A beef boom in Indonesia triggered the over-proportional selling of productive animals on Ceram Island, a centre of agricultural production in Maluku province chosen by the government, threatening the sustainability of beef production on the island. Mainly two farmer groups are affected, namely indigenous farmers who live as crop farmers, livestock keepers and fishermen and transmigrant farmers who came from other provinces in Indonesia, settled on the Island and live as food crop farmers and later becoming cattle keepers. The aim of the study was to contribute to the knowledge base needed for the design of sustainable beef production systems by analysing the sustainability of farms on Ceram Island, Indonesia. The hypothesis was: farm resources, productive and reproductive performance of beef production in the mixed farming systems on Ceram Island differ according to the farmers migratory status, leading to different level of sustainability, productivity of beef production and economic efficiencies. The study focused on districts with agriculture as the main economic activity, namely West Ceram, Kairatu and Bula districts. The study was carried out in three stages. The first stage was done from June to September 2008 covering 33 households and 154 cattle. The second stage was done from April to September 2009 with 88 households and 325 cattle, covering the areas of cattle distribution and performance, forage availability and quality, farm characteristics, production pattern, household socio-economic conditions and indicators used for sustainability analysis. A final stage was performed with 8 farmer groups in October 2010 in order to present, discuss and re-rank indicators in the sustainability analysis. The data was collected using household interviews, key person interviews, a progeny history questionnaire, observation, cattle measurements, forage sampling and laboratory analysis, participatory rural appraisal and focus group discussion. After performing descriptive statistics, analytical analysis included general linear models and cluster analysis, IMPACT software was employed for annual economic balances, the households? food security status and labour allocation. Results of the study showed that performance of Bali cattle in farms managed by indigenous versus transmigrant farmers were not significantly different in terms of fertility rate, mortalities, calving interval, weaning age, cow age at first calving and bull age at first mating. The fertility rate and growth performance of Bali cattle was very low compared to other areas in Indonesia and other countries. The body weights showed a tendency towards heavier cattle in transmigrant farms. Forage production in the rainy season was 6.9 ton dry matter per ha, with 4 to 6% crude protein, 34 to 38% crude fiber, and 13.1 MJ per ton dry matter, which is relatively low compared to the western part of Indonesia and other islands in the Pacific like Samoa.As the two ethnic groups showed little difference in cattle performance, cluster analysis identified three different farm types in the study area: TVC (predominantly transmigrant farmers with on average 4 cattle and planting about 2 ha of vegetables), IPC (mostly indigenous farmers with on average 9 cattle with perennials on about 3.7 ha land) and TRC (primarily transmigrant farmers with on average 6 cattle, cultivating rice on 3.3 ha land). The TRC system generated the highest net agricultural income per labour applied and per ha of land, while IPC received the least. Even though IPC produced cash crops, their production systems were found to be rather extensive with low input ? low output, while TRC farmers were the ones most intensively using their resources and therewith realising higher outputs. The study confirmed differences of farming conditions to a certain degree according to farmers? origin (transmigrant and indigenous), although integration in terms of knowledge exchange in farming practice had already taken place, indicated by non-homogenous clusters. To estimate the sustainability of the three farm types, indicators were developed with the local communities, covering the issues of cattle production, crop production, resource availability on farm, economics, social conditions, supporting facilities, environment and cultures. These issues partly matched with the ones proposed in the literature, indicating that farmers and researchers shared a common understanding of the term sustainability. Interestingly, cultural aspects appeared as the most site-specific issue, describing the cohesion of rural life, cultural acceptance of the system, and masohi, the traditional custom of helping each other on- and off- farm among farmers and other rural inhabitants. The farm successor indicator represented the time dimension of sustainability which was included by the local community; an indicator rarely found in the literature.The selected sustainability indicators captured strengths and weaknesses of different farm types. TRC, the farm type with predominantly transmigrant rice-cattle farmers, was the most successful farm type in comparison to the other types, as shown by the positive contribution to sustainability (sust. index = 0.203). This farm type disposed of a large enough land size and performed relatively well in the socio-economic dimension, although indicators were less promising in cattle production. However, this system received more support from the government in terms of input supplies, information and services provided, and favourable rural infrastructure. The results depicted the constraints of Bali cattle production systems on Ceram Island, particularly the low fertility rate, contradicting what was reported elsewhere, and the destocking practice that could put the farming system onto the path towards unsustainability.
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