Constraints
• Nutritional values of crop residues are
generally low in digestibility and protein
content. Improving intake and
digestibility of crop residues by physical
and chemical treatments is technically
possible but not feasible for poor small
farmers because they require machinery
Box 1:
Diversified versus integrated systems
Diversified systems consist of components such as crops and livestock that coexist independently
from each other.
4 In this case, integrating crops and livestock serves primarily to minimize risk and not
to recycle resources. In an integrated system, crops and livestock interact to create a synergy, with
recycling allowing the maximum use of available resources.
Crop residues can be used for animal feed, while livestock and livestock by-product production and
processing can enhance agricultural productivity by intensifying nutrients that improve soil fertility,
reducing the use of chemical fertilizers.
A high integration of crops and livestock is often considered as a step forward, but small farmers need
to have sufficient access to knowledge, assets and inputs to manage this system in a way that is
economically and environmentally sustainable over the long term.
4 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2001.
4
and chemicals that are expensive or not
readily available.
5
• Crop residues are primarily soil
regenerators, but too often they are either
disregarded or misapplied.
• Intensive recycling can cause nutrient
losses.
• If manure nutrient use efficiencies are not
improved or properly applied, the import
of nutrients in feeds and fertilizers will
remain high, as will the costs and energy
needs for production and transportation,
and the surpluses lost in the environment.
• Farmers prefer to use chemical fertilizer
instead of manure because it acts faster
and is easier to use.
• Resource investments are required to
improve intake and digestibility of crop
residues