Stochastic frontier production function was used to assess technical efficiency and its determinants for a stratified sample of 1118 poultry farms in Vietnam for which data were collected in 1999. In general there are significant differences in the production behaviour and efficiency level...

Agricultural intensification in West Africa is at an early stage and the process is taking place through various pathways. Population pressure and market access are generally considered as major factors driving intensification and crop-livestock interaction. In this paper both ecology and...

A system consists of its agro-ecological and socioeconomic components and interactions among them (so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts). The interactions are neither linear nor unidirectional, so a certain degree of change at any point in the system may generate different...

The aim of this study was to assess the process and extent of sedentarisation among Fulani cattle owners in the derived savannah zone of south-west Nigeria. The results, based on a survey of 66 randomly-selected cattle owners, indicate an on-going process of settlement. Previously cattle owners...

The incorporation of livestock into alley farming systems, in which food or forage crops are grown between hedges of multipurpose trees that are regularly pruned for mulch and/or forage, has been studied for over 10 years in Africa. Prunings from leguminous trees such as Leucaena and Gliricidia...

Policy analysis matrix (PAM) was applied to assess the competitiveness of local, crossbred and exotic breeds of poultry and pig production in North and South Vietnam using data from a stratified sample of 2,213 farms collected in 1999. Results show that poultry meat and egg production is...

World agriculture is based on a small number of animal species and a decreasing number of breeds within each species. Several breeds of West African shorthorn cattle (Bos taurus brachyceros) are now at high risk of extinction due to interbreeding. The West African shorthorn breeds are...

This paper looks briefly at ecoregional research: what is commonly meant by the term and how it may be carried out. ILRI’s involvement in various ecoregional consortia is discussed, together with problems and constraints that have been faced to date. The paper ends by listing a number of...