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The track record of livestock development interventions in promoting sustained poverty reduction is believed to be meagre. Could it be that the track record of livestock development interventions is so meagre because of the influence of a reductionistic worldview? The Cartesian worldview has been extremely influential in Western culture and broader. Central in this worldview is a thinking in terms of traditional versus modern and subject(ive) versus object(ive). It has been argued that in development cooperation this has given rise to projectivistic thinking and acting where reality, including the realities of farmers and others, is only meaningless material, to be freely given shape based on a rational design. This is accompanied by an attitude in which our by and large individualistic Western society with its (presumed) institutional mechanicism – such as the market mechanism – is seen to be the model for other societies as well. Finally, we can note a marginalisation of religion and worldview in the public debate. The aim of this contribution is thereforeto analyse in a qualitative way whether such traces of the Cartesian worldview can be linked to development programmes’ successes or failures in achieving impact. To this end, a set of eight impact evaluations of dairy development interventions in Kenya are considered, spanning the period 2007-2014. We (1) analyse what positive and negative effects – as emerging from the evaluation documents – have resulted from these interventions; (2) normatively reflect on what the evaluation documents posit as positive and negative effects; (3) analyse whether we can speak of a significant influence of the Cartesian worldview in such interventions; and (3) establish whether there is a relationship between the degree to which projects and programs embody a Cartesian worldview and their respective success or failure. Even though results are not available yet, and the relationship between the influence of a Cartesian worldview and a project or program’s success is hypothetical, we at least expect to provide a typology of positive and negative effects of Kenyan dairy development interventions, and be able to show to which degree projects and programs are influenced by the Cartesian worldview.

Purpose The expected increase in demand for food raises concerns about the expansion of agricultural land worldwide. To avoid expansion, we need to focus on increasing land productivity, reducing waste, and shifting human diets. Studies exploring diet shifts so far have ignored competition for land between humans and animals. Our objective was to study the relation between land use, the share of animal protein in the human diet, population size, and land availability and quality. Methods We used linear programming to determine minimum land required to feed a population a diet with 0–80 % of the protein derived from terrestrial domestic animals. Populations ranged from 15 million to the maximum number of people that could be supported by the system. The agricultural system in the Netherlands was used as illustration, assuming no import and export of feed and food. Daily energy and protein requirements of humans were fulfilled by a diet potentially consisting of grain (wheat), root and tuber crops (potato, sugar beet), oil crops (rapeseed), legumes (brown bean), and animal protein from ruminants (milk and meat) and monogastrics (pork). Results and discussion Land is used most efficiently if people would derive 12 % of dietary protein from animals (% PA), especially milk. The role of animals in such a diet is to convert co-products from crop production and the human food industry into protein-rich milk and meat. Below 12 % PA, human-inedible products were wasted (i.e., not used for food production), whereas above 12 % PA, additional crops had to be cultivated to feed livestock. Large populations (40 million or more) could be sustained only if animal protein was consumed. This results from the fact that at high population sizes, land unsuitable for crop production was necessary to meet dietary requirements of the population, and contributed to food production by providing animal protein without competing for land with crops. Conclusions A land use optimization model including crop and animal production enables identification of the optimal % PA in the diet. Land use per capita was lowest at 12 % PA. At this level, animals optimally consume co-products from food production. Larger populations, furthermore, can be sustained only with diets relatively high in % PA, as land unsuitable for crop production is needed to fulfil their food demand. The optimal % PA in the human diet depended on population size and the relative share of land unsuitable for crop production.

This review analyzes published data on manure management practices used to mitigate methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from animal operations. Reducing excreted nitrogen (N) and degradable organic carbon (C) by diet manipulation to improve the balance of nutrient inputs with production is an effective practice to reduce CH4 and N2O emissions. Most CH4 is produced during manure storage; therefore, reducing storage time, lowering manure temperature by storing it outside during colder seasons, and capturing and combusting the CH4 produced during storage are effective practices to reduce CH4 emission. Anaerobic digestion with combustion of the gas produced is effective in reducing CH4 emission and organic C content of manure; this increases readily available C and N for microbial processes creating little CH4 and increased N2O emissions following land application. Nitrous oxide emission occurs following land application as a byproduct of nitrification and dentrification processes in the soil, but these processes may also occur in compost, biofilter materials, and permeable storage covers. These microbial processes depend on temperature, moisture content, availability of easily degradable organic C, and oxidation status of the environment, which make N2O emissions and mitigation results highly variable. Managing the fate of ammoniacal N is essential to the success of N2O and CH4 mitigation because ammonia is an important component in the cycling of N through manure, soil, crops, and animal feeds. Manure application techniques such as subsurface injection reduce ammonia and CH4 emissions but can result in increased N2O emissions. Injection works well when combined with anaerobic digestion and solids separation by improving infiltration. Additives such as urease and nitrification inhibitors that inhibit microbial processes have mixed results but are generally effective in controlling N2O emission from intensive grazing systems. Matching plant nutrient requirements with manure fertilization, managing grazing intensity, and using cover crops are effective practices to increase plant N uptake and reduce N2O emissions. Due to system interactions, mitigation practices that reduce emissions in one stage of the manure management process may increase emissions elsewhere, so mitigation practices must be evaluated at the whole farm level.

The goal of this review was to analyze published data on animal management practices that mitigate enteric methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from animal operations. Increasing animal productivity can be a very effective strategy for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of livestock product. Improving the genetic potential of animals through planned cross-breeding or selection within breeds and achieving this genetic potential through proper nutrition and improvements in reproductive efficiency, animal health, and reproductive lifespan are effective approaches for improving animal productivity and reducing GHG emission intensity. In subsistence production systems, reduction of herd size would increase feed availability and productivity of individual animals and the total herd, thus lowering CH4 emission intensity. In these systems, improving the nutritive value of low-quality feeds for ruminant diets can have a considerable benefit on herd productivity while keeping the herd CH4 output constant or even decreasing it. Residual feed intake may be a tool for screening animals that are low CH4 emitters, but there is currently insufficient evidence that low residual feed intake animals have a lower CH4 yield per unit of feed intake or animal product. Reducing age at slaughter of finished cattle and the number of days that animals are on feed in the feedlot can significantly reduce GHG emissions in beef and other meat animal production systems. Improved animal health and reduced mortality and morbidity are expected to increase herd productivity and reduce GHG emission intensity in all livestock production systems. Pursuing a suite of intensive and extensive reproductive management technologies provides a significant opportunity to reduce GHG emissions. Recommended approaches will differ by region and species but should target increasing conception rates in dairy, beef, and buffalo, increasing fecundity in swine and small ruminants, and reducing embryo wastage in all species. Interactions among individual components of livestock production systems are complex but must be considered when recommending GHG mitigation practices.

This paper assesses why participation in markets for small ruminants is relatively low in northern Ghana by analysing the technical and institutional constraints to innovation in smallholder small ruminant production and marketing in Lawra and Nadowli Districts. The results show that the limitations experienced by smallholders, i.e., water shortages during the dry season, high mortality and theft of livestock, persist because of institutional constraints. These include structural limitations related to availability of arable lands, weak support systems for animal production and health services delivery, community values that are skewed towards crop production more than animal husbandry, ineffective traditional and formal structures for justice delivery, and gaps in the interaction between communities and district and national level organizations such as the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, district assemblies, rural banks, and non-governmental organizations as well as traders and butchers. Confronted with such constraints, the strategies that most smallholders have adopted to be resilient entail diversified sources of livelihood, low input use in small ruminant production, and maintaining the herd as a capital stock and insurance. Only a few smallholders (i.e., ‘positive deviants’) engage in market or demand-driven production or exhibit successful strategies in small ruminant husbandry. It is argued in this paper that for the majority of smallholders, market production, which requires high levels of external inputs or intensification of resource use, is not a viable option. The main implications of the study are (1) that other institutional constraints than market access constraints should be addressed, (2) that commercial livestock production should not be idealized as the best or only option (as is being done in many contemporary interventions that aim at incorporating smallholders into commodity value chains), and (3) that different types of small ruminant system innovation pathways should be explored by making use of local positive deviants.

