Sustainability of integrated oil palm smallholders with cattle in Riau Province.

Crop-livestock integration is being presented as a feasible choice to develop sustainable agriculture. Farmers that use integrated agricultural techniques can significantly improve economic, social, and environmental conditions. It is essential to examine the performance of integrated oil palm cattle. Data was collected from purposively selected 165 integrated farmers and 135 non-integrated farmers in February to June 2021 at five regencies in Riau Province. The information collected refers to 2020. The Sustainable Value Added approach was used to evaluate the condition of oil palm-cattle integration, with the average value of non-integrated that had reached efficiency as a benchmark. The results suggest that integrated oil palm-cattle farming in Riau Province has an average negative sustainability value, indicating that the value of benefits generated has not been able to cover the opportunity cost of the resources used (management of family labor and provision of fertilizer). Resources will be more productive if managed by benchmark farming. The number of workers in the household has a negative influence on farming sustainability, whereas technical efficiency, oil palm plantation area, nitrogen residue, cattle production, and the price of fresh fruit bunches have a positive and significant impact. The number of farm household workers should be considered when oil palm and cattle integration is applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]