5 Crop–Livestock Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: Determinants and Intensification Pathways

Mixed farming systems involving varying degrees of crop–livestock integration are found in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Increasing population combined with climatic, economic, social, and institutional changes are transforming systems for producing crops and livestock—from systems based on extensive, shifting cultivation and grazing to ones that are more intensively managed and are based on mixed farming systems. A variety of economic and biological interactions between crops and livestock make mixed farming systems attractive to farmers. Mixed farming is a risk-coping strategy, with livestock providing an important avenue for farm diversification and consumption smoothing. Animals furnish manure to sustain crop yields, while crop residues and forage on fallow lands provide feed for livestock. As demographic pressure increases or new market opportunities arise, more intensive modes of agricultural production that involve increased use of labor per unit of land are sometimes adopted. The use of animal power at this stage can alleviate labor shortages, improve the quality and timeliness of farming operations, and increase farm productivity. Viewed in this way, the integration of crops and livestock facilitates the exploitation of economies of scope and represents an important step in the process of agricultural intensification. However, the increased level of exploitation of natural resources often associated with crop–livestock integration may also lead to undesirable outcomes. Environmental degradation can result from the excessive removal of vegetation through grazing or harvesting of fodder and the tillage of some soils using animal traction. The adoption of integrated crop–livestock farming may also have negative implications for property rights, equity, and risk management within a farming community. As concern about poverty, food security, and environmental degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa increases, it is important that crop– livestock systems are transformed and intensified along productive and sustainable pathways.