LPDS2 Application

The Livestock Development Planning System (LDPS2) has been applied in three cases; in the analysis of cattle and small ruminant systems in sub-Saharan Africa, comprehensively in China, and cattle production in Swaziland.

Cattle and small ruminant production systems in sub-Saharan Africa - a systematic review

The main objective of this study was to improve the information base on livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa by compiling and reviewing quantitative information on various aspects of ruminant production systems, estimating output from different systems, and quantifying their contribution to the overall availability of livestock products for human consumption.

The study focused on cattle and small ruminants, which are the predominant livestock species in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting, in terms of tropical livestock units (TLUs), for 88 percent of the region’s total livestock resources, a proportion which is unlikely to change significantly in the foreseeable future.

The Livestock Development Planning System Version 2 (LDPS2) was used to estimate herd growth rates, offtake per animal and total offtake from the different traditional ruminant production systems. The use of draught power, expressed as oxen workdays/km2/year, was estimated on the basis of herd structures and reports of draught animal use.

A China case study
(See also the User's guide)

Livestock production in China was classified into 18 different production systems, according to agro-ecological zones, and analysed with LDPS2. Main findings were;

• Technical discrepancies in statistics, over-reporting particularly in beef production and growth rates in recent years.
  
  
• Calculated manure production from modern intensive sector for pig and chicken and pointed out the necessity of recycling system in co-operation with crop farmers.
  
  
• The huge potential for productivity increases by building scenarios for the year 2005, assuming continuous advances in productivity.
  
  
• Feed resources are the most important constraint for expanding livestock production.

Cattle production in Swaziland

Cattle production in Swaziland was divided into 4 production systems by breeds and land tenure (exotic dairy, communally grazed, commercial and government ranches) and analysed with LDPS2. For the dairy, economical projection by the government on the milk demand in the following decade was evaluated and the necessity to import milk/dairy breeds as well as the feed resource constraints to expand the herd growth was pointed out. As for beef production, improvement of productivity was highlighted as a major policy target and e.g. how fertility rate effects the herd growth and efficient resource use was technically simulated. Also some technical inconsistencies in statistics was revealed. The analysis was documented as a training manual.