The James Hutton Institute
This page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
The James Hutton InstituteThis page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
Production systems are attracting the research efforts of production
specialists and economists alike because of increasing interest in the
interaction between productive systems and their economic environment.
Such interaction is more pronounced in disadvantaged areas that experience
extremely rapid decline, and important adverse changes in their economic
and social organisation. A major challenge is, therefore, to characterise
the problem, and to suggest policy options for the development of productive
sectors that would reverse this decline and generate a process of sustainable
development.
Livestock production, and extensive livestock systems in particular,
along with forestry, constitute major economic activities in disadvantaged
areas, and are main sources of income and local employment. Development
of livestock production faces strong economic constraints that limit its
capacity to provide higher levels of income and employment. There are five
types of constraints identified in this study: 1. Labour and employment;
2. Management; 3. Grazing Resources; 4. Relationship with forests and the
environment; 5. Available infrastructure. The connection, however, between
livestock development and economic well-being of the rural population needs
to be understood in order to derive strategic and policy recommendations.
This paper starts with a detailed review of the economic constraints on livestock production in disadvantaged areas, and its role in their economy and society. Then, it continues with the conceptualisation of the development problem, aiming to understand the interactions between livestock development and the overall economy and resource availability of the areas. After identifying labour productivity and efficiency as major strategic objectives in raising incomes and sustaining employment, it puts forward a number of alternative strategic and policy options. The paper concludes with strategic and policy recommendations for the development of the livestock sector in disadvantaged regions.