Society’s relationship with modern animal farming is an ambivalent one: on the one hand there is rising criticism about modern animal farming; on the other hand people appreciate certain aspects of it, such as increased food safety and low food prices. This ambivalence reflects the two faces of modernity: the negative (exploitation of nature and loss of traditions) and the positive (progress, convenience, and efficiency). This article draws on a national survey carried out in the Netherlands that aimed at gaining a deeper understanding about the acceptance of modern dairy farming in Dutch society. People take two dimensions into account when evaluating different aspects of modern dairy farming: (1) the way living beings are used for production and (2) the way a dairy farm functions as a business. In both these dimensions people appeared to adopt cautious opinions: most people preferred relatively traditional and natural farms and were concerned about the use of nature and treatment of animals in modern production—although this did not imply an outright rejection of modern animal farming. The study also looked for (and sought to explain) differences of opinion between social groups. Besides socio-demographic factors such as age and gender, farming experience and value-orientation (such as socially minded and professional) appeared to be important variables. The values and convictions within modern society can help to explain why some people are greatly concerned about animal welfare while some show less concern. This diversity also helps to explain why general information campaigns are quite ineffective in allaying concerns about modern animal farming.

The important role of values is very evident when it comes to citizens' concept of sustainability. The present paper had the objective to define sustainability as a socio-cultural concept for livestock production systems. The main research question was: how do Dutch citizens value various aspects of dairy production systems? We conducted farm visits with citizens panels in The Netherlands. We asked citizens about their on-farm perception (smelling, hearing, seeing and feeling) and what they perceived valuable to preserve for the future. We presented sustainability as a socio-cultural concept which included citizens' valuable aspects (SCA) and concerns (SCI). We defined a socio-cultural aspect (SCA) as an aspect of a livestock production system which is mentioned by society as being valuable to preserve for the future. We identified an SCA as a socio-cultural issue (SCI) when it evokes societal concern in present time or is expected to do so in the future. By qualitative analysis we identified SCAs and SCIs of dairy production systems and combined these into socio-cultural themes (SCT). We found ten socio-cultural themes which contained 42 socio-cultural aspects (SCA), of which 27 were identified as socio-cultural issues (SCI). We can conclude that that livestock production systems have more values for society than solely food production, because only one of the ten identified socio-cultural themes directly concerned food production (SCT 1), whereas the nine other themes concerned values that go beyond food production: farming activities (SCT 2), farm income (SCT 3), animals (SCT 4), landscape (SCT 5), nature (SCT 6), environment (SCT 7), farming culture (SCT 8), national culture (SCT 9) and services for society (SCT 10). One of the main values of agriculture seems the combination of apparently contradicting aspects such as technology and nature within one system. In conclusion, sustainability as a socio-cultural concept for livestock production systems is defined by a wide range of socio-cultural aspects and issues, reflecting citizens' values and concerns of that system and for a sustainable agriculture it is important that both SCIs and SCAs are taken into account.

African mixed crop–livestock systems are vulnerable to climate change and need to adapt in order to improve productivity and sustain people’s livelihoods. These smallholder systems are characterized by high greenhouse gas emission rates, but could play a role in their mitigation. Although the impact of climate change is projected to be large, many uncertainties persist, in particular with respect to impacts on livestock and grazing components, whole-farm dynamics and heterogeneous farm populations. We summarize the current understanding on impacts and vulnerability and highlight key knowledge gaps for the separate system components and the mixed farming systems as a whole. Numerous adaptation and mitigation options exist for crop–livestock systems. We provide an overview by distinguishing risk management, diversification and sustainable intensification strategies, and by focusing on the contribution to the three pillars of climate-smart agriculture. Despite the potential solutions, smallholders face major constraints at various scales, including small farm sizes, the lack of response to the proposed measures and the multi-functionality of the livestock herd. Major institutional barriers include poor access to markets and relevant knowledge, land tenure insecurity and the common property status of most grazing resources. These limit the adoption potential and hence the potential impact on resilience and mitigation. In order to effectively inform decision-making, we therefore call for integrated, system-oriented impact assessments and a realistic consideration of the adoption constraints in smallholder systems. Building on agricultural system model development, integrated impact assessments and scenario analyses can inform the co-design and implementation of adaptation and mitigation strategies.F

This paper presents studies on feed utilization in two Indonesian villages (Putukrejo and Kedungsalam) with large seasonal variation in availability of feeds. The model used calculates the effect of varying degrees of feed selection on the number of animals that can be fed ad libitum, the corresponding mean liveweight gain (MLWG) per animal and total liveweight production (TLWP) of the herd. Calculations assume that, if only part of the feed is used, the feeds giving the highest intake of metabolizable energy are selected first. When feeds were pooled for the whole year, 2976 AU (animal units) could be fed ad libitum in Putukrejo and 4443 in Kedungsalam, but maximum TLWP was obtained with a smaller herd size (HS; 2300 and 3800 AU, respectively), not using the poorest feeds. Without transfer of feeds from one month to another, the maximum number of AU that could be fed ad libitum each month varied from 583 to 4130 AU in Putukrejo and from 1446 to 11080 in Kedungsalam. The optimum constant HS, giving maximum TLWP for the whole year, varied with assumptions regarding transfer of feeds between seasons. With assumptions most closely reflecting farmers' practices, optimal HS was 1200 AU for Putukrejo and between 1900 and 3200 for Kedungsalam, with MLWGs of 199 and 131-159 g AU(-1) d(-1), respectively. This corresponded well with actual HS (1320 and 2985 AU, respectively) and actual MLWG (182 g animal(-1) d(-1)). (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of the combination of a lactoperoxidase system (LP-s) and lactoferrin (LF) added to a milk replacer diet on severity of diarrhoea, the morphology of the small intestinal mucosa, and the microbiology of digesta and faeces in young calves, in comparison with a control diet. The experiment was conducted with 30 young calves, 15 per treatment, during the period of 7-21 days of age. During this period, calves are sensitive to gastrointestinal disturbances that can cause diarrhoea. The results showed a significantly (p < 0.05) reduced severity of diarrhoea in the LP-s/LF group compared to the control group as assessed by faecal consistency scores. Numbers of CFU (colony forming units) of Escherichia coli in jejunal and colonic digesta and in faeces were lower in the LP-s/LF group compared with the control group. The differences were significant in both colonic digesta (p < 0.1) and in faeces (p < 0.05). Examination of the small intestinal mucosa, using a dissecting microscope, indicated more finger shaped villi in the distal jejunum of LP-s/LF-treated calves compared with the control group (p < 0.05). Histometrical measurements showed that these villi were significantly (p < 0.05) longer.

Barley silage was sprayed with water or with a 2:1 combination of commercial cellulase and xylanase preparations, or the enzymes were introduced directly into the rumen, in a digestibility study (replicated incomplete 3 × 3 Latin square) using 10 sheep. Apparent digestibilities of dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) were lower (P 0.05) intake of DM, organic matter or digestible organic matter, or digestibilities of DM or NDF, ruminal pH, xylanase activity, endoglucanase activity or ruminal cellulolytic bacterial populations. Treating the silage portion of an 82.5% barley silage backgrounding diet with the enzyme mix at 0, 1.25, 3.5 or 5.0 L t−1 DM tended to linearly increase (P = 0.08) final weights of steers (n = 24). Average daily gain tended to be (P = 0.06) and feed intake and feed efficiency were (P = 0.04 and P = 0.03, respectively) quadratically related to these enzyme concentrations from days 0 to 56, but not overall (days 0 to 120). In contrast, treatment of both portions (forage and concentrate) of a 70% barley-ryegrass silage finishing diet at 3.5 L t−1 DM increased (P 0.1) by enzyme supplementation. In this study, treating the total mixed ration improved feedlot cattle performance more than treating the silage component alone. Key words: Enzymes, beef cattle, growth, barley silage

Because of an increasing demand for animal-source foods, an increasing desire to reduce poverty and an increasing need to reduce the environmental impact of livestock production, tropical farming systems with livestock must increase their productivity. An important share of the global human and livestock populations are found within smallholder mixed-crop-livestock systems, which should, therefore, contribute significantly towards this increase in livestock production. The present paper argues that increased livestock production in smallholder mixed-crop-livestock systems faces many constraints at the level of the farm and the value chain. The present paper aims to describe and explain the impact of increased production from the farm and farmers' perspective, in order to understand the constraints for increased livestock production. A framework is presented that links farming systems to livestock value chains. It is concluded that farming systems that pass from subsistence to commercial livestock production will: (1) shift from rural to urban markets; (2) become part of a different value chain (with lower prices, higher demands for product quality and increased competition from peri-urban producers and imports); and (3) have to face changes in within-farm mechanisms and crop-livestock relationships. A model study showed that feed limitation, which is common in tropical farming systems with livestock, implies that maximum herd output is achieved with small herd sizes, leaving low-quality feeds unutilised. Maximal herd output is not achieved at maximal individual animal output. Having more animals than required for optimal production - which is often the case as a larger herd size supports non-production functions of livestock, such as manure production, draught, traction and capital storage - goes at the expense of animal-source food output. Improving low-quality feeds by treatment allows keeping more animals while maintaining the same level of production. Ruminant methane emission per kg of milk produced is mainly determined by the level of milk production per cow. Part of the methane emissions, however, should be attributed to the non-production functions of ruminants. It was concluded that understanding the farm and farmers' perceptions of increased production helps with the understanding of productivity increase constraints and adds information to that reported in the literature at the level of technology, markets and institutions.

