INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEM

Jeffrey Alahira

Introduction An integrated farming system is a relatively new term coined to represent a much older system of agriculture that has been around for a while and might be as old as agriculture itself. To a large extent, it satisfies the goals of many commercial farmers which is the minimization of cost and maximization of […]

Introduction

An integrated farming system is a relatively new term coined to represent a much older system of agriculture that has been around for a while and might be as old as agriculture itself. To a large extent, it satisfies the goals of many commercial farmers which is the minimization of cost and maximization of income more specifically profits of the farm. It involves a combination of elements of both crop production and animal production in such a way that these elements complement each other and the output from each element is reintegrated and used as parts of the input in another element.

Examples of integrated farming systems include the following:

  • A poultry farmer can make use of manure generated from his poultry farm to cultivate maize which is a major component of poultry feed. The poultry feed produced from the maize would thus reduce the cost of operations on the poultry farm excesses can also be sold and used to generate income for further expansion. The same poultry farmer can use the fodder expansion. The same farmer can use the fodder from the maize production to supplement the feeding of his goats. 
  • Another example of an integrated farming system is the use of cattle to plow fields to be used for crop production. The waste from the cattle can also be collected and used as manure for the crops. After harvesting, fodder from the crop can be reused as feed for cattle.
Integrated farming system
Fig 1:Integrated Fish-Rice Farming

In simple terms, integrated farming which is also known as backward integration and mixed farming can be referred to as a system of simultaneous farming activities involving crops and animals.

Advantages

  • Improved Productivity: a combination of various crop and animal production enterprises leads to a related increase in production on the farm as the yield per unit area, time, and labor increases.
  • Increased Profitability: due to an increase in productivity which is a result of the integrated farming system models employed, an increase in profit is achieved due to a reduction in costs.
  • Proper management of waste and increased environmental safety: a reintegration of waste products from one enterprise into another lead to a vast reduction of waste disposed of in the environment. The cost of waste disposal is also reduced
  • Diversification: integrated farming leads to a diversification of products and produce gotten from a farm. This ensures the farm is relatively safe in the event that one of the enterprises does not perform as expected. 
  • Increased farm efficiency as a result of recycling
  • Minimization of costs of running the farm

Disadvantages

The disadvantages of an integrated farming system include;

  • An increase in the number of enterprises leads to an increase in the labor and time requirements of the farm
  • Specialization on the farm also reduces due to the need to thoroughly understand the workings and processes of different enterprises.

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Written by Alahira Joseph

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Jeffrey Alahira