Integrated beef cattle farming in rubber and oil palm plantations

Introduction

The new millennium will witness the inevitable increased urbanization of Southeast Asia, a steady rise in standards of living as a consequence of economic development and a rapid increase in population. Despite the recent economic downturn of the Southeast Asia countries, the projected trends in the per capita consumption of livestock products will be significantly increased over the years. In the past, total meat consumption per capita increased from 9.4 in 1961 to 21.0 kg year^-1 in 1995 with pigs and poultry being the major meat sources (FAO 1999). This increase in demand for livestock products has exacerbated competition for agricultural land and labour between animal and crop production. As livestock density increases particularly in areas of intensive cropping systems, it is only a matter of time before the issues of land constraint for future livestock production and environmental sustainability will need to be addressed rationally.

Traditionally, cropping agriculture in Southeast Asia is already intensive. Plantation agriculture is the only sector that has the potential for maximization of land use and promotion of agricultural diversity and sustainability using environmentally friendly cultural practices. It is for these reasons that integration of livestock within the agriculture cropping industry in Southeast Asia has received renewed emphasis in the new millennium

Constraints in improvement and utilization of forage supply in the plantation environment

Environmental factors

The environmental factors affecting forage supply are fairly universal among the three plantation crops in Southeast Asia.

Generally, the light environment in tree crop plantations is highly variable and dynamic and is largely determined by the age of tree crops, planting density and pattern. The light environment can be almost as high as full daylight at planting and down to as low as less than 10% of full daylight when the tree crop canopy closes. The natural ground vegetation normally declines with decreasing light and increasing age of the main crops.

Natural forages

Luxuriant undergrowth or ground vegetation forms a free source of nutritious feed for ruminant production. The plantation ground vegetation was estimated to comprise 83% of the total forage resource available in Malaysia (Devendra 1981).  Survey and sampling on utilization of the ground vegetation in rubber and oil palm indicated that 60 -70% of the vegetation could be utilized for ruminant production.  The ground vegetation normally comprises grasses, broad-leaved weeds, ferns and others.  The most obvious species are Paspalum conjugatum, Axonopus compressus, Mikania cordata, Imperata cylindrica,Cyrtococcum oxyphyllum, Nephrolepis bisserata, Eupatorium odoratum, Gleihenia linearis and many others (Wan Mohamed 1977, Chen and Bong 1984, Chee et al. 1997).  Not all species are suitable for grazing and selective weeding of non-palatable ones may be necessary. Similar broadly adapted forage species are also found in other countries of Southeast Asia with the exception of a few site specific species.

Forage production from a number of existing species could amount to 2,000-3,000 kg DM/ha or higher during the first three years of tree crop planting (Chen et al. 1978, Chen and Shamsudin 1991, Pillai and Seeveneserajah 1988).  Soon after that it declines sharply when reaching the 6^th to 7^th year of planting and levels off at 400-800kg DM/ha until approximately the 20^th year.  A substantial percentage (7% to 28%) of the species present is not palatable to animals (Dahlan 1989).

Improvement of forage supply with shade tolerant species

The search for shade tolerant forages was then   undertaken   in   the   hope     of identification of shade tolerant species for an ecosystem that could prolong their dry matter production and utilization.  Results of pot trials and field studies using artificial screens and the natural canopy of plantation trees on both grasses and legumes indicated that the majority of the improved forage grasses behaved like sun plants with linear relationships to sunlight level in terms of dry matter production.

All these studies indicated that exotic species were not high yielders in shade.  The indigenous grasses like Axonopus compressus and Paspalum conjugatum performed well and were tolerant under reduced light while legumes such as Desmodium ovalifolium, Calopogonium ceruleum and Calopogonium mucunoides persisted well (Wong et al. 1985). Research findings also illustrated the importance of appropriate forage management to ensure good persistence and productivity of shade forages (Wong et al. 1985). The goal of achieving productive and shade tolerant forages remains as elusive as at the commencement of the R & D programs in the seventies. Thus, alternative tree crop planting for livestock production has been advocated (Abd. Samat and Shelton 1995, Chen and Dahlan 1995, Abdullah and Mohd. Sukri 1997).