Several studies support the general conclusion that plant-based diets have a lower environmental impact than animal-based diets. These studies, however, do not account for the nutritional quality of diets. The main objective of our study, therefore, was to explore if accounting for nutritional quality affects the comparison of the environmental impacts of human diets varying in their percentage of animal-source food products (ASFP). We also explored whether meals or daily diets are equally suitable to compare environmental impacts of diets. Fifty peer-reviewed studies were found that examined the environmental impact of diets, generally using life cycle assessment (LCA). Only 12 of these studies were reviewed, based on five criteria: study contains more than one scenario; diet scenarios vary in their percentage of ASFP; the weight of each food product was provided; the study assessed global warming potential and/or land use; diet scenarios are not designed for specific (health) groups. For each diet described in the reviewed studies, we quantified the daily intake of nine qualifying and three disqualifying nutrients. Global warming potential and land use, as provided by the reviewed studies, were expressed in four ways: per day, per daily protein intake capped to the recommended intake level of 57 g; per daily protein intake uncapped; and per NRD9.3 (i.e. a composite nutrient score of a diet). We concluded that the nutrient intake resulting from a meal cannot be used to assess the nutritional quality of a daily diet and, hence, the environmental impact of meals cannot be compared to that of daily diets. Studies on meals were therefore excluded from further analysis. Our results further show that daily diets that had higher percentages of ASFP were associated with higher (excess) intakes of total protein and lower values of NRD9.3. Diets that had higher percentages of ASFP were associated with higher GWPs and LU's per gram protein capped and per unit NRD9.3. Without capping protein to the recommended intake level, GWP and LU per gram of protein were generally lower for diets that had higher percentages of ASFP. Without capping, diets with higher percentages of ASFP are credited for overconsumption of protein. Since overconsumption of protein does not benefit health, we recommend capping to the recommended intake level. The effect of using NRD9.3 rather than day as functional unit was small for GWP. For LU we found no effect. When using NRD9.3 as functional unit, it must be considered that this functional unit requires more data than day or protein. Our analysis is based on a limited number of studies. Although initially a substantial number of studies were found, many of these were excluded because insufficient data were provided about diet composition, only one diet scenario was assessed, or because the studies assessed the environmental impact of meals rather than of diets. We found mainly Western-oriented diets, often designed by the researchers and not representative for actual consumption. For further research on the environmental impact of diets, we therefore recommend analysis on representative daily diets.

Although livestock production accounts for a sizeable share of global greenhouse gas emissions, numerous technical options have been identified to mitigate these emissions. In this review, a subset of these options, which have proven to be effective, are discussed. These include measures to reduce CH4 emissions from enteric fermentation by ruminants, the largest single emission source from the global livestock sector, and for reducing CH4 and N2O emissions from manure. A unique feature of this review is the high level of attention given to interactions between mitigation options and productivity. Among the feed supplement options for lowering enteric emissions, dietary lipids, nitrates and ionophores are identified as the most effective. Forage quality, feed processing and precision feeding have the best prospects among the various available feed and feed management measures. With regard to manure, dietary measures that reduce the amount of N excreted (e.g. better matching of dietary protein to animal needs), shift N excretion from urine to faeces (e.g. tannin inclusion at low levels) and reduce the amount of fermentable organic matter excreted are recommended. Among the many 'end-of-pipe' measures available for manure management, approaches that capture and/or process CH4 emissions during storage (e.g. anaerobic digestion, biofiltration, composting), as well as subsurface injection of manure, are among the most encouraging options flagged in this section of the review. The importance of a multiple gas perspective is critical when assessing mitigation potentials, because most of the options reviewed show strong interactions among sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The paper reviews current knowledge on potential pollution swapping, whereby the reduction of one GHG or emission source leads to unintended increases in another.

The effect of ensiling barley treated with two bacterial inoculants containing mixtures of Lactobacillus plantarum and Enterococcus faecium (1.0 × 105 cfu g−1 as fed silage) on the nutritional value and aerobic stability of barley silage was examined. Inoculants differed in the strains they contained and were originally selected by Pioneer Hi-Bred International for use with corn or alfalfa silage, SILA-BAC® (1174), or with grass silage (X2637). Concentrations of water-soluble carbohydrates were higher (P −1) of yeasts and molds were lower (P 0.05) DM intake, feed efficiency or the digestion of DM, organic matter, acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). Nitrogen intake and retention were greater (P

Untreated wheat straw (UWS) or ammoniated wheat straw without (AWS) or with (AWSP) a supplement of potato protein of a low rumen degradability was fed to three steers according to a 3 × 3 Latin square design. All rations were supplemented with sugar-beet pulp and minerals. Voluntary organic matter intake (OMI, g/kg0.75 per d) was 67.8, 76.0 and 80.1 for whole rations (51.1, 59.7 and 59.2 for straw) for UWS, AWS and AWSP respectively, which was significantly higher for AWS and AWSP than for UWS. Organic matter digestibility (OMD, g/kg) was 561, 596 and 625 for the respective rations UWS, AWS and AWSP, also significantly higher for AWS and AWSP than for UWS. The increased voluntary intake and digestion of ammoniated wheat-straw-based rations were associated with a significantly higher potentially degradable fraction (D) of neutral detergent fibre (NDF) in offered straw (556 and 661 g/kg for untreated and ammoniated wheat straw respectively) and in the rumen pool (469, 555 and 554 g/kg for UWS, AWS and AWSP respectively). Isolated small rumen particles (retained on sieves with a pore size < 1.25 and > 0.041 mm) had a significantly lower D of NDF (average 588 g/kg) than isolated large rumen particles (average 663 g/kg). Fractional rates of degradation of NDF did not differ significantly either between untreated and ammonia-treated wheat straw offered (2.9 and 2.6%/h respectively) or between rumen pools (1.8, 1.7 and 2.1 %/h for UWS, AWS and AWSP respectively). Rations based on ammoniated wheat straw had a significantly higher rumen NH3-N concentration than UWS. Although the rumen pool size of total contents differed significantly between treatments, those of dry and organic matter and of cell wall constituents were not significantly different. The proportion of rumen dry matter passing through a sieve with a pore size of 1.25 mm averaged 0.684 over rations (not significantly different between rations). Daily rumination (96 min) and eating (52 min) times/kg NDF ingested did not differ between rations. The rate of comminution of large particles estimated from the disappearance of indigestible NDF in large rumen particles from the rumen of animals without access to feed was 4.1, 6.3 and 7.1 %/h for UWS, AWS and AWSP respectively. These values were not significantly different. The fractional rate of passage estimated from the faecal excretion of Cr-NDF was 5.4, 6.1 and 6.3%/h for UWS, AWS and AWSP respectively (significantly higher for AWS and AWSP than for UWS) but the turnover rate of indigestible NDF did not differ between treatments.

Many sustainability studies of animal production consider three pillars: the economic, environmental and socio-cultural. Farmers and animal scientists tend to put most emphasis on the economic and environmental pillar and largely ignore the socio-cultural pillar. Socio-cultural sustainability refers to social perceptions of animal farming, including social appreciations and concerns of animal production systems. Integration of social demands and values in the production sector is a prerequisite to justify animal production within a society. The objective of the present study was therefore to gain further insights into socio-cultural sustainability of pig production. Many citizens may not know what contemporary pig production actually entails. To give people a real life experience with pig production, we conducted farm visits with citizen panels with 18 respondents in the Netherlands and 8 respondents in Denmark. In both countries, respondents were divided over two panels and each panel visited a conventional and an organic pig farm. During the farm visits respondents noted their sensory experiences — what do you smell, hear, see and feel? In addition, each respondent made pictures of six positive and six negative aspects on the farms for which they had to write a motivation. The qualitative analysis resulted in seven socio-cultural themes (SCT) of pig production namely: 1) meat production, 2) farm activities, 3) farm income, 4) animals, 5) housing system, 6) environment and nature, and 7) culture and landscape. Each SCT included several socio-cultural aspects (appreciations, SCA) and socio-cultural issues (concerns, SCI). We identified 31 SCAs in the Netherlands and 33 SCAs in Denmark, of which 29 were SCIs in both countries. Although many issues were associated with animal welfare, the results also showed that social concerns of pig production extended beyond animal welfare. In general it can be stated that citizens are strongly concerned about overexploitation of animals in contemporary pig production systems, but at the same time they appreciate the dynamism in a pig farm including certain modern developments.

