Decoupling livestock and crop production at the household level in China

Shuqin Jin; Bin Zhang; Bi Wu; Dongmei Han; Yu Hu; Chenchen Ren; Chuanzhen Zhang; Xun Wei; Yan Wu; Arthur P.J. Mol; Stefan Reis; Baojing Gu; Jie Chen

doi:10.1038/s41893-020-00596-0

Decoupling livestock and crop production at the household level in China

Shuqin Jin, Bin Zhang, Bi Wu, Dongmei Han, Yu Hu, Chenchen Ren, Chuanzhen Zhang, Xun Wei, Yan Wu, Arthur P.J. Mol, Stefan Reis, Baojing Gu^*, Jie Chen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

179 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Animal manure used to be the major source of additional nutrients and crucial for maintaining soil fertility and crop yield in traditional farming systems. However, it is increasingly not recycled, wasting vital resources and damaging the environment. By using long-term (1986–2017) data from a rural household survey (>20,000 households) across China, here we show that the share of rural households with both crop planting and livestock raising (CPLR) has sharply declined from 71% in 1986 to only 12% in 2017. Compared with households with only crop planting, the CPLR households apply less synthetic fertilizer and more manure per cropland area. However, manure production in one-third of CPLR households has exceeded the nutrient requirement of crop growth on their croplands. Rebuilding the links between livestock and croplands at a regional scale thus provides vital opportunities for the sustainable intensification of agriculture in China.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	48-55
Journal	Nature Sustainability
Volume	4
Early online date	31 Aug 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00596-0
Publication status	Published - Jan 2021

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1038/s41893-020-00596-0

http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528400/1/N528400PP.pdfLicence: Open Access other

Cite this

@article{52aac6b420e742b6a0809e34b93698f1,

title = "Decoupling livestock and crop production at the household level in China",

abstract = "Animal manure used to be the major source of additional nutrients and crucial for maintaining soil fertility and crop yield in traditional farming systems. However, it is increasingly not recycled, wasting vital resources and damaging the environment. By using long-term (1986–2017) data from a rural household survey (>20,000 households) across China, here we show that the share of rural households with both crop planting and livestock raising (CPLR) has sharply declined from 71% in 1986 to only 12% in 2017. Compared with households with only crop planting, the CPLR households apply less synthetic fertilizer and more manure per cropland area. However, manure production in one-third of CPLR households has exceeded the nutrient requirement of crop growth on their croplands. Rebuilding the links between livestock and croplands at a regional scale thus provides vital opportunities for the sustainable intensification of agriculture in China.",

author = "Shuqin Jin and Bin Zhang and Bi Wu and Dongmei Han and Yu Hu and Chenchen Ren and Chuanzhen Zhang and Xun Wei and Yan Wu and Mol, {Arthur P.J.} and Stefan Reis and Baojing Gu and Jie Chen",

year = "2021",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1038/s41893-020-00596-0",

language = "English",

volume = "4",

pages = "48--55",

journal = "Nature Sustainability",

issn = "2398-9629",

publisher = "Nature",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Decoupling livestock and crop production at the household level in China

AU - Jin, Shuqin

AU - Zhang, Bin

AU - Wu, Bi

AU - Han, Dongmei

AU - Hu, Yu

AU - Ren, Chenchen

AU - Zhang, Chuanzhen

AU - Wei, Xun

AU - Wu, Yan

AU - Mol, Arthur P.J.

AU - Reis, Stefan

AU - Gu, Baojing

AU - Chen, Jie

PY - 2021/1

Y1 - 2021/1

N2 - Animal manure used to be the major source of additional nutrients and crucial for maintaining soil fertility and crop yield in traditional farming systems. However, it is increasingly not recycled, wasting vital resources and damaging the environment. By using long-term (1986–2017) data from a rural household survey (>20,000 households) across China, here we show that the share of rural households with both crop planting and livestock raising (CPLR) has sharply declined from 71% in 1986 to only 12% in 2017. Compared with households with only crop planting, the CPLR households apply less synthetic fertilizer and more manure per cropland area. However, manure production in one-third of CPLR households has exceeded the nutrient requirement of crop growth on their croplands. Rebuilding the links between livestock and croplands at a regional scale thus provides vital opportunities for the sustainable intensification of agriculture in China.

AB - Animal manure used to be the major source of additional nutrients and crucial for maintaining soil fertility and crop yield in traditional farming systems. However, it is increasingly not recycled, wasting vital resources and damaging the environment. By using long-term (1986–2017) data from a rural household survey (>20,000 households) across China, here we show that the share of rural households with both crop planting and livestock raising (CPLR) has sharply declined from 71% in 1986 to only 12% in 2017. Compared with households with only crop planting, the CPLR households apply less synthetic fertilizer and more manure per cropland area. However, manure production in one-third of CPLR households has exceeded the nutrient requirement of crop growth on their croplands. Rebuilding the links between livestock and croplands at a regional scale thus provides vital opportunities for the sustainable intensification of agriculture in China.

U2 - 10.1038/s41893-020-00596-0

DO - 10.1038/s41893-020-00596-0

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85089967027

SN - 2398-9629

VL - 4

SP - 48

EP - 55

JO - Nature Sustainability

JF - Nature Sustainability

ER -

Decoupling livestock and crop production at the household level in China

Abstract

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this