Integration of livestock and crop production for nutrient recycling in small farms

Abstract:

A small farmer in Upper Egypt faces a daily dilemma: buy expensive synthetic fertilizer for crops or feed that money to livestock—but rarely both. Integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) resolve this tension by recycling animal manure as crop fertilizer and crop residues as animal feed, creating a closed nutrient loop that reduces purchased input costs. This research quantified nutrient recycling efficiency, soil health changes, and economic outcomes in 60 integrated versus 60 crop-only small farms (< 2 feddan each) across Assiut governorate, Egypt, over three cropping seasons (2020-21 to 2022-23). Data were collected through farm surveys, soil sampling, and production records at the Upper Egypt Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Integrated farms recycled an average of 4.8 t of manure ha⁻¹ year⁻¹, supplying 38.4 percent of crop nitrogen demand and reducing synthetic fertilizer expenditure by EGP 8,740 ha⁻¹ (38.4%). Soil organic carbon increased by 0.21 percentage points over three years in ICLS farms versus 0.04 in crop-only farms. Wheat grain yield was 8.7 percent higher and berseem forage yield 14.3 percent higher under ICLS. Net farm income was 42.1 percent greater in integrated systems—EGP 34,680 versus EGP 24,410 per feddan. These findings demonstrate that even the smallest farms in Upper Egypt can benefit from structured crop-livestock integration as a pathway to sustainable intensification.