Economic analysis of crop-livestock integration in the Northern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria

Research was undertaken on the economics of crop-livestock integration in t he Northern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria. The aim of the study was to quantif y the reciprocal contributions of crops and livestock and also the factors affecting the integration of crops and livestock production in the area. Fi eld data were collected during the 1996/97 farming season from 150 responde nts randomly selected at two locations (Zaria and Bauchi) and classified in to crop farmers (CF) and crop-livestock fanners (C-LF). The two locations r epresent different levels of market opportunities. The Zaria area is hypoth esized to follow a market-driven path of agricultural intensification while the Bauchi area follows a population-driven path of agricultural intensifi cation. Results of the study showed that the CF in the Zaria area recorded a gross margin (GM) of N62,035. This was about three and a half times the G M in Bauchi (NI7,262). Similarly, the C-LF in the Zaria area recorded a muc h higher GM (N145,334) over that recorded by the C-LF in the Bauchi area (3 4,367). Among the general factors affecting crop-livestock integration are land, labour, availability of feed, availability of organic and inorganic f ertilizer, age and level of education of the farmers. The study concluded t hat by integrating and using crop-livestock farm linkages, farmers can impr ove their economic gains more substantially especially in areas with better market opportunities (Zaria). Therefore efforts should be made to substant ially improve the market infrastructure and solve some of the problems affe cting crop-livestock integration in the NGS of Nigeria.