Herding for Crop-Livestock Integration

In central Nigeria, day herding and night enclosure of cattle allow flexible spatial integration of livestock and cropping with few or no external inputs. Fencing is considered unnecessary and uneconomic. Adapted grazing behaviour and access to fallow land and crop residues partly compensated for the short grazing days of herded cattle. Crops benefited from the manure deposited directly by cattle enclosed on fields, increasing the capacity of the land to support people. (CAB Abstracts)