In a 4 × 4 Latin square design the ammonia nitrogen (N) concentration in the rumen of West African Dwarf goats was manipulated by infusion of urea at levels of 0, 1.68, 3.36 and 5.04 g N day−1. Sulphur (S) was included in the infusate at an N S ratio of 10:1. The resulting ammonia N concentrations in the rumen were 39.8 mg l−1, 96.5 mg l−1, 180.1 mg l−1 and 250.2 mg l−1 for the respective levels of N infusion. Intake increased significantly with infusion of N, but did not differ significantly between infusion levels of 1.68, 3.36 and 5.04 g day−1. N infusion did not affect digestion of any nutrient except N, the apparent digestion of which increased with increasing level of N infusion. The concentration of volatile fatty acids in the rumen increased with increasing level of digestible organic matter intake (r = 0.63), without a significant change in rumen pH. No effect of N infusion on molar composition of the rumen volatile fatty acid pool was observed. The osmolality of the rumen fluid was significantly correlated with rumen ammonia N concentration (r = 0.64). Rate of passage of the particulate phase increased significantly with increasing N infusion, whereas the rate of passage of the fluid phase and the rumen volume were not significantly affected by N infusion. The rate of degradation, the potential degradable fraction and the disappearance after 48 h of in sacco incubation of neutral detergent fiber were not significantly affected by treatment.

Ammonia-treated wheat straw (AWS) was compared with untreated wheat straw (UWS) and untreated wheat straw supplemented with urea (SWS) in an experiment with 6 wether sheep. Microbial protein synthesis increased after ammonia treatment due to the higher intake of rumen degradable organic matter (OM). The efficiency of microbial protein synthesis was low for all diets, averaging 22.1 g N/kg apparently rumen degradable OM and was not significantly affected by ammonia treatment. Estimates of microbial protein synthesis based on diaminopimelic acid or the amino acid profile methods did not differ significantly. The pool of microbial DM (average, 151 g) and N (12 g) in the rumen and the proportion of rumen microorganisms associated with the fluid phase (average, 36%) were not affected by diet, but the clearance rate (%/h) of microorganisms tended (P

Contains fulltext : 77158.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) In the Netherlands, an increasing number of green care farms are providing day care to community-dwelling elderly people with dementia. Currently, it is unknown whether activities, activity participation, and facility use of elderly people with dementia at green care farms differ from those at regular day care facilities. The authors performed group and individual observations at 11 green care farms and 12 regular day care facilities. Activities of elderly people at green care farms were more frequent, occurred outdoors more often, were of a higher physical intensity, and more often were aimed at individuals than activities at regular day care facilities. Therefore, the green care farms' environment may be more beneficial for elderly people with dementia than the regular day care facility environment.

Three quarters of Croatian pigs are produced in small production units (1-5 sows) and on family farms with mixed farming activities. Only few farms have specialized production units with up-to-date technologies and comply with EU standards. The future competitiveness of Croatian pig production is therefore questionable unless production systems are changing. Modernisation will most probably result in the expansion and intensification of larger farms and the termination of a great number of small farms. The aim of this study was to investigate how the welfare of pigs on Croatian farms would be affected by modernisation. Seventeen Croatian pig farmers were interviewed to describe the different pig production systems, while the welfare of pigs was assessed using resource-based and animal- based welfare indicators. Three production systems were distinguished: part-time family farms (PFF), full-time family farms (FFF) and farm enterprises (FE). Resources-based welfare indicators were investigated in 17 pens located on seven PFF, 25 pens distributed across six FFF and seven pens were visited at two FE. Animal-based welfare indicators were assessed on 21 pigs at PFF, 90 pigs at FFF and 18 pigs at FE. The study demonstrated that different production systems have different welfare problems. Based on resource- based indicators pig welfare was better ensured on FE, but based on animal-based indicators there was no clear difference in welfare between the three production systems. Based on these findings is it unlikely that the modernisation of current production systems in Croatia will significantly improve pig welfare. From a welfare point of view, neither the enlargement nor the termination of pig farms can be supported. However, the number of farms involved in this study was too small to allow for generalisation. The case-study does, however, point at the importance of further studies into the specific welfare problems of each of the production-systems and their different solutions. These studies should be of larger scale in order to get a representative picture of pig welfare in Croatia, and its assurance within the process of modernisation.

Many organizations in Ethiopia have for many years promoted exotic multipurpose fodder trees (EMPFT) for livestock feed and soil improvement. Despite the apparent benefits, the number of farmers planting these trees was low. The objectives were to elucidate farmers’ perceptions about their use value, management practices and constraints to adoption in three districts representing annual (one wheat-based and one teff-based) and perennial (coffee-based) crop-livestock systems in the Ethiopian highlands. Data were collected from 235 farm households. Most farmers (95.3%) had awareness of EMPFTs and the principal information sources were development agents (75.3%). Over half of the farmers were motivated to plant EMPFTs for feed value. Motivation for other purposes depended on cropping system, vegetation cover and availability of alternative local fodder trees in the area. Farmers had positive perceptions about EMPFTs for their feed value and contribution to soil conservation. Current adopters had a mean number of 587 (SE ± 84) EMPFTs per farm. Major constraints to adoption of EMPFTs were agronomic problems, low multipurpose value, and land shortage. Majority of farmers (89.8%) were interested to either continue or begin fodder tree development. Of the interested respondents, 44.5% preferred local fodder trees whereas 55.5% preferred EMPFTs. We conclude that farmers are aware of use values of EMPFTs while perceived constraints suggest that introduction of EMPFTs need consideration of farmers multiple criteria, but also awareness of feeding fodder trees and resource availability. Moreover, current development approaches have to recognize the importance of involving the end-users at all stages through participatory approaches to enhance adoption.

In the tropics, numerous organizations have promoted multipurpose fodder trees (MPFT) with an emphasis on exotic species. These species have generally been selected and recommended by the research system through the conventional nutritional and agronomic experimentation for use as animal feed and soil conservation. In Ethiopia, the introduction of exotic MPFT started in the 1970s. However, despite its apparent benefits, the adoption of exotic MPFT by smallholder farmers has been slow and in some cases farmers ceased using exotic MPFT in their farming systems. The objectives of the present study were to assess farmers’ preference criteria, compare their preference between exotic and local MPFT, and evaluate the relationship of farmers’ knowledge of feed value assessment with laboratory indicators. Focus group discussions and preference ranking and scoring by a total of 40 farmers were conducted in two districts representing two production systems (cereal and coffee-based livestock production systems) in the Ethiopian highlands. The comparison between exotic and local MPFT for their benefits and desired tree characteristics showed that farmers preferred local MPFT to exotics for biomass production, multi-functionality, life span, and compatibility to the cropping system. In terms of feed value, ease of propagation, and growth potential local MPFT were ranked lower than or comparable to exotics. There was also a strong correlation between farmers’ feed value score and laboratory results. Farmers were able to discriminate effectively MPFT species that had high and low protein and fibre content using their indigenous feed value indicator system for all pairwise comparisons. We concluded from this study that farmers’ preference criteria encompass multiple objectives beyond feed value and soil rehabilitation. The different merits that farmers associate with exotic and local MPFT could provide the opportunity to use both MPFT types and to improve farm bio-diversity. Hence, incorporating locally available MPFT, farmers’ indigenous knowledge and preference criteria at the research inception process is vital to maximize the likelihood of farmers’ adopting and maintaining these technologies.

