Author:
Fernández-Giménez María E.,Ritten John
Abstract
AbstractThe ecological and risk -management rationales for livestock mobility are well established. Yet, few studies evaluate the economic benefits and costs of maintaining or resuming mobile, extensive livestock production compared to sedentary or semi-extensive production. Here, we empirically evaluate pastoralists’ claims that transhumance, a specific type of long-distance herd mobility, is a more profitable system compared to semi-extensive production in the Central Spanish Pyrenees. Specifically, we use enterprise budget data from transhumant and semi-extensive operations to develop a baseline typical sheep operation budget. We then use partial budget analysis coupled with economic simulations to determine the conditions under which transhumance by truck or on foot becomes profitable relative to semi-extensive production. We find that transhumance by foot is more profitable than transhumance by truck and that relative profitability compared to semi-extensive production depends on operational scale, feed prices, and the lambing rates (productivity) of each system. Over all simulated scenarios, transhumance is more profitable 64–78% of the time. This analysis thus provides initial evidence of the economic rationality of transhumance under contemporary environmental and economic conditions, filling a notable gap in research on the economics of transhumance. Future research could expand the analysis to cattle operations and to other regions of Spain, assess the full social and environmental benefits and costs of transhumance, and evaluate the effects of exogenous factors like drought on production costs and profitability to determine if transhumance is an adaptive strategy under a changing climate. The analysis we present could be used as a basis to develop and pilot test interactive budgeting tools that support herder decision-making and planning under economic and environmental uncertainty.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Animal Science and Zoology
Reference60 articles.
1. Alimi, T., and V.M. Manyong. 2000. Partial budget analysis for on-farm research. Research guide 65. Ibadan: International Institute for Tropical Agriculture.
2. Azcarate, F.M., I. Robleno, J. Seoane, P. Manzano, and B. Peco. 2013. Drove roads as local biodiversity reservoirs: Effects on landscape pattern and plant communities in a Mediterranean region. Applied Vegetation Science 16 (3): 480–490. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12003.
3. Bacaicoa Salaverri, I., J.M. Elías Pastor, and J. Grande Ibarra. 1993. Cuadernos de la trashumancia 8. Albarracín - Cuenca - Molina Madrid: Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación.
4. Bamire, A.S., and V.M. Manyong. 2003. Profitability of intensification technologies among smallholder maize farmers in the forest-savanna transition zone of Nigeria. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 100: 111–118.
5. Bunce, R.G.H., M. Perez-Soba, R.H.G. Jongman, A. Gomez Sal, F. Herzog, and I. Austad, eds. 2004. Transhumance and biodiversity in European mountains. Wageninen: Alterra Wageninen.
Cited by
3 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献