IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/ovdeia/295956.html

CROP—LIVESTOCK FARMING SYSTEMS IN THE SEMIARID ZONE OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Ordering diversity and understanding change

Author

Listed:
  • Mortimore, Michael
  • Turner, Beryl

Abstract

A typology of mixed fanning systems in the semi-arid zone of sub-Saharan Africa is needed to (1) order diversity, (2) assist development interventions and technical recommendations, and (3) provide a framework for monitoring change, both economic and environmental. A review of the available typological principles suggests that a scheme based on intensification and crop-livestock integration has both theoretical and practical value. The scheme is applied to a sample (43) of fanning systems, for which published characterizations are available. Measures of association between population densities, livestock densities, intensity ratings and crop-livestock integration ratings support the hypothesis that these variables are functionally and consistently related, though not all associations are statistically significant. The scheme proposed cannot be used to predict environmental degradation, which is determined in part by interactions with exogenous variables. But it does provide a robust framework for understanding the time-trajectories of farming systems along degradational or conservationary pathways.

Suggested Citation

  • Mortimore, Michael & Turner, Beryl, 1993. "CROP—LIVESTOCK FARMING SYSTEMS IN THE SEMIARID ZONE OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Ordering diversity and understanding change," Overseas Development Institute Archive 295956, Overseas Development Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ovdeia:295956
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.295956
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/295956/files/odi035.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.295956?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
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ovdeia:295956. 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: .

    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.