To study societal perception of animal welfare in The Netherlands and to search for intervention possibilities to influence this perception, 1074 randomly selected Dutch respondents completed a questionnaire on animal welfare. We analysed 15 propositions (4-point Likert scale) and through factor analysis we defined four factors of societal perception of animal welfare: Human–Animal Hierarchy (HAH), Use of animals for Human Consumption (HC), Life Quality of farm animals (LQ), and Farmers' Image (FI). On average, Dutch society perceived farm animal welfare as slightly positive. We distinguished perception into the elements: Values, Convictions, Emotional Experiences (with animals and farms) and Factual Knowledge. Factors HAH and HC are considered as convictions in Dutch society. LQ is the only element significantly influenced by values. Pet owners and people without farm experiences perceived FI and LQ as being less positive than people without a pet or with farm experiences. These emotional experiences with farms, farm animals and/or pets are important elements of perception. FI is the only element influenced through factual knowledge. Hence, it is important that people experience and learn what farming entails and how farm animals live, e.g. through farm visits.

Intake and digestion and rate of passage kinetics were studied in 6 wether sheep fed on ammoniated wheat straw (AWS) plus pelleted sugarbeet pulp, untreated wheat straw plus sugarbeet pulp, and untreated wheat straw supplemented with urea. Ammonia treatment increased intake and whole tract digestion (rumen + small intestine + large intestine) without significantly affecting rumen pool size and rate of passage. 91% of the increased intake of cell wall material in ammonia-treated straw was due to a higher rate of degradation of cell walls in the rumen. No significant effects of ammonia treatment on concentration, molar composition or rate of absorption of volatile fatty acids were observed. The rate of passage in the large intestine and the contribution of this region to digestion were not significantly affected by ammonia treatment. Rumination and eating time and daily number of rumen contractions did not differ among diets, but AWS showed a lower rumination time/kg NDF ingested than the other 2 diets. After ammonia treatment, whole tract digestion and rumen degradation of hemicellulose increased more than those of cellulose. The effects of ammonia treatment could not be attributed to its nitrogen content since there was no effect on any parameter, except rumen ammonia-N concentration.

As a response to a high demand for milk and low national milk supply, the Indonesian government aims to increase national milk production by, among others, increasing the dairy cattle population. This will have consequences especially for manure production. Manure is an inevitable by-product of dairy production and has a number of benefits if it is appropriately managed, but can also cause environmental impacts when high manure production is followed by improper manure management. To avoid these adverse environmental impacts, manure needs to be managed appropriately. Smallholder dairy farms in Indonesia, however, are currently characterized by poor manure management, and with the expected increase in manure production, the importance of improving manure management is increasing. Improving manure management on smallholder farms involves many aspects, such as feed management, land for storing and applying manure, and costs associated with manure management. Knowledge about many of these aspects is lacking. The overall aim of the studies in this PhD thesis was to evaluate emissions to the environment associated with manure management and to identify improvement options on smallholder dairy farms in Indonesia. To this end, the studies in this PhD thesis analysed various aspect of manure management at different aggregation levels (i.e., the animal, farm, regional, and value chain level). At the animal level (Chapter 2), the models to accurately predict N-P excretion of dairy cows on smallholder farms in Indonesia based on readily available farm data were developed. The model predicted actual nutrient excretions with reasonable accuracy. The total N excretion of dairy cows in Indonesia was on average 197 g animal-1 d-1, whereas P excretion was on average 56 g animal-1 d-1. At the farm and regional level (Chapter 3), nutrient balances from dairy farming systems with different manure management systems (MMSs) were analyzed. Furthermore, nutrient balances from farm level were upscaled to regional level to determine the sector’s contribution to the pollution of the Citarum river and to identify potential options for improvement. Results showed that the N balances of all 30 dairy farms averaged 222 kg N farm-1 yr-1 and did not differ between MMSs. The P balances of the farms differed between MMSs; balances were highest for farms that discharge manure (83 kg P farm-1 yr-1) and lowest for farms that sell or export manure (-25 kg P farm-1 yr-1). Annually, all dairy farms in the Lembang region caused a loss of 1,061 tons of N and 290 tons of P into the environment and they extracted 8 tons of P from soils. At the farm and value chain level (Chapter 4 and 5), greenhouse gas emission (GHGE) at the value chain level by means of life cycle assessment (LCA) was estimated. Chapter 4 assessed seasonal differences in GHGE from Indonesian dairy farms by means of longitudinal observations and evaluated the implications of number of farm visits on the variance of the estimated GHGE per kg milk (GHGEI) for a single farm mean, and for the population mean. Results showed that GHGEI was higher in the rainy (1.32 kg CO2-eq kg-1 FPCM) than in the dry (0.91 kg CO2-eq kg-1 FPCM) season. The between farm variance was 0.025 kg CO2-eq kg-1 FPCM in both seasons. The within farm variance in the estimate for a single farm mean and the population mean decreased with an increase in number of farm visits. Variability in GHGEI can therefore be reduced by increasing the number of visits per farm. Forage cultivation was the main source of between farm variance, enteric fermentation the main source of within farm variance. Chapter 5 identified mitigation strategies of GHGE at smallholder dairy farms. The relationship between GHGEI and milk yield per cow for all farms was modelled and farms with an GHGEI below and above their predicted GHGEI were compared (‘low’ and ‘high’ GHGEI farms). Results showed that milk yield explained 57% of the variance in GHGEI among farms. Low GHGEI farms had fewer cows, and fed less rice straw, more cassava waste, and more compound concentrate feed (particularly the type of concentrates consisting largely of by-products from milling industries) than high GHGEI farms. In addition, low GHGEI farms discharged more manure, stored less solid manure, used less manure for anaerobic digestion followed by daily spreading, and applied less manure N on farmland than high GHGEI farms. At the farm and regional level (Chapter 6), the constraints on manure management on smallholder dairy farms and potential opportunities for improvement were identified. There are 20 constraints on manure management, of which availability of space to store manure on the farm, and costs of manure management are regarded most important. Stakeholders proposed strategies to improve manure management: communal manure storage (CMS), a structured manure market, and providing economic and institutional support such as access to credits and financial incentives for good manure management. The cost of manure management was high, and farms that sell or export manure, and farms that have a bio-digester had higher net total cost than farms that discharge manure. Total revenue (TR) differed between manure management systems and farms that apply manure had lower TR than farm that sell or export manure. All MMSs had negative net gross margins which could be explained by the high costs attributed to labour (i.e., family labour) and low revenue from manure. In Chapter 7, the methodological issues of the study, including the scope of the models and the method of data collection were discussed. Chapter 7 integrates the knowledge gained in the various studies and identifies a series of improvement options that connect the aggregation levels animal, farm, region, and value chain. It further suggests ways to create an enabling environment required to implement and effectuate the improvement options.

Land reform is important to correct historical injustices in all districts of South Africa, including the Waterberg District Municipality. There is consensus, globally, that there are trade-offs among diverse land reform objectives, namely: social, economic, political and environmental. The general aim of this thesis, therefore, was to understand land reform: the extent to which it meets objectives and the associated consequences for land use and livelihoods. Restitution- Rest, settlement/land acquisition grant- SLAG, land redistribution for agricultural development phase 1- LRAD1 and phase 2- LRAD2, and proactive land acquisition strategy- PLAS, were the five South Africa’s land reform farm types. The results show that the socio-economic classes of beneficiaries was determined by synergies between policies and their implementation outcomes. Land uses were diverse in Rest, and less diverse and like previous uses in LRAD1, LRAD2 and PLAS. On-farm livestock and overall on-farm livelihood contributions were high for capital-endowed households in LRAD1, LRAD2 and PLAS, and low for capital-poor households in Rest and SLAG. This suggest that land reform was unable to bridge the inequality gap between capital-poor and capital-endowed households, and livestock influenced on-farm contribution in semi-arid conditions. Crop plus ruminants- CR, horticulture- H, ruminants- R, ruminants plus horticulture- RH and monogastrics- M were the five farming systems in land reform farms. These farming systems developed from interactions among the biophysical conditions, land reform policies, socio-economic class of farmers, physical capital endowment of farms, and the type of produce market used. The results suggest that land reform policies could influence land use activities by transferring farms of a particular size, and availability of external physical and financial capital support could determine participation of the poor. Strengths and weaknesses of land reform farms were determined by socio-economic class of farmers and the characteristics of land use activities. Use of farms by the poor led to strengths of low opportunity costs for family labour and farms being prioritised by the state for support, and weakness of being dependent on external support as farmers and farms lacked physical and financial capital, compared to farms used by the better-off. Farms where capital-extensive activities were key had strengths of less capital investment requirements and moderate susceptibility to climate, and a weakness of low possibility for partnerships with large-scale commercial farmers, compared to farm where capital-intensive activities were key. Overall, our results suggest limited use and limited livelihood contributions of land reform farms. These results arise doubts about the relevancy of land reform, and its future depends on stakeholders advocating for it to ensuring that it is implemented through approaches which pays landowners fairly, that correct people benefit, and that appropriate land uses are adopted.

