Optimizing resource use in integrated crop–livestock farming systems in Katsina State, Nigeria

The development of measures for improved crop–livestock integration requires an assessment of the present state of crop–livestock interaction and the potential for its improvement. This paper presents a mixed-integer programming model to determine the mix of crop and livestock activities that maximize gross return. The resource use efficiency and sensitivity of the optimal solutions to prescribed changes in some limited resources were also examined. Data were collected from 120 households in Katsina State of Nigeria during the 1998/99 cropping season. The model results demonstrate the rationality of the decision on the part of the households in allocating resources on their farms as the optimal plans did not deviate much from the dominant existing activities in the study area. The optimization through mixed integer programming resulted in an increase of about 65%, 30% and 134% in the gross margins as compared to that obtained in the existing farm organizations in zones I, II and III respectively. The relative contribution of livestock to gross return decreased as farm size was made to increase in the sensitivity analysis. The result also revealed that with large farm sizes, there are unused or inefficiently used livestock activities and resources. When labour and capital were further restricted, livestock activities were eliminated from the optimum plans in all the zones. It was therefore concluded that the potential for crop–livestock integration in the study area is limited and more applicable to the smallholder farming systems.