While R & D supports the benefits of changing tree crop planting patterns and density, the adoption of such recommendations remains to be seen. Unless the commodity prices decline to a low level, the alternatives may not be well received. Recently, the crude palm oil price has declined considerably, but the uptake of the integration technology is yet to be determined. Nevertheless, some plantation owners are adopting the technology through various incentives provided by the Government.

Challenging issues

With the current low prices in copra and coconut oil, monocropping of plantation crops is regarded as being no longer an economic proposition. Similarly, world palm oil price has been declining recently. Unless return to farm labour from monocropping can be sustained or increased, the livestock and plantation crop integration as a commercial venture will remain a competitive strategy to be adopted for high productivity of crops and maximization of land use. It is hoped that both the crop and animal integration in plantations will in future become a common reality and widely practiced in Southeast Asia.  However, several major issues have to be resolved:

(a)  Crop damage

The perpetual concern of planters over soil compaction has been overrated.  Field data from continuous stocking rate trials and mob-grazing systems indicated the lack of significant differences between the grazed and ungrazed oil palm paddock on yield of rubber and oil palm. If soil compaction is a major factor, depression of crop yield should be evident.

Research carried out in a commercial project rearing cattle under oil palm indicated higher FFB in the grazed field than that of the ungrazed.  A depression of FFB production was evident in high stocking rate under continuous grazing.  This was due to inadequate forage supply and subsequent damage to young fronds.

Over the years, R & D has helped to dispel these negative notions of integration.  Many of the constraints posed by the planters are over-exaggerated and can be avoided through proper management of animals if the concept of environmentally sustainable agriculture for the new millennium is accepted. Where there is adequate forage in the field, animals do little damage to the tree crops.  It is under high stocking rates and insufficient forage that the damage to tree bark and fronds will result.

 (b)  Feed availability and quality

On the contrary, results indicate that grazing animals have greater access to a diversity of plant species under rubber and oil palm.  The grazing animal performed better with higher liveweight gains. The slightly lower temperature in plantations is a plus factor in the overall growth performance of ruminants especially for breeds with some exotic blood.  Changes in botanical composition can be drastic under declining light intensity, stocking rate, species adaptability, palatability and plantation management.

Many studies have been undertaken to demonstrate that improvement of natural pastures through introduction of improved forage species can significantly increase daily weight gain of animals. Leguminous cover crops usually planted in mixtures of Centrosema pubescens, Pueraria phaseoloides, Calopogonium mucunoides and Calopogonium caeruleum are promoted for integration (Moog et al. 1989). However, these species are generally non-sustainable and declined from 50% in total composition to zero in 20 months when grazed by sheep under  3-year old rubber (Chong et al. 1991). Only the less palatable species such as C. caeruleum increased from 42 to 100% within the same period. The dominance of C. caeruleum is a great asset to plantation management but the increasing density of non-palatable woody shrubs and obnoxious weeds in plantations posed more problems.  Thus, a special program of selective weeding once in two or three years, depending on the situation, is needed.  The combination of animal grazing with judicious use of herbicides in the management of forages is preferred (Rosli and Mohd Nasir 1997).

Nonetheless, the problems associated with limited feed availability in mature plantations pose other opportunities for research into various feed options for ruminants. Recognizing these constraints in plantations, alternatives must be sourced such as the use of agricultural by-products from the mature plantation as in the discarded oil palm fronds, thinning of the existing stands to allow more light penetration or adopt new planting patterns like the recommended double hedgerow avenues. Only time will determine which will be widely adopted.

(c)  Animal nutrition

Another issue is the nutritional aspect. Undeniably, some of the understorey forages are high in nutritive value. Selective grazing will often result in good growth performance. But to manage forages in plantations where excessive growth of the understorey is under control, hard grazing is often needed. This often leads to the overall lower nutritive quality of the species. Wong and Chin (1998) reported that the forage quality can only meet the nutrient requirement of beef cattle for a liveweight gain of about 250 g/head/day. The question of grazing using improved breeds remains questionable unless special provision is made in the feeding program.

