The Uniqueness of Sustainability of Rural Enterprises - Case Study Example

Sustainability of Rural Enterprises Name Course Professor’s Name University Name City, State Date of Submission Cattle Production in the Northern Territory for the Live Export Trade. 1.0 Introduction The Northern Territory region of Australia values the agriculture sector. Cattle production is one of the most popular agricultural practices in the area. The beef industry in this region has significantly expanded and developed in the past two decades. It is currently a key contributor to local economies like Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory. During the period of the year 2009 and 2010, the Northern Territory beef industry contributed around 5 billion US dollars to Australia’s economy (Phillips, 2010, p. 23). The live export trade in the northern territory became famous in the 1990s due to high demands from the Philippines and Indonesia. However, the industry has faced many challenges in the recent past. The territory government and the industry are collaborating to assess the risks and develop policies of dealing with them. This report will discuss the challenges that the industry faces climate change especially. It will also discuss the responses of individual farmers and the industry to the challenges. Furthermore, additional actions to sustain the cattle farming and the industry will be highlighted. Finally, the report will cite the recommendations that should be taken to improve the industry and the lives of the farmers in the Northern Territory. 2.0 Literature Review The cattle production industry is mainly done for beef export, domestic meat processing and live cattle export. The live cattle export traded offers many opportunities that have made it thrive over the years. Firstly, there is a high demand for live cattle among countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Japan, Vietnam, and Darussalam. The region also has a prospect of growing breeding cattle as well as genetic material for export to South East Asian markets especially Indonesia (Henzell, 2007, p. 62). On the other hand, the main challenge that faces this type of farming is climate changes occurring in the region. The natural endowments that comprise temperature and rainfall changes have led to varying production of cattle. Soils have also been affected by weather changes leading to the small production of cattle for export. The Northern Territory region experiences patterns of seasonal rainfall that consist of both dry and wet seasons. The period between September and March can be considered as a wet season; high evapotranspiration occurs in this period. The months of April to October are dry, and water deficits are very common at this time of the year. Cattle farming practices for instance weaning and mustering are usually affected by these rainfall patterns. Growing of pastures for the cattle is also largely dependent on the availability of rainfall in the region. Rainfall is not uniform in the Northern Territory of Australia. The dry and wet seasons are affected by topography, distance from the coast and the latitude of the area. The area’s average annual rainfall falls between 600 to 2000 millimetres (Henzell, 2007, p. 120). The distinct dry and weather climate and the tropical savannas soils determine the type of vegetation in the region (Pearson & Lennon, 2010, p. 71). Soils in the Northern Territory are usually infertile due to low phosphorous and nitrogen. The soils thus lower pasture growth that result in reduced stock productivity. Studies have shown that soil disintegration rates are high and levels of soil improvement are mostly small on far-reaching rough upland ranges. The swamp fields are mainly regularly immersed, typically for long stretches, and numerous northern soils are acidic, gravelly, and shallow. Notwithstanding, pasture change has happened over eventually in northern Australia with the presentation of different pasture legumes, and this has lead to changes in the nutritive quality of animal feeds. Nutrients are filtered by high rainfall in a way that, while there may be lavish plant development amid the wet season, its nutritive worth is low. The outcome is soil ailing in humus, which is essential for healthy soil nourishment. Soils in northern Australia are more fertile than in the southeast locales. The north-west have shallow skeletal soils and barren profound sandy soils, which have a lower water-holding limit (Pearson & Lennon, 2010, p. 51). Furthermore, climate factors also have an effect on live cattle trade as cattle frequently should not be carried during the wet season. Lack of chances to assemble appropriate cattle for processing awaiting the paddocks dry and the road being inundated contribute to the failure of transportation of cattle. Pastures both regular and naturalized grasses, for example, (buffel) have a constrained developing season and irrigation is necessary. Most of the farmers in the North have large tracts of infertile lands. The climatic conditions in the Northern territory make it hard to complete cattle for export in one-generation year, as can be attained to in southern Australia. As noticed, the relationship between rainfall and temperature gives big quantities of fodder amid the wet season.Consequently; most of the livestock are in perfect condition towards the end of the wet (Henzell, 2007, p. 32). Most of the breeding cows also get pregnant during this period due to the availability of high-quality paddock. In any case, as the dry season advances milk yield from lactating cows decrease, the cattle’s condition deteriorate and development rate of calves is