FOOTPRINT OF AGRICULTURE

livestock and Mixed crop-livestock Systems
Philip Thornton

WHAt iS tHiS MAp telling uS?
Livestock-producing agricultural systems cover 73 percent 
of Africa and stretch across several climates (Map 1)�  To 
some extent, these climates determine what type of farming 
is practiced� In Africa, livestock-producing systems are bro-
ken into two main categories: livestock and mixed crop-live-
stock� These systems exist in three common African climates: 
arid/semiarid, humid/subhumid, and temperate/tropical 
highlands� Livestock systems are most prevalent on graz-
ing lands in arid climates that cover large swaths of Africa� 
Mixed crop-livestock farming systems are either rain-
fed or irrigated� Rainfed systems are much more common 
(although areas of Sudan and Egypt have important irri-
gated mixed systems that present different opportunities 
and constraints)� There are many mixed crop-livestock sys-
tems throughout western Africa, eastern Africa, and parts of 
southern Africa� The Congo Basin, in central Africa, is mostly 
forest, with some savanna and cropland at its outer edges� 
As a result, the Basin is home to a small number of livestock 
systems relative to the rest of the continent and only a smat-
tering of mixed crop-livestock systems�

WHY iS tHiS iMportAnt?
Many studies have found the influences of crop and live-
stock production vary considerably, not only regionally 
but also according to production system (Robinson et al� 
2011)� Globally, but particularly in Africa and Asia, crops 
and livestock are often interdependent and influence farmer 
households and livelihoods in a number of ways� Detailed 
knowledge of crop and livestock systems and their distribu-
tion allows researchers to measure impacts on everything 
from the environment to livestock disease risk� For exam-
ple, viewing the livestock density by type and region helps 
researchers measure the level of environmental impact 
(Table 1)� Classification of agricultural systems can also pro-
vide a framework for predicting the evolution of the agri-
cultural sector in response to changing demography and 
associated shifts in food demand, land use (for example, 
competition for land from food, feed, and biofuel produc-
tion), and climate�

WHAt ABout tHe unDerlYing DAtA?
The systems classification is based on Seré and Steinfeld 
(1996)� In livestock systems, more than 90 percent of dry 

matter fed to animals comes from rangelands, pastures, 
annual forages, and purchased feeds, and less than 10 per-
cent of the total value of production (VoP) comes from 
nonlivestock farming activities� Mixed crop-livestock farm-
ing systems are systems in which more than 10 percent 
of the dry matter fed to animals comes from crop by- 
products (for example, stubble) or more than 10 percent 
of the total VoP comes from nonlivestock farming activi-
ties� The systems were mapped using various mapped data 
sources, including land cover data, irrigated areas, human 
population density, and length of growing period (LGP)� 
The climate categories are defined as follows: arid/semi-
arid has an LGP ≤ 180 days; humid/subhumid has an LGP 
> 180 days; and the temperate/tropical highlands climate 
is based on specific LGP, elevation, and temperature cri-
teria� The systems classifications have several weaknesses, 
including differences in estimates of the amount of Africa’s 
cropland, depending on the data used, thus, there is some 
uncertainty in identifying the mixed crop-livestock sys-
tems� Researchers are now using other data sources to 
break down the mixed systems of the Seré and Steinfeld 
classification by dominant food and feed crop categories 
(Robinson et al� 2011)�

WHere cAn i leArn More?

Farming Systems and Poverty: Improving Farmers’ Livelihoods 
in a Changing World. Dixon et al� 2001� 

Global Livestock Production Systems. Robinson et al� 2011�

TABLE 1 Livestock density by region, 2005

REGION

TYPE OF LIVESTOCK

average number/km2

Cattle Sheep Goat

Northern Africa 5 10 5

Middle Africa 3 1 2

Eastern Africa 14 6 9

Western Africa 6 10 12

Southern Africa 7 11 4

AFRICA 7 7 7

Data source: Robinson et al. 2011 and FAO 2012.

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Data source: Robinson et al. 2011.
Note: The mixed categories represent a mix of crop and livestock systems.

FOOTPRINT OF AGRICULTURE ATLAS
OF AFRICAN AGRICULTURE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Rainfed-arid/semiarid

Rainfed-humid/subhumid

Rainfed-temperate/tropical highlands

Livestock-grazing

Rainfed-arid/semiarid

Rainfed-humid/subhumid

Rainfed-temperate/tropical highlands

Irrigated

Mixed crop-livestock

Urban areas

Nonlivestock vegetated areas

Other

MAP 1 Livestock production systems by climate zone

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