Experience in Malaysia indicated the tendency of plantation managers to favour exotic breeds or crossbreeds for integration programs for reasons of bigger and heavier size of these animals as well as their higher prolificacy. Sourcing of feed supplements or concentrates can be another barrier to overcome in integration projects in terms of land, labour and cost (see FAO, 1999).

(d)  Availability of cheap animals

The low base ruminant population in these countries is yet another issue. Adequate livestock numbers are a vital prerequisite for the development of improved animal production systems. In the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, there is a serious constraint of inadequate animal numbers. Hence, large numbers have to be imported mainly from Australia for fattening, at the expense of foreign exchange reserves. In Thailand, there appears to be significant cattle importation from neighbouring countries while in the Philippines, the large ranches that formerly supplied smallholders with breeding and fattening stock have been broken up as a consequence of land reform programs.  It is not surprising that the implementation of some integrated tree crop-livestock projects was affected by the availability of feeder cattle in Malaysia. This shortage can lead to higher costs for animals and these indirectly increased development costs of projects and can also affect the participation of small farmers.

(e)  Lack of capital

A lack of venture capital is a major constraint for ruminant production as such integration projects/operations have a long gestation period for income to be generated. This is more so for big plantations where the number of animals involved would be high.

(f)  Adapted animal breeds

Apart   from   the   low   population  base, animal production is also constrained by feed-related factors and diseases. There is the tendency of importing exotic breeds to replace if not complement the inadequate supply of feeder cattle. There is thus a conflict of utilizing the natural resources to meet the high nutrient demands of these exotic breeds. Hence, the importance of using adapted breeds in integration becomes strikingly important. It is suggested that the full genetic potential of the indigenous breeds, which are better adapted to the local environment and which have been limited in production potential by limited feed intake, be assessed realistically.  A good illustration is that of Malaysia trying to use exotic sheep for integration projects. The lack of adaptation and the high incidence of diseases in sheep can put a strain on the overall animal husbandry. Crucial is the need to match nutrient availability with the nutrient requirement of the animal species if the venture is successful.

 (g)  Economic aspects

Besides R & D being carried out on research stations, application of the integration technology in plantations has also been undertaken.  The economic projection for sheep integration in plantations was fairly pessimistic based on the existing databases in 1989 (Pillai and Seeveneserajah 1988, Eddie Chiew and Zainal Abidin 1989). However, a successfully implemented cattle-oil palm project in RISDA Espek at Terengganu Tengah proved that livestock could be used not only to control weeds and save 20 to 50% weeding costs, but could also be managed as an enterprise for revenue generation (Harun and Chen 1995). A return of 35% was recorded.

There was increased FFB yield of oil palm (20.99 t/ha/yr) as compared with that of non-grazing (17.98 tons/ha/yr).  The plantation management has strongly recommended Kedah-Kelantan integration with the plantation crop for extensive production systems. 

The ESPEK Plantation Management is now confident of the present package of technology in livestock-tree cropping systems.  The cattle component complements the oil palm production by controlling weeds and reducing weeding cost as well as generating extra income to the plantation.

(h) Extension constraints and technology adoption

The perceived detrimental effects of livestock on plantation crops have been over-exaggerated.  MARDI experience has shown that there are many benefits rather than the negative aspects of integration. The same can be said of the rubber and coconut plantations. Any organized and well managed plantations of any crops are always quite reluctant to accept this concept of integration.  About one third of all the estates in the country are involved in some kind of integration activities. Ariffin (2000) indicated that the current arrangement of promotions and incentives is not sufficient to encourage the greater uptake of crop-livestock integration at the estate level.

Many estate managers realize the potential of the integration system in terms of maximization of land utilization, reduced weeding costs and for additional income, but the low adoption of the system was due to inherent problems associated with the introduction of cattle into estates.

Other findings suggest that the added responsibility was not commensurate with incentives and compensations; the skill and management expertise were still lacking, compounded by the existence of disease and health problems,   prevalent animal theft and other social problems. Approximately 75% of all estates shared the view that greater involvement of estates could only take off vigorously if crop-livestock integration is considered to be a national project and all the necessary supports are put into place.