Abstract
This paper aims to discuss government policy of Jambi Province on livestock development in relation to environmental issues. It is very crucial because livestock development is recognized to make a major contribution on the environmental degradation. Refering to the development agenda of Jambi Province, livestock development has not considered many aspects related to environmental issues. The local government still focusses on economic development through an increase of animal population to obtain self sufficiency in animal products. To ensure the activities being sustainable without any worry in damaging the environment, there is a need to increase knowledge and awareness among related stakeholders on the environmental risks in livestock development activities. In relation to the present number of animals in Jambi Province, importing animals could be continued, however it should be followed by an improvement of animal productivity and mitigating their negative impacts on the environment.
Key Word: livestock development, environmental issues, Jambi Province
Abstrak
Makalah ini bertujuan untuk membahas kebijakan Pemerintah Provinsi Jambi tentang pembangunan peternakan yang berkaitan dengan isu lingkungan. Hal ini sangat penting karena kegiatan peternakan diyakini mempunyai kontribusi yang sangat besar terhadap berbagai kerusakan lingkungan. Mengacu pada agenda pembangunan daerah ternyata pembangunan peternakan di Provinsi Jambi belum mempertimbangkan hal-hal yang berhubungan dengan isu lingkungan. Pemerintah daerah masih terfokus pada upaya pembangunan ekonomi melalui peningkatan populasi ternak guna mencapai swasembada komoditas peternakan. Agar kegiatan ini dapat berkelanjutan tanpa menimbulkan kekhawatiran terhadap kerusakan lingkungan maka perlu upaya peningkatan pemahaman dan kewaspadaan bagi para pemangku kepentingan tentang keterkaitan pembangunan peternakan dengan isu lingkungan. Melihat jumlah ternak yang ada di Provinsi Jambi saat ini maka pemasukan ternak dari luar daerah dapat terus dilanjutkan, namun harus diikuti dengan upaya peningkatan produktivitas dan pengurangan dampak negatif terhadap lingkungan.
Kata Kunci: pembangunan peternakan, lingkungan hidup, Provinsi Jambi
1. Introduction
Livestock development activities are coming in for increasing criticism world-wide. This sector is recognized as a major player associated to environmental issues such as land degradation and air pollution. Many reports, papers and articles discussing on the issues have been published by competent experts and institutions. Livestock’s Long Shadow, published by LEAD (the Livestock, Environment and Development) - as a multi-stakeholder initiative coordinated by FAO – is one of the documents listing “the sins” of livestock development for severely damaging the environment. This such a publication has received many enthusiastic responses from related stakeholders which dominantly agree to slow down livestock development activities for the sake of the environment. Even Rajendra Pachauri, director of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change) said “Don’t eat meat ……...that’s how you can help brake global warming” (AFP, 2008). Therefore, there is a big challenge facing livestock sector to find more environmentally friendly practices, otherwise it will become a common enemy for human being. This paper aims to highlight livestock development in Jambi Province in relation to the environmental issues and to discuss how related stakeholders should behave in directing the development agenda with minimum negative impacts on the environment.
2. The Impacts of Livestock Development on the Environment
Based mainly presented by LEAD (2006), there are some negative impacts of livestock development activities on the environment. The direct impacts could be in the form of gas emissions and physical damages. Livestock is responsible for much larger shares of some gases with far higher potential to warm the atmosphere. This sector emits 37 percent of anthropogenic methane (with 23 times the global warming potential / GWP of CO2) most of that from enteric fermentation by ruminants. It emits 65 percent of anthropogenic nitrous oxide (with 296 times the GWP of CO2), the great majority from manure. Livestock activities are also responsible for almost two-thirds (64 percent) of anthropogenic ammonia emissions, which contribute significantly to acid rain and acidification of ecosystems. Livestock production accounts for nearly 18% of GHG (global greenhouse gas) emissions. Transport, by contrast accounts for just 14% (Compassion in World Farming, 2008). Physical damage such as soil compaction and erosion could be created by livestock action especially caused by overgrazing. Indirect impacts of livestock activities mainly result from feed production. Opening new lands for ranchs and feedcrops is strongly associated with deforestration. It also becomes major sources of water pollution from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and pesticides used for feedcrops, and sediments from eroded pastures.
However, there are some benefits derived from livestock sector to the environment which are mainly stated by Mearns (1996). The use manure for organic fertilizer helps to maintain soil structure, water retention and drainage capacity, favour nitrogen fixation by bacteria. This allows the lands to suffer less soil erosion and to absorb more water. In the case of draught power from livestock, it is very eco-friendly compared with alternative fossil-fuel based machineries. Biogas production from animal manure has also been well known by farmers as a source of household energy substituting for fossil-fuel or fuel-wood. Effluent from biodigesters can also be recycled as fertilizer, with even better results than the original manure. All of these applications substitute for energy sources with arguably higher environmental costs in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. In integrated livestock farming, feeding crop residues to livestock is also the best way to utilise waste products. The nutrient uptake is achieved more efficiently than if stalks were added directly to the soil, and burning would increase CO2 emissions. Livestock graze beneath trees in rubber and oil-palm plantations has been proved to increase overall production while reducing the cost of weed control (using less environmentally methods).
