The trade-off that exists in the utilisation of dung/slurry as input for biogas is that farmers would no longer need to embark on annual migration with cattle – a practice that spirals beyond searching for feed and water but is deeply rooted in the cultural belief and attitude of smallholder pastoralists. Influencing pastoral cattle farmers to adopt the sedentary farming model requires tailored and extensive social and behavioural change.
Introduction
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Since independence, the Federal Government of Nigeria has allocated a significant amount of money to improve food security through several agricultural development initiatives. These include Operation Feed the Nation launched in 1976, the Green Revolution programme launched in the early 1980s, and agricultural development programmes that commenced in 1972. To complement the government’s efforts, international development agencies such as Gates Foundation, BMZ, European Union, USAID, UKAID etc. have invested in the implementation of strategic interventions aimed at enhancing Nigeria’s food security. Most of these initiatives were tailored to improve efficiency in the food value chain, train farmers in resource management, and capacity development on good production practices, post-harvest management, etc. These productivity improvement interventions were primarily aimed at meeting the local demand of staple food, with limited focus on mitigation and adaptation, until in the recent decade.
With the intensification of extreme climate events, which include inconsistency in rainfall patterns, food, and extreme heat, especially in the global South, worldwide advocacy has begun to integrate sustainable practices in food systems approaches, especially in the production, distribution and storage phases, to lessen the emission of greenhouse gases, cope with the effect of climate change, and sequester as much carbon as possible back into the earth and tree biomass. With 2024 being officially declared the warmest year in human history, it is imperative to explore the integration of sustainability in food production from the perspective of smallholder dairy farmers in Nigeria and the tradeoffs that exist.
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Sustainable practices in food production include all the endeavours that reduce greenhouse gas emission, increase carbon sequestration, retain and enhance the proliferation of flora and biodiversity, increase the profit of farmers and other value chain actors, and contribute to the quality of lives. In addition to incorporating sustainable practices in food production approaches and coping with the effects of climate change, it is imperative to understand and acknowledge the tradeoffs that exist when incorporating climate-smart practices in food production. Mitigating these tradeoffs will encourage the long term adoption of climate smart practices.
Incorporating the principles of sustainability viz-a-viz climate-smart practices into smallholder food production implies that farmers will adopt a well-defined and tailored production plan to reduce scope 1 emissions by adopting practices and tools that reduces carbon footprint, promote carbon sequestration, and limit the loss of stored carbon from the soil and other available biomass to the barest minimum (reversal). This will afford the farmer the opportunity to make up for the previous emissions and reduce subsequent emissions to the barest minimum to attain net-zero emissions.
However, there are some trade-offs that exist when incorporating climate-smart practices and technologies in dairy production, which could have a significant effect on the long term adoption of these practices and technologies. This article will explore some of these trade-offs and suggests possible mitigating measures to reduce them.
Trade-offs
Nigeria has the fourth largest cattle population in Africa and is one of the lowest milk producers, with an average of 650 litres per cow per annum. This is 70.5 per cent lower than the 2,200 litres/cow/year global average. Also, 81 per cent of the entire cattle population are domiciled with smallholder cattle farmers who are pastoralists. From the perspective of smallholder dairy farmers (pastoralists), increasing milk yield requires an increase in the herd size, but this does not often translate into increased herd yield. Increases in herd size only produces more greenhouse gases (i.e. methane emission from rumen activities and the anaerobic decomposition of dung, alongside the emission of nitrous oxide from the aerobic decomposition of dung).
In addition to its productivity improvement potential, the adoption of climate smart practices, such as the utilisation of cow dung as input for biogas and the leveraging of improved breeding techniques, such as artificial insemination and embryo transfer to reduce the carbon footprint from dairy farming, comes at a cost. The trade-off that exists in the utilisation of dung/slurry as input for biogas is that farmers would no longer need to embark on annual migration with cattle – a practice that spirals beyond searching for feed and water but is deeply rooted in the cultural belief and attitude of smallholder pastoralists. Influencing pastoral cattle farmers to adopt the sedentary farming model requires tailored and extensive social and behavioural change.
Encouraging the adoption of improved breeding practices (assuming all resources are readily available and affordable) would imply that pastoralists would reduce their herd size and embrace new breeds that produce more. However, large herd sizes reflects wealth from the perspective of pastoralists (i.e. the larger the herd, the wealthier the farmer). The act of herd multiplication has been a practice for generations and it is rooted in the culture of pastoralists .
Recommendation
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It is a sustainable business model with attractive incentives: Build a sustainable business model around biogas production using dung (the sales of gas and digestate – organic fertiliser). To enhance this business model, pastoralist’s access to quality fodder and water needs to be improved through targeted productivity improvement interventions leveraging the nation’s gazetted grazing reserves. This done, pastoralists would realise the economic benefits of sedentary farming beyond milk sales and adopt a model that guarantees additional revenue from cattle dung.
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Increased access to climate smart services: Increase the availability, accessibility and affordability of breeding services for smallholder pastoralists. Over time and with significant results, farmers would start making informed decisions about the herd size, relative to productivity improvement.
Adekunle Adeoye is a sustainable dairy value chain development professional.
