traditional farming systems. However, it is increasingly not recycled, wasting vital resources and damaging the environment. By using long-term (1986–2017) data from a rural household survey (>20,000 households) across China, here we show that the share of rural households with both crop planting and livestock raising (CPLR) has sharply declined from 71% in 1986 to only 12% in 2017. Compared with households with only crop planting, the CPLR households apply less synthetic fertilizer and more manure per cropland area. However, manure production in one-third of CPLR households has exceeded the nutrient requirement of crop growth on their croplands. Rebuilding the links between livestock and croplands at a regional scale thus provides vital opportunities for the sustainable intensification of agriculture in China.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41893-020-00596-0

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