Cattle are cash generating assets for mixed smallholder
farms in the Eastern Amazon
M. Siegmund-Schultze
a,
*
, B. Rischkowsky
a
, J.B. da Veiga
b
, J.M. King
a
a
University of Go
¨
ttingen, Tropical Animal Production, Kellnerweg 6, 37077 Go
¨
ttingen, Germany
b
Embrapa Amazo
ˆ
nia Oriental, Cx Postal 48, 66095-100 Bele
´
m-PA, Brazil
Received 20 February 2005; received in revised form 7 March 2007; accepted 16 March 2007
Abstract
The presence of cattle in the Amazon region is controversial in terms of their ecological suitability and profitability compared with
crops. Nevertheless, they are widely distributed in the study area in north-eastern Para
´
and, contrary to the common image of cattle on
large ranches, a high proportion of them are kept on smallholder farms. To explain their presence, cattle are assumed to have benefits
beyond physical production, such as complementing resource use or representing capital. To test this hypothesis, the costs and benefits of
the three main agricultural activities, cattle, cassava and black pepper production, in terms of land, labour and capital productivity, were
recorded in 37 small farms over a period of 15 months. To provide a longer perspective, benefits and costs of these activities were cal-
culated for their assumed lifetime, which in the case of cattle, assumed a stable herd, derived from a deterministic herd model. The resul-
tant values for land, labour and capital productivity of cattle were much lower than the values derived from direct observations during
the study period, and were not as high as those for cassava and black pepper. Furthermore, the analysis of resource use in the farms
showed that cattle production was not usually integrated with cropping activities, did not improve the use of available labour, and com-
peted for land. Therefore, there had to be a reason for keeping cattle beyond their physical productivity. It was deduced to be their func-
tional quality. Cattle could be disposed of quickly and easily at any time, in order to acquire large sums of cash or the equivalent in kind.
The liquidity derived from keeping living stock was not matched by other agricultural activities or by the financial market. Hence, cattle
turned out to be the best instrument of finance for the smallholder. Farmers were not interested in the continuous development of their
herds, or sustainable production practices, and favoured low input management. Consequently, development plans relying on long-term,
continuous commitments to pasture and cattle management are inappropriate. Instead, research and extension work should focus on
simple, flexible and low-cost improvements to cattle keeping on crop-livestock smallholder farms, until credit programmes are available
that replace the financing function of cattle.
Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cattle; Cash generating asset; Smallholder; Eastern Amazon; Systems approach; Modelling
1. Introduction
The number and distribution of cattle in the Brazilian
Amazon is expanding, which is seen as a threat, not just
to the rainforest, but also to the long-term sustainability
of the smallholder crop-fallow system. Since beef produc-
tion does not appear to be the most profitable enterprise
for the smallholder, there must be other reasons for keep-
ing cattle. They need to be identified so that the risks to
the environment and smallholder system can be weighed
against the rewards from the livestock.
The environmental damage would be reduced if cattle
exploited the flood plains and savannahs, which are often
covered with natural pastures and account for a quarter
of the Brazilian Amazon region. Instead, the majority of
cattle are kept in another ecological zone, the non-flooded
areas, which are naturally covered by a heterogeneous
0308-521X/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2007.03.005
*
Corresponding author. Present address: Institute of Animal Produc-
tion in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim (480a),
70593 Stuttgart, Germany. Tel.: +49 711 459 23170; fax: +49 711 459
23290.
E-mail address: mssch@uni-hohenheim.de (M. Siegmund-Schultze).
www.elsevier.com/locate/agsy
Agricultural Systems 94 (2007) 738–749
AGRICULTURAL
SYSTEMS