Agri-food value chains in developing countries are experiencing rapid transformations because of increased urbanization, incomes, and supermarket retail chains, which have led to tighter food safety requirements. These changes call for upgrading and coordination of activities and decisions by actors in the chain to ensure value chain efficiency and to meet customer’s demands. Although wide literature is available on value chain upgrading and coordination, most research adopts a chain-wide perspective. Little has been done to understand the role of specific actors like POs. Yet, POs form the main channel through which smallholders are included in agri-food value chains in developing countries. More so, previous studies focus on economic upgrading while little attention has been given to social upgrading. Scholars are beginning to question whether economic upgrading leads to social upgrading.The present thesis aims to gain insights into the role of POs in value chain coordination and upgrading in agri-food value chains, and assess the relationship between economic upgrading and social upgrading.The thesis addresses this general aim using four research questions and by using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Chapter 2 takes a first step in answering the general aim by focusing on the business models of POs. With the changing coordination and upgrading strategies of value chains, POs are expected to change their business models as they adopt coping strategies. However, not much is known about the business models of POs. Thus, Chapter 2 fill this gap by answering the following question:RQ1: What are the business model components of POs and what typology of PO business models can be derived?Based on key informant interviews with managers and members of the board of 22 POs, experts from the government, and NGOs together with observations of PO activities and meetings, qualitative data was obtained to explore business models of POs. The study finds that key activities, key resources, members, governance structure, cost structure, and revenue streams, customer segments, legal form, and member and customer value propositions are important business model components of POs. Four types of business models of POs were derived including bargaining, cooling, hub, and processing. A processing PO is associated with the highest level of vertical integration and economic upgrading, while a bargaining PO is associated with low economic upgrading and vertical coordination in value chains. Cooling and hub POs facilitate intermediate levels. Because of its focus on improving competitiveness in value chains, we consider a processing PO as more business-oriented than bargaining, cooling, and hub POs. A bargaining PO is a typical example of a traditional organization or in other words, a less business-oriented organization.Chapter 3 extends the scope of the initial study by including a survey of smallholders in bargaining and processing POs to examine social inclusion. The purpose of this study is to assess the determinants of smallholders’ membership and participation in decision-making processes in POs. This will help in explaining social inclusion in POs, thus contributing to understanding social upgradining in value chains. The following research question was addressed:RQ2: What factors determine farmers’ membership and their participation in decision-making in POs?Using the economic utility theory and multinomial logit analysis of quantitative data from the 595 smallholder dairy farmers, results show that membership in bargaining POs favors farmers with hired labor and those in remote locations. Farmers who are more educated, own pure breeds, and have a large number of cows are likely to belong to processing POs compared to non-membership. Furthermore, farmers who are located in less remote areas are more likely to be members of processing POs versus non-membership. A sequential logit model was employed to analyze smallholder participation in three decision-making stages: attending the AGM, speaking up in the AGM, and serving on the board. The relationship between membership in processing POs and participation is negative. Membership in processing POs reduces the likelihood to speak up in the AGM and to serve on the board. We find that farm assets such as ownership of pure breed cows, number of cows, and farm size are positively associated with attending the AGM of bargaining POs while young farmers and women are excluded from the decision-making process in processing POs. Likewise, the probability of small farmers and those with low social capital to participate in the processing POs is low. The study provides insights into the role of POs in social upgrading in value chains.Chapter 4 offers further insights into the role of POs in social upgrading by examining who benefits from inclusion. It is argued that women control fewer resources, have less decision-making power over household income, and face time constraints because of their triple burden of productive, domestic, and community responsibilities (IFPRI, 2020). This creates barriers to women's participation in agri-food value chains. POs have been recognized as promising channels for women smallholders to overcome agricultural production and marketing challenges by facilitating access to markets, information, training, and inputs, and increasing women empowerment. Chapter 4 examines the effect of membership in POs on women empowerment by answering the following question:RQ3: What is the effect of household and woman membership in POs on women empowerment?The effect of PO membership is distinguished by the type of PO and the gender of a member. Quantitative data was used from 267 men and 207 women in member and non-membermarried households, and an entropy balancing technique and regression models were employed to assess the membership effect. Empowerment indicators are drawn from the Women Empowerment Livestock Index (WELI) tool and include(1) decisions about agricultural production; (2) decisions related to nutrition; (3) access to and control over resources; (4) control over and use of income; (5) access to and control over opportunities; and (6) workload. We find that household membership in a bargaining PO, that is, regardless of whether the man or the woman in the household is the member, increases women’s ownership of cows, their control over decisions on buying and selling of cows and dairy production while household membership in processing POs increases women’s control over dairy production decisions. Distinguishing the membership effect by the gender of the member, we find that woman membership in bargaining POs increases women’s ownership of cows but woman membership in processing POs has no significant effect on this outcome. The paper suggests that the type of PO has implications for women empowerment with bargaining POs appearing to be more empowering than processing POs.In Chapter 5, we gather empirical evidence from smallholders on economic upgrading through POs. The study focuses on process upgrading regarding improvement of food safety control measures. Food safety is the main determinant for coordination and upgrading in value chains and for inclusion of smallholders. The study examines the effect of membership in POs on the adoption of food safety measures. The research question asked is as follows:RQ4: What is the effect of household membership in POs on the adoption of food safety measures?We assess whether and to what extent membership in POs affects farmers’ adoption of food safety measures, and explore the differences in membership effects across POs. Using a literature review and 11 expert interviews, we identify four categories of food safety measures related to production: milking, milk storage, milking area, and animal health. The expert interviews aided in rating the importance of each category on milk safety and in generating the food safety indexes for the categories. We then used the food safety indexes to empirically evaluate the effect of membership on the adoption of the food safety measures across the four categories. For this empirical estimation, a quantitative survey with 595 smallholder dairy farmers in Kenya was employed. Using the propensity score matching technique to control for selection bias, our results show that membership positively and significantly improves smallholders’ adoption of food safety measures related to milk storage and the cleaning of the milking area. Notably, the estimation of the membership effects across POs reveals that members of processing POs achieve higher adoption levels of food safety measures than members of bargaining POs. The effect size of membership in processing POs is larger than that of membership in bargaining POs. We confirm that adopting vertical integration entails following strict food safety control measures.In sum, the four research questions have contributed to understanding value chain coordination and upgrading through POs. Regarding business models of POs, we show that where low coordination and economic upgrading exist in value chains, POs perform traditional functions of collection and bulking to improve economies of scale. However, as the need for coordination and economic upgrading increases, POs vertically integrate into processing, provide additional services such as inputs and technical training, hire professional managers, improve value proposition for members and customers and adopt strict food safety control measures. The typology is useful in formulating a business model design when establishing a new PO. For researchers, the typology is important for analyzing the impact of different POs on smallholder livelihoods and the performance of the organizations.In terms of the relationship between economic upgrading and social upgrading, bargaining POs are associated with low economic upgrading, but high social upgrading. Processing POs are associated with high economic upgrading, i.e., high food safety compliance, access to technical services, and vertical integration. However, this results in a trade-off where poor and women farmers are excluded from value chains. If development practitioners aim to promote inclusive growth, supporting bargaining POs is recommended. For processing POs, provision of additional services such as financial and technical training to the poorest farmers would be needed to improve inclusion in highly upgraded value chains.