moderate. Long periods of the dry season lead to water shortage, which affects the growth of pastures hence the productivity of the cattle. Sometimes droughts are experienced for a long time in the Northern Territory. Climate changes affect the effectiveness of some control measures. For instance, fire cannot be used as a weed management method during arid periods. Moreover, carbon dioxide treatment connected with atmosphere change is expected to boost weed development. Thus, protection of local pasture from infringement of woody weeds and different weeds will be critical for increasing fodder productivity (Rushton, 2009, p. 88). Apart from climate changes and soil conditions, other factors affect the production of cattle negatively for live export. One of the factors is the existence of cattle diseases mainly tuberculosis and brucellosis (Cussen & Garces, 2008, p. 111). Most of the farmers spractice old methods of producing cattle and they have large herds of cattle in the same area. Therefore, the spread of these diseases is faster within a short period. The two diseases, that is, Tuberculosis and Brucellosis, also affect human beings. Most of the farmers are infected through consumption of milk and meat from the cows. Infected farmers become less productive, most of the infected cows die thus lowering the production of cattle for export. The growth of animal welfare groups that fight for the rights of animals has also lowered live cattle trade. Most of these groups discourage live cattle export trade as the cows experience a lot of stress during transit to their destinations (Cussen & Garces, 2008, p. 81). On June 2011, live cattle export to Indonesia was suspended following the airing of a video footage on national television about animal cruelty in that country. There was a lot of public protest against the trade in the region. Some farmers have been discouraged by such actions to produce cattle for live export to the Southeast Asia countries. In addition, parasites specifically ticks are a serious threat to livestock farming. In the event that the situation left unchecked, the parasite can fundamentally decrease milk production and the cattle gain. The ticks also cause tick fever and interfere with reproduction programs. In the year 2011 only, diseases related to ticks cost the government an estimated 175 million dollars (Kahn, 2014, p. 22). Farmers are slowly moving from the conventional means of controlling ticks of using pesticides. The ticks have developed resistance to these pesticides. Infrastructure is another factor that influences the performance of the livestock farming in the region. Road and railway transport is the primary system that the industry relies on to move the cows from the ranches to their destinations. Most of the roads in the Northern region are impassable especially during the rainy season due to flooding. The conditions constrain access amid the wet season (Phillips, 2010, p. 70). The bridges and roads also have weight limits. Ports are another way of transporting cattle from one place to another. The ports in this region are not restricted to live cattle loading; they are also used by other industries. Others are situated in areas that are inhabited by people or near tourist attraction locations. 2.1 Solutions The worldwide scientific community concurs that the atmosphere has been changing because of the human activities and will keep on evolving. It is, therefore, important to have measures to mitigate these changes such as the greenhouse gas emissions. Both farmers and processors are liable to adjust their input–output blends and management activities over time term to enhance a portion of the impacts of carbon evaluating. Upgrading of the plant to expand energy productivity and utilization of renewable energy might likewise diminish the effects. For ranchers, emissions can be decreased by executing option management activities, raising carbon sequestration and decreasing fossil fuel outflows. The government has executed a strategy to minimize emissions and aid the agricultural sector to store carbon in the ranches. Simultaneously, endeavours are being sustained through the Carbon Farming Initiative, intended to give chances to ranchers to acquire extra income from offering carbon counterbalance credits (Pearson & Lennon, 2010, p. 122). The plan will provide new opportunities to ranchers, foresters and landholders to get to demonstrated innovations and administration practices that can decrease input expenses and outflows or sequester carbon and increment profitability. The initiative will permit ranchers to produce carbon credits that they can offer on local and global carbon markets. Contingent upon the accessibility of sanction procedures, carbon credits can be generated by native forest protection, manure management, reforestation, advanced forest management, reduced fertiliser emissions, grazing land management and vegetation management. In addition, the government offered funds to facilitators who taught farmers of the advantages of implementing the Carbon Farming Initiative. They organised workshops where experts shared their experiences on carbon farming. Farmers and landowners gained a lot from the workshops, as they were able to manage carbon emissions better. For example, revegetation processes eliminated carbon dioxide from the air, accumulating it in the soil as well as native vegetation. Another solution that the farmers have undertaken is irrigation during the months of dry climate. Most of the Northern Territory has big areas of common land use, so irrigation is easier to implement. Irrigation has benefited cattle farmers considerably since