RURAL INTEGRATED CROP- LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES: WAY FORWARD

Development of alternatives for the reestablishment of the production capacity of cultivated pastures is fundamental to achieve the sustainability and intensification of the pastoral activity in the Kinango District, Coast Province Kenya. Some of the viable options suggested are the integration of the systems of grain and livestock production, together with direct planting. These systems have a potential to increase production and reduce risks of degradation while improving the soil chemical, physical and biological properties and the productive potential of grains as much as forage.

Innumerable benefits of the crop-livestock integration can be synthesized as: agronomic, through the recuperation and maintenance of the soil productive capacity; economic, by means of product diversification and higher yields and quality at less cost; ecological, through the reduction of crop pests and consequentially less pesticide use as well as erosion control; and socially by more uniform income distribution as the livestock and crop activities separately concentrate income generation. Higher generation of direct or indirect tributes as well as reduced urban migration will greatly be controlled. Cost of the creation of a new job in rural areas is much less than in urban, hence an attractive package with lots of potential.