Grain legumes are important crops in the mixed crop-livestock (MCL) systems in Africa because they provide food and cash for humans, fodder for animals and they improve soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation. The residues of grain legumes, also known as grain legume fodders (GLFs), have better nutritional quality than cereal residues, such as maize and rice straw. Besides their function as livestock feed, GLFs supply fuel, construction material and mulch for soil improvement. However, knowledge about factors that drive the diversity of use of GLFs in different farming systems is limited. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to understand the roles of grain legume fodders in mixed crop-livestock systems and identify options to improve their quality and utilisation by smallholders in northern Ghana. To achieve this objective, we conducted four multi-disciplinary studies. First, we assessed and described the variation in the use of GLFs to understand their impacts on MCL systems. Second, we evaluated and compared the effects of rhizobium inoculation and phosphorus fertilization on grain and fodder yield and fodder quality of the major grain legumes in two agro-ecological zones. Third, we evaluated the effects of storage conditions and duration on dry matter loss and nutritional quality of GLFs and to risk of aflatoxin formation in stored fodder. Lastly, we assessed the nutritional quality of stored GLFs using different quality assessment methods. Results show there is variation in the use of GLFs in the study regions in northern Ghana. For example, in Upper East region, most of the GLFs (87%) was stall-fed, whereas in Upper West region GLFs were for a considerable extent (61%), left on the field and used for mulching. In Northern region, both stall-feeding and grazing of GLFs was important. In our agronomic studies we found that rhizobium inoculation of cowpea seed, for example, increased grain yield by 44%, P-fertilization increased grain yield by 102% while the combination of P and inoculation increased grain yield by 123% compared to the control treatment where no input was applied. In the storage experiment, we found that dry matter loss during storage for 120 days was on average 24% across all storage conditions, 35% for the worst condition (tied in bundles and stored on roofs or tree-forks) and 14% for the best condition (sacks and in rooms). During storage, the CP content and OMD decreased, and the content of cell wall components increased. Aflatoxins were not detected in stored GLFs. Finally, in fodder quality assessment studies, all the four methods used (farmers’ perception, sheep preference, leaf-to-stem ratio and laboratory analyses) successfully discriminated GLF quality between crops. Only farmers and sheep could distinguish quality differences among storage conditions, whereas laboratory assessment methods could not. In general we concluded that with increasing importance of livestock in intensified MCL systems, GLFs become more important and more valuable for feeding, especially in the dry season. For this reason smallholder farmers can increased both grain and fodder yield of grain legumes concurrently through the use of rhizobium inoculation and P-fertilization. They can also reduce GLF nutritional quality and dry matter quantity loss by adopting appropriate fodder storage methods. The absence of aflatoxin in the groundnut fodder samples indicated that there is minimal risk of aflatoxin development when stored under dry conditions as in our study. Finally, farmers’ experience and local knowledge in feeding GLFs to livestock is valuable in determining the quality of GLFs and preference of their animals.

Natural resources for food production, such as land, phosphate rock and fossil energy, are scarce. Despite their scarcity, these resources are currently inefficiently used in the food system. The objective of this thesis was to understand the combined effects of technical and consumption strategies, to reduce the use of natural resources in a food system. To this end, we first reviewed 12 life cycle assessments studies that explored various diets. We concluded that the ‘daily’ or ‘yearly’ diets instead of meals should be used to compare environmental impacts of diets. We also found that accounting for nutritional quality of the diets hardly affected our comparison of environmental impacts of diets varying in % of animal-source food. We then explored the minimum requirements of land, phosphorus (P) and energy independently to feed a human population with diets varying from 0% protein from animals (PA) (i.e. a vegan diet) to diets containing 80% PA, using an integrated food systems approach. Our material and nutrient flow model was a conceptual representation of a food system that was parameterised with crop and animal production data from the Netherlands. We assumed that there was no import and export of food and feed. While the Dutch food system is not representative of all food systems in the world, sensitivity analyses demonstrated that the principles deduced from our model results also hold for other food systems. Results indicated that land is used most efficiently if people consume ca. 12% of PA, especially from milk. The role of animals in such a land-based diet is to convert co-products from crop production and the human food industry, otherwise not used within the food system, into milk and meat. The optimal %PA in the human diet depends on population size and the relative share of land unsuitable for crop production. Recycling of human excreta showed most potential in reducing P waste, followed by prevention and finally recycling of agricultural waste. Fully recycling P reduces mineral P input by 90%. The optimal amount of animal protein in the diet depended on whether or not P waste from animal products was fully prevented or recycled: if it was fully prevented or recycled, then a small amount of animal protein in the human diet resulted in the most sustainable use of P, but if it was not fully prevented or recycled, then the most sustainable use of P results from a complete absence of animal protein in the human diet. In situations with anaerobic digestion and/or waste prevention, energy input continuously increased with increasing %PA, whereas if none of these strategies were applied, energy input was minimised at about 15% PA. Account must be taken of combined effects of technical and consumption strategies to reduce the use of natural resources in food systems. It requires efforts from all actors to develop a food system that is able to supply the global population with safe and healthy food within environmental limits.&nbsp

In 2010, the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy concluded that development cooperation lacks a development cooperation ethics. Ethical problems in development cooperation include the neglect of unintended and negative results of development programmes, the employment of methods that are disrespectful of human agency, motives that are publicly professed to be predominantly self-interested, and operative worldviews that are myopic in their focus on only specific development trajectories at the exclusion of others. This thesis responds to this challenge by offering a proposal for an ethical approach to development cooperation. Therefore, the main research question is: how should an encompassing development cooperation ethics look like?The question is answered by deploying the Normative Practice Approach (NPA). The NPA is a conceptual and normative framework that enables professionals to deal with tensions within their practices. The NPA is normative in the sense that it articulates both the normative principles that hold for professional practices, and the way they cohere and interact.It is argued in this thesis that development cooperation can be understood as a domain-relative normative practice. Professional development cooperation has its own normative structure; yet, development cooperation is simultaneously geared towards some domain, such as basic education, health care, or agriculture. This thesis focuses on development cooperation in the agro-food domain.Development cooperation as practice has a structural, regulative, and contextual side. The structural side of development cooperation refers to the kind of practice it is. The structural side can be further differentiated into foundational, qualifying, and conditioning modal aspects. Modal aspects refer to ways of being of all entities, including practices. Some fifteen aspects can be distinguished. The formative aspect is foundational for development cooperation in the sense that technical knowledge first makes possible the performance of the practice. At the same time, development cooperation is characterized by facilitation and is therefore seen as qualified by the formative aspect as well, with its normative principle of meaning- oriented design. Facilitating the agency of farmers and other people involved with food production is constitutive for agricultural development cooperation as a practice. Practicing agricultural development cooperation means to build the capability of these actors to produce and trade on fair terms.Conditioning modal aspects with their respective normative principles imply efficient and cost- effective programme planning (economic aspect), playful imagining of different agricultural development scenario’s (aesthetic aspect), and the inclusion of justified interests and the equal consideration of those interests in a development programme (jural aspect). For a meaningful performance of development cooperation, development professionals should simultaneously realize all those normative principles, under the lead of the qualifying normative principle of meaning-oriented shaping. For this, virtuous, development professionals and organizations are needed who give shape to those normative principles in their acting.Because development cooperation is a domain-relative practice, its fruitful and meaningful performance requires that the respective normativity of the various practices in the facilitated agro-food domain will be respected. This thesis provides a detailed normative analysis of livestock development as one sub-cluster in the agro-food domain. Employing the NPA, again qualifying, foundational, and conditioning modal aspects are distinguished. The economic aspect is seen to qualify and the formative aspect to found the livestock farming practice. What this means is that livestock farming realizes its destination by particularly observing economic normativity. Examples of conditioning normativity include social normativity (reducing odour emissions) and jural normativity (fair trade with suppliers and buyers). It is argued that sustainable livestock farming – understood as livestock farming that can be maintained over time – is farming that takes into account this normativity that holds for the livestock farming practice.Faith and religion are important within development cooperation. Religion and religious practices are omnipresent within development contexts, and faith-based organizations play a significant role within development cooperation. Within the NPA, the influence of faith convictions and religious ideas is conceptualized by distinguishing a regulative side next to the structural side of practices. Within agricultural development cooperation, it is helpful to distinguish between different kinds of practices involved, namely farming practice, scientific practice, and faith practice. Within each of these practices faith functions as a worldview. In the farming and scientific practices, however, faith is not qualifying for the practices. There, justice should primarily be done to, respectively, the economic and analytical aspects and their respective normativity. This conceptualization prevents dichotomous models of science-based versus faith-based approaches within agricultural research and development.It is shown in this thesis that in evaluations of dairy development programmes in Kenya, a Cartesian worldview is operative. This appears from a strong emphasis on technology transfer and adoption (especially in bilateral and multilateral programmes), on individual women’s control of household resources, and on the neglect of religious understandings in relation to livestock. This Cartesian orientation puts development professionals and organizations for the dilemma of planned development. The problem is that the autonomy of intended beneficiaries and their organizations is implicitly thought to be opposed to that of development professionals and their organizations. It is argued that the dilemma of planned development can be dealt with by doing justice to the normative structure of the development cooperation practice, and conceiving of agency in a broader way than usual in development cooperation ethics.The organizational embedding of professional development practitioners refers to the contextual side of the development cooperation practice. Organizations professionally involved with development cooperation include business, non-governmental, and governmental organizations. Each of these organizational contexts make different legitimate claims on the embedded development cooperation practitioners. On this organizational level, the respective qualifying aspects associated with the different types of organizations should be kept in sight for a meaningful and complementary collaboration among stakeholders in development cooperation.To conclude, it is suggested that the NPA can address the problems in development cooperation through explicitly conceptualizing effectiveness as an appropriate normative principle (results), conceiving of development cooperation as facilitation (methods), recognizing the importance of an attitude of love (motives), and both acknowledging that worldviews play a role in development professionals’ everyday acting and being responsive to a given normativity as articulated in various worldviews (worldviews).