they can grow pastures during droughts preventing reduction of live export trade. However, irrigation in some instances has led to an environmental crisis like salinization, rising water tables, groundwater pollution as well as altering river flows. Furthermore, the government has invested to develop an effective tick vaccine that will eradicate ticks in the region. The vaccine will offer protection to the cows by developing resistance to tick infections and related diseases. The research trials that were undertaken showed that cows could have protection from ticks of around 50 to 87 percent (Rushton, 2009, p. 81). Nonetheless, the advancement of a commercial vaccine will take many years. The region is trying to improve the infrastructure especially transport to boost the movement of live cattle during their sale. Most of the roads that connect to the Northern Territory are now passable even during the wet seasons. An expansive number of road fixing and bridge developments are in progress, which will advantage the livestock industry as a whole. As part of the efforts of improving the productivity of cattle for export, farmers have turned to cross breeding and animal selection to improve their herd (Kahn, 2014, p. 29). Modern breeds of cattle are more resistant to diseases, have higher yields of milk and gain a lot of weights compared to the traditional breeds. Lastly, the government introduced tuberculosis and brucellosis eradication campaign. New methods of mustering cattle on ranches were developed such as the use of helicopters. The two diseases were totally eradicated in the region in the year 1997. Sustainability from urban and rural land use perspective Sustainability strategies for land use in urban and rural areas in the Northern Territory are different. Most of the land in the rural areas in this region is used for farming purposes like cattle production. One of the ways land use is sustained from rural perspective is by adding nutrients to nitrogen and phosphorous in the soil to increase its fertility for better pastures. Most of the people in the rural areas own large tracts of land that are not productive. Consequently, encouraging farmers to use small pieces of land that are easier to manage and increase cattle production should improve land use. In addition, some parts of the rural regions are covered by vegetation that can be cleared to create more land for pastures. However, removing all the vegetation is not advisable since vegetation is essential in the regulation of rainfall. Overgrazing of rural land should be eliminated as it affects its ability to support farming in the future. Availability of water for cattle and pastures is another major problem in the rural region that should be solved by the farming industry together with the government. On the other hand, most of the land in the urban areas is used for residential and commercial housing, industries and other urban use. It is hard to get land for farming as most of it has buildings and structures. There is massive pollution from the factories and emissions by vehicles. The few farmers should have strategies to deal with the pollution as it affects cows and pastures. The industry can adopt the Carbon Farming Initiative introduced by the government to minimize the effects. Changes in climate and atmospheric conditions in urban areas are adverse compared to rural regions. This is one of the reasons the industry is coming up with ways of ensuring climate changes are regulated. However, urban farming has some advantages like the existence of good roads and other forms of transport thus easier access to markets. The market for live cattle is also more available than in rural areas. 3.0 Recommendations The following recommendations will be effective to eliminate or reduce the challenges facing the cattle production industry: a. Farmers should develop a more advanced ‘stand and graze' framework that could guarantee the availability of cattle for longer, broadening the season for the supply of cows. Likewise, it offers more control of the quality. b. The farmers and the industry should ensure the soil nutrients are balanced by adding nitrogen and phosphorous in the correct proportion. c. Use of latest methods of cattle production should be encouraged as opposed to the old methods that the farmers use. Most of the farmers in the North have large tracts of land, but the production is still low. d. The farmers should improve livestock nutrition through better forage crops, pasture and supplementary animal feed to increase finishing of cattle. In brief, the Northern Territory faces many challenges in its production of cattle for beef and live cattle export. The main challenge is climate changes and soils fertility that affect the industry negatively. Other challenges include poor infrastructure, animal welfare groups and cattle parasites. The farmers and the government have come up with various strategies to reduce the challenges. Some of the solutions have worked while others need improvement. References Cussen, V. & Garces, L., 2008. Long Distance Transport and Welfare of Farm Animals. 3 ed. Wallingford: CABI. Henzell, T., 2007. Australian Agriculture: Its History and Challenges. 2 ed. Victoria: Csiro Publishing. Kahn, L., 2014. Beef Cattle Production and Trade. 4 ed. Victoria: Csiro Publishing. Pearson, M. & Lennon, J., 2010. Pastoral Australia: Fortunes, Failures & Hard Yakka: A Historical Overview 1788-1967. 3 ed. Victoria: Csiro Publishing. Phillips, C. J. C., 2010. Principles of Cattle Production. 3 ed. Wallingford: CAB. Rushton, J., 2009. The Economics of Animal Health and Production. 2 ed. Wallingford: CABI. Read More