APSRU PROJECT SUMMARY

PROJECT NO.  170

Project Title

Optimising crop-livestock systems in West Nusa Tenggara Province

Project Leader

Andrew Ash

Organisation

CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems

APSRU Representative

Peter Carberry

Funding Body

ACIAR

Administration Contact

Allan Kearns

CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems

GPO Box 284

Canberra ACT 2601

Ph:  02 6242 1783  Fax:  02 6242 1742

Email: allen.kearns@csiro.au

Commencement Date

1 April 2001

Completion Date

31 December 2003

Research Proposal Summary

Integration of profitable livestock enterprises within smallholder farming systems in the eastern islands of Indonesia is particularly challenging because of the long, dry season and large inter-annual rainfall variability. Traditionally, the priority farming activity in these environments has been food crop production and livestock have largely been kept as a form of accumulated wealth with little emphasis placed on their productivity. The nutrition of these livestock is usually poor during the long dry season as forages are often in short supply, particularly where there are no local grazing lands, and the available feed quality is generally low.

 

Efforts to intensifying livestock enterprises should not be addressed in a component way in isolation from the overall farming system operating in these villages. This is because efforts to increase forage resources in association with cropping lands will undoubtedly have impacts on the cropping component of the system, particularly in semi-arid environments. Such trade-offs between the cropping and livestock components of the system can most effectively be explored by adopting an integrated systems approach. Simulation modelling, based on good and specifically targeted component research, has been shown to provide a more comprehensive analysis of options that takes better account of climatic constraints.

Aims

This project aims to develop a systems analysis approach to smallholder cropping-livestock systems. This approach is most effective when conducted in a participative way with farmers. The project will work with farmers in Sumbawa, which is typical of the more difficult semi-arid regions of eastern Indonesia. An important socio-economic feature of Sumbawa is that many of the farmers have only been living there for about a decade, having shifted as part of a government sponsored trans-migration program from the wetter and more reliable rainfall areas of Lombok and Bali. They have not yet built up a full understanding of the limitations and potential of their farming environment that is traditionally acquired through years of experience. The systems analysis approach proposed in this project will help overcome some of this inexperience by providing tools to explore a wider range of forage-crop options and trade-offs than have been tested by farmers or researchers.

Potential Outcomes

The project will produce information that can be immediately applied by smallholder farmers in the region in assisting them to achieve intensification of their livestock enterprise in a way which  integrates with their of cropping systems. The systems analysis framework that will be developed by the project will have much broader application than the immediate project, including smallholder farmers in other semi-arid regions and semi-arid farming-livestock systems in northern Australia. In addition, the systems models used in this project should also be useful for identifying gaps in knowledge that, in other areas, has led to new and more relevant field research programs. This project aims to develop feasible and sustainable forage resource options to improve livestock production in Sumbawa by exploring the whole crop-livestock production system. The project will produce information that can be immediately applied to smallholder farmers in the region to achieve this aim. The modelling framework that will be developed by the project will have much broader application than the immediate project, including smallholder farmers in other semi-arid regions and semi-arid farming-livestock systems in northern Australia. In addition, the modelling approach used in this project should also be useful for identifying gaps in knowledge that, in other areas, has led to new and more relevant field research programs.

Milestones

Report on all inputs for use in estimating model parameters Yr 3 m 1

Detailed socio-economic description of households Yr 2 m 6

Annual report on farm inputs, state, and outputs.  Yr 3, m 1; Yr 4, m 1

Functioning livestock model.  Yr 2, m 12.

Preliminary, functioning models for principal crops and forages.  Yr 3, m

Models validated to extent data allows.  Yr 4, m 2.

Set of scenarios to be simulated and evaluated.  Yr 3, m 12

Report on simulation results Yr 4, m 6

Report on economic returns and risks of farming scenarios Yr 4, m 6

Detailed study plan and schedule agreed to by all collaborators. Yr 1, m 1.

Workshops completed. Yr 2, m4; Yr 2, m 9; Yr 3, m 9; Yr 4, m 5

Implementation of data collection in systematic fashion, in accordance with study plan.  Yr 1 m 2.

Report on attitudes and perceptions and changes of life of project Yr 4, m 6.

Budget

 

(a) Estimated Expenditure

 

 

 

 

 

 

YEAR 1

YEAR 2

YEAR 3

YEAR 4

TOTAL

 

(01/04/01-

30/06/01)

(01/07/01-30/06/02)

(01/07/02-30/06/03)

(01/07/03-31/12/03)

 

Personnel

 

92,433

95,633

39,229

227,295

Supplies and Services

17,120

8,980

6,980

3,240

36,320

Travel

13,795

45,650

37,935

13,470

110,850

Infrastructure Costs

767

1,581

1,574

 

3,921

Capital Items

14,000

8,000

 

 

22,000

Total

45,682

156,644

142,121

55,939

400,386

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of which development expenditure

(This is part of,  not additional, to the above figures)

(b) Other Support directly

 

 

 

 

 

related with this project

 

 

 

 

 

(i) From Commissioned

22,933

120,802

126,616

62,662

333,013

Organisation

 

 

 

 

 

(ii) From Australian

 

 

 

 

 

Collaborators

 

 

 

 

 

(iii) From Developing Country

 

 

 

 

 

Partner

 

 

 

 

 

(iv) From Others

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Resource Requirements

& Contributions

Institution

Person/gender

Position/location

% time in project

Source of funding

CSIRO

APSIM Help Desk staff

Simulation model support

Toowoomba

10

100% CSIRO

CSIRO

Dr. M. Robertson (M)

Crop Modeller

Brisbane

5

100% ACIAR

CSIRO

Mr. N. Dalgleish (M)

Field support

(Crops)

Toowoomba

5

100% ACIAR

CSIRO

Mr. N. MacLeod (M)

Socio-economic analyst

Brisbane

10

100% ACIAR

IPPTP

Mataram

Dr. Ir. H. Sembiring (M)

Project Leader

IPPTP Director

10

100% IPPTP

IPPTP

Mataram

Mr. Ir. A. Muzani (M)

Project Coordinator

Animal production scientist

20

100% IPPTP

IPPTP

Mataram

Mr. L. Wirajaswadi (M)

Crop extension officer

20

100% IPPTP

IPPTP

TBA

Socio-economist

20

100% IPPTP

IPPTP

Sumbawa

New appointee

Field technician

Sumbawa

100

100% ACIAR

University of Mataram

Dr. Ir. Y. Sutaryono

Forages scientist

10

100% University of Mataram

 

 

 

Institution

Person/gender

Position/location

% time in project

Source of funding

CSIRO

Dr. A. Ash (M)

Project Leader

Townsville

15

100% CSIRO

CSIRO

Dr. J. Gross (M)

Livestock modeller

Townsville

15

100% CSIRO

CSIRO

New Appointee

Systems analyst/Programmer

Townsville