How can dairy farmers in the land-scarce East African highlands increase their market participation in a sustainable way? Answering this question is important to ensure sufficient supply of safe milk and dairy products to rural and urban consumers. The question implies that farmers can make a decent livelihood, achieve investments and changes in their practices, and are not exposed to insurmountable risks. It also implies that other actors in the market chain do the same, and that a conducive enabling environment is present. The question further touches on societal expectations regarding what is being produced and how, with profound concerns about social inclusivity and the impact of market dynamics and climate change.Chapter 1 lays out the objective of this thesis to gain insights into factors affecting commercialization of dairy farming under land scarcity, through assessment of the dynamics of market participation, land use intensification, and resilience of dairy farming systems in relation to the markets for inputs, services, and outputs. The main research question is: in what ways do market quality and spatial factors affect commercialization of dairy farming systems under land scarcity in two countries in the East African highlands? It considers the research question from different angles: the role of spatial factors in driving or hindering upgrading of dairy farming systems; the effects of input and service arrangements on the market quality and market participation of dairy farmers; and lastly, transition and resilience of farming systems Chapter 2 looks at the effect of being located in a dairy cluster on dairy farm commercialization. This comparative study of five emerging dairy clusters elaborates how the upgrading of farming systems, value chains, and context shapes transformations from semi-subsistent to market-oriented dairy farming. The main results show unequal cluster upgrading along two intensification dimensions: dairy feeding system and cash cropping. Intensive dairy competes with high-value cash crop options that resource-endowed farmers specialize in, given conducive support service arrangements and context conditions. A large number of drivers and co-dependencies between technical, value chain, and institutional upgrading build up to system jumps. The main theoretical implications are (1) for the debate about cluster upgrading, that co-dependencies between farming system, market, and context factors determine upgrading outcomes; and (2) for the debate about intensification pathways, that service providers need to consider differences in farmer resource endowments, path dependency, concurrency, and upgrading investments.Chapter 3 explores the effects of proximity to input and output markets on commercialization. Dairy farms in nine villages each in Ethiopia and Kenya were sampled and interviewed along a double proximity gradient, to local and end-markets. Effects on many production and marketing parameters were measured and compared, to test the hypotheses that intensity of dairy farming and degree of market participation increase (1) with proximity to end-markets and (2) with proximity to local service centres. Findings prove the second, but only partly the first one. An implication of this study is that the common typology of dairy farms as ‘(peri-)urban’ and ‘rural’ needs adjustment by outlining local market access and connectivity. ‘Remote’ rural farms need to be connected to milk collection infrastructure, input shops and services to even have the choice to increase market participation.Chapter 4 presents a case study from Kenya on one particular model of service agri-enterprises, evaluating both technical and business performance. It addresses the gap in understanding performance of emerging private agricultural extension and advisory service (AEAS) models in developing country contexts, in relation to their dual objectives of supporting farmer-clients and becoming profitable agribusinesses themselves. A multiple case study is presented of an emerging youth-led agribusiness model offering silage-making and other services in the Kenyan dairy sector. The results show its contribution to some changes in farmers’ practices, but with limitations to optimal technical performance. Evidence implies that enhancing the contribution of such agri-enterprises to transforming agrifood systems requires sustained support in business incubation, market development, and strengthening of the value proposition to farmer-clients. The dual perspective on performance expands theoretical perspectives for assessing AEAS, especially in relation to commercialization.Chapter 5 contains a review of how resilience is being assessed in recent literature. It aims to identify the commonalities, differences, and gaps, as well as their implications, in resilience conceptualization and in assessment approaches for farming systems. The lack of agreement on resilience, links to other key concepts, and degree of specification lead to different choices in assessment approaches. This chapter uses a series of characteristics to code and assess 123 papers relating to resilience and its assessment, in order to clarify the apparent ambiguity in theoretical underpinning of resilience assessment approaches. The study proposes to further develop resilience assessment methodology by drawing from the different perspectives, and it identifies five key elements that should be included in such methodology development.The discussion in Chapter 6 formulates conclusions and implications for theory, policy and practice. The main conclusions are:Spatial factors are critical drivers of commercialization of dairy farming, with proximity to local markets and being located in a dairy cluster enhancing commercialization.Concurrent and co-dependent upgrading in farming, market, and context domains enhances market quality for dairy and/or other farming activities.Farmers’ market quality and feasibility space are also enhanced by the plurality and performance of input and service provision.Risks and risk perceptions around market quality play important roles in decisions of upgrading; resilience assessment needs to move beyond specific and known risks to include multiple and unknown risks, in order for commercialization to be sustained.Connecting theory around system jumps of farming systems and around resilience determinants offers a way to explain farmer attitudes toward commercialization.Dairy commercialization will thus need to consider spatial effects; concurrent upgrading in farm, market, and contextual domains; plurality and performance of input and service providers; risks and risk perceptions; and resilience so that commercialization can be sustained over time.

Mixed crop-livestock (MCL) systems with small herds of improved dairy cattle breeds produce the bulk of Kenya’s milk. The adoption of interventions to achieve increased cow productivity and increased market orientation has been relatively low, which could be due to the fact that variation between MCL farming systems is not taken into account in development projects. Variation among farming systems is determined by their market quality for inputs and outputs, by their availability of production factors, and by their biophysical context. These aspects are associated with spatial variation, i.e. they differ among locations. Consequently, farming systems in different locations will be different, will have different constraints and different targeted interventions to overcome these constraints. Better understanding of the variation in these systems and the context they operate in can inform development interventions towards their market-orientation and productivity. The aim of this thesis was to understand the variation in farming system development, constraints for development and targeted interventions for development, in order to increase market-orientation and dairy cattle productivity of smallholder MCL system in Kenya. I concluded from my studies that in Urban Locations (UL), farm development was constrained by scarcity of fodder, replacement stock and hired labour, and the limited availability of production factors, while in Rural Locations (RL) farm development was constrained by low quality of concentrates and low prices of milk. In UL, most perceived positive deviant farmers (PDs), i.e. farmers that overcame constraints and/or were perceived successful for dairy production, were economic PDs. Results suggest that in UL, PDs overcame constraints by increasing herd size and intensity of production, whereas non-PDs lacked the skills and financial stability to increase herd size and milk production per cow. In RL, PDs overcame constraints by increasing herd size, whereas non-PDs lacked the skills and financial stability to increase herd size. A method was developed to estimate milk production per lactation (MPL) from recall data, which was used to assess the biophysical factors constraining milk production. Results suggest that the level of accuracy of estimating MPL based on recall data were acceptable. In all locations, feed was the most important biophysical constraint for increasing milk production and protein deficiency was a pervasive constraining factor during lactation. Therefore, supplementing lucerne, with or without concentrates, increased feedlimited milk production, suggesting that sourcing affordable protein supplements of good quality is a priority for increasing productivity. These results imply that development interventions should address the different constraints in the farming systems. UL farmers and PDs are following the stepping-up livelihood strategy and relevant interventions should be tailored for commercial production including to develop and/or strengthen market-oriented fodder production and value chains, infrastructure, and training and extension. RL non-PDs are hanging-in and interventions should address both production function and subsistence function of cattle and should include improving farmers’ financial stability, access to grazing areas, and skills as well as improving breeds. Future dairy development in Kenya will follow diverse pathways with mid-rural location (the location between UL and RL, about 15 to 50 km from the centre of UL) as the most promising optimal location for dairy development because of land availability and potential to develop formal dairy value chains and infrastructure and recycle nutrients.