IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/iaae06/25697.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Evaluation of Resource Management Options for Smallholder Farms Using an Integrated Modelling Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Zingore, Shamie
  • Gonzalez-Estrada, E.
  • Delve, Robert J.
  • Dimes, J.P.
  • Herrero, Mario
  • Murwira, H.K.
  • Giller, Ken E.

Abstract

Farm-level analysis of trade-offs between soil fertility management alternatives is required to improve understanding of complex biophysical and socio-economic factors influencing decision making in smallholder farming systems and to identify opportunities for improving resource use efficiency. A farm characterization tool (IMPACT) linked to a generic optimization model (Household) was used to evaluate resource use on farms in contrasting wealth categories. The Household model optimized the net cash income for the farms (accounting for all on-farm and off-farm income, costs of production and expenditure for the households). Alternatives for management of nutrient resource were simulated using other models; APSIM for the crop production and RUMINANT for the livestock component. The output from the simulation models was fed into the Household model and evaluated within the biophysical and socioeconomic boundaries of the farms. Analysis of the performance of a poor farmer by IMPACT indicated a yearly net cash balance of US$ -7 per annum (after all needs had been taken care of), mainly due to negative returns from the cropping system. The farmer relied on donated food and fertilizers. The cash balance was negative, even though she also worked for other farmers (i.e. sold labour, about 10 days a month during six months of the crop growing season) to generate income. The net income of the poor farm would be increased to US$81 per annum and the N balance from 7 kg ha-1 yr-1 to 10 kg ha-1 yr-1 by expanding the area allocated to groundnut from the current 5% to 31%. This would, however, generate a huge demand in labour in the current year (extra 46-man days) and reduce the P balance from 0 to -1 kg ha-1 yr-1. Maize could be managed more efficiently on the poor farm by cultivating a smaller, well-managed area. A wealthy farm household with a maize dominated cropping system had a net cash balance of US$210 per annum, mainly from sale of crop products. Under current resource management, the net cash balance could be increased to US$290 per annum by optimization of household energy and protein consumption. The net cash balance for the wealthy farm would be further increased to US$448 per annum, and nutrient balances to 271 kg N ha-1 and 30 kg P ha-1 by expanding the management strategy where maize was grown with a combination of cattle manure and ammonium nitrate fertilizer. To do this, the farmer would need to source more manure (or improve capture and the efficiency with which nutrients are cycled through manure) and invest in 110 man-days extra labour. Expansion of the area grown to groundnut without fertilizer inputs to a third of the farm would reduce net cash balance by US$11 compared with the current crop allocation due to poor groundnut yield. This would also increase labour demand by 155 mandays. Groundnut intensification on the wealthy farm would be more economic and labour effective if a small area was grown with basal fertilizer (7%N, 6%P, 8%K). Despite reducing nutrient balances for the arable plots, feeding groundnut residues to lactating cows increased net cash balance by 12-18% for the current year through increased milk production. The integrated modelling approach was useful for linking biophysical and socio-economic factors influencing decision making on smallholder farms and evaluating trade-offs for resource use in terms of nutrient balances, labour use, food sufficiency and cash balance.

Suggested Citation

  • Zingore, Shamie & Gonzalez-Estrada, E. & Delve, Robert J. & Dimes, J.P. & Herrero, Mario & Murwira, H.K. & Giller, Ken E., 2006. "Evaluation of Resource Management Options for Smallholder Farms Using an Integrated Modelling Approach," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25697, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae06:25697
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.25697
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/25697/files/pp060658.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.25697?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marín-González, Omar & Parsons, David & Arnes-Prieto, Esperanza & Díaz-Ambrona, Carlos G.H., 2018. "Building and evaluation of a dynamic model for assessing impact of smallholder endowments on food security in agricultural systems in highland areas of central America (SASHACA)," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 152-164.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:iaae06:25697. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.