3. Livestock Development Policy of Jambi Province
Jambi Province is one of the four provinces with the lowest livestock population in Sumatera island. Animal husbandry is mainly operated by smallholder farmers. Medium and large scale farms exist only in layer and broiler chicken production. In smallholder families animals are kept as a part of their mixed farming activities. Most of the animals are local breeds with an average low productivity. In some areas the animals are kept outside without control by the owners. The animals graze anywhere such as on forest areas, along road sides and available bare lands around the villages. The number of animals in the province has not been met local demand. Almost 48% of ruminants, 42% of eggs and 100% of milk required by the people are imported from neighbouring areas. In many communities animal products still become luxurious goods. This can be seen from average consumption of animal products in the year 2007 that is only 8.6 kg/cap of meat and 4,5 kg/cap of eggs (Disnak, 2008). While the consumption in the USA is 101 kg/cap of meat and 15.5 kg/cap of eggs (The Human Society, 2008). Enhancing livestock production to meet local demand is the main concern to underlie local government policies. Beef cattle development has the first priority in the local government programs. Recently, the government of Jambi Province has set up a development plan to fulfill self sufficiency in beef cattle production by the year 2012. To support this purpose, it has to import at least 13,000 heads of breeding heifers in the next two years (Disnak, 2007).
A high concern of the government on environmental issues is reflected by putting the issues in the Midterm Development Plan (RPJM) of Jambi Province 2006 – 2010. In the RPJM, enhancing the ability to manage natural resources and reserve the environment is one the development agenda of the province. However, the agenda is specisifically focused only onto three sectors: forestry, marine and mining (Pemrov Jambi, 2005). Whereas, livestock sector is not explicitly stated in the document as a part of the development sectors with an important contribution to the environmental issues. An absence of the consideration is also found in the strategic plan of livestock development (Renstra) of Jambi Province 2006 – 2010, produced by the Livestock Services of Jambi Province (Disnak, 2006). It seems that the role of livestock sector as a supporting commodity for local economic development is much more crucial than to take it into environmental consideration. This reflects that local policy-makers have an inadequate understanding of the scope of the problem. Perhaps even among the majority of environmentalists and scientists, the truly enormous impact of the livestock sector on the environment is not fully appreciated.
4. What Needs to be Done ?
There are two main approaches for mitigating the negative impacts of livestock activities on the environment, institutional and technical approaches. The use of institutional approach is addressed to produce pro-environment policies and norms through providing incentives for friendly environmentally activities. The implementation of this approach needs a better understanding on livestock – environment relation among policy makers and related stakeholders. Therefore, to increase knowledge and awareness on the environmental risks in livestock development activities is the first step of the rest. Technical approach is mainly needed to invent supporting technology with minimum environmental effects. The most important technology needed for livestock development activities in Jambi Province is related to manure and livestock waste management. While, the other related aspects such as land degradation and water pollution are not quite crucial because most of the activities are operated in small scales with almost no relationship to deforestation.
Introducing integrated farming system in livestock development would be the best way to minimize the impacts. Through this system, the farmers can effectively utilize local resources for feed and organic fertilizer (Ryden, 2008). This will be more useful if the farmers can process the manure in a better method such as by using biogas installation. However, this such a technology is still too expensive for smallholder farmers. Therefore, there is a need to find more practical and cheaper methods in handling manure and waste with less negative environment impacts.
In relation to the government program to import heifers in enhancing cattle production in Jambi Province, to a certain extent, it would be generally beneficial for the environment. Relocating animals from high to low populated areas could minimize the impacts. To reduce animal density and move from intensive to extensive methods are the strategies proposed by the Compassion in World Farming (2008) to minimize GHG emission and to support rural communities and businesses. Nonetheless, the program should be followed by implementing applied technologies to increase animal productivity, and manage manure and waste. To increase the productivity could be obtained through improvement of animal genetics, feeding programs and veterinary services. It is important to ensure that self sufficiency in animal production could be achieved with minimal number of animals. Minimizing animal population with maximizing productivity would be a better way to get a more environmentally friendly livestock development.
5. Conclusion
Livestock development is recognized as a major player associated to some environmental issues such as land degradation and air pollution. However, this sector also provides some benefits to the environment through the use of manure, draught animals and waste products for feed. To deal with the issues, the government of Jambi Province has not had a particular policy. It seems that the role of livestock sector as a supporting commodity for local economic development is much more crucial. Therefore, there is a need to increase knowledge and awareness among policy makers and related stakeholders on the environmental risks in livestock development activities. In relation to the present number of animals in Jambi Province, importing animals could be continued, however it should be followed by an improvement of animal productivity and mitigating their negative impacts on the environment.
References
AFP. 2008. Lifestyle change can curb climate change: IPCC Chief. Available at http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iIVBkZpOUA9Hz3Xc2u-61mDlrw0Q
Compassion in World Farming. 2008. Global Warming: Climate Change & Farm Animal Walfare. Summary Report. Available at http://www.ciwf.nl/downloads/ globalwarningsummary.pdf
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Ryden, P. 2008. A Second Green Revolution- the role of agriculture in overcoming poverty and environmental degradation. Synopsis of a seminar on Sustainable Global Livestock Management organized by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences. SLU . June 13, 2008. Available at http://www-vh.slu.se/ovrigt/ Sustainable%20global%20livestock%20synopsis%20web%20version. pdf
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(The paper presented for Workshop on Environmentally – Friendly Strategies for Livestock Development organized by the University of Jambi on February 7 - 8, 2009)
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