406 Modern Agricultural Reforms
components of farming systems are likely to produce limited results unless the
interdependence of land use, labour supply and seasonal activities for all of these
farm enterprises is acknowledged.^3 In many areas of Asia, acceptance of the short-
stalked, high-yielding cereal varieties that made the Green Revolution was low, for
example, because the quantity and quality of the fodder produced by the new
varieties was insufficient to meet livestock requirements. The goal of plant breeders
had been to increase grain yield without considering forage needs. Farmers were
willing to accept lower yields of grain in order to be able to feed their animals,
which provided them with the manure they needed to maintain soil fertility and
the traction required for tilling their land.
An argument sometimes made against livestock production is that animals are
inherently wasteful; more calories can be produced per hectare from plants than
from animals. If animals are fed on forages and by-products, however, rather than
competing with humans for edible grain, such ‘wastefulness’ can be beneficial. In
extensive and semi-extensive systems, animals that range freely during the day
harvest plant nutrients from non-arable areas; at night when they are penned, most
of these nutrients are deposited in their enclosure, later to be distributed as manure
onto cropland. In parts of West Africa, pastoralists often negotiate grazing con-
tracts with crop-growing neighbours. Pastoralists are encouraged to graze their
cattle on fields with crop residues because the cattle deposit manure: their owners
may even receive additional compensation for this service. If animals were in fact
highly efficient in their conversion of harvested nutrients, there would be less
transfer of nutrients from rangelands to croplands.
When green and animal manures are judiciously used in combination, nutri-
ent availability can be nicely synchronized to meet plant demands. Manure is an
important product of livestock raising. In sub-Saharan Africa, 25 per cent of agri-
cultural domestic product comes from livestock even without considering manure
or traction; when these are considered, this figure rises to 35 per cent (Winrock
International, 1992). The quality and quantity of manure produced depends on
what the animal consumes; in Java where ‘cut and carry’ tree-based fodder systems
are common, animals are given extra feed to improve the quality of their manure
(Somda et al, 1970; Tanner et al, 1995). Thus, animal production can be beneficial
in ecological as well as human nutritional terms.
An additional consideration obscured by a preoccupation with fields is that
common property resources for grazing and for forest products are an essential part
of many households’ economic operations (Berkes, 1989; Jodha, 1992).
Common lands are often the sites from which grazing livestock harvest nutri-
ents that are brought back to the farm at night. As these areas are not fields, how-
ever, and do not belong to any specific user, evaluating their contributions to
production is admittedly difficult. This is not, however, sufficient reason to over-
look their role and potential, leaving their productivity to languish.^4 Privatization
of these commons, often advised, removes the flexibility people need to withstand
drought in dry regions. Farming systems improvement should encompass all the
area and resources available to farmers and pastoralists.