Sustainability assessment of extensive cattle and sheep production systems in southern Chile

Abstract

Extensive livestock systems have decreased in the last decades. In general, these systems are characterized by low profitability, but they have a key role on environment conservation, maintenance of rural population, and health of meat and milk consumers. The present study was carried out in 2017 with 29 livestock farmers in the cold steppe area, Rio Ibáñez District (Comuna de Rio Ibánez), Aysén Region, Chile. The objective of this work was to compare the characteristics of extensive cattle and sheep farms of Southern Chile with a previous study conducted in 2012, assess their sustainability in 2017 and propose improvement actions. The variables studied were included in five attributes according to MESMIS methodology: Productivity, Stability, Adaptability, Equity and Self-management. There were few and circumstantial changes between 2012 and 2017. The global sustainability index was calculated (58%). The values of the five sustainability attributes were 54-64%. The results indicate that livestock farmers carry out valuable practices for sustainability, such as Cattle carry out short seasonal migration, Farmer vaccinates animals, Farmer desparasites animals, Does soil analyses and Farmer has done training courses. The suggested actions to improve sustainability are related to farm and farmer’s characteristics, including trading through farmers’ associations and off-farm activities. Collaborative work between livestock farmers and government institutions is required to implement the proposed actions. It is also important to raise consumers’ awareness of the importance of extensive production systems and the differentiated quality of their products.