Sustainability study for the rearing of bovine livestock in mountainous areas
New Medit, vol 9, n.1, (March 2010), pp. 4-12
Language: EN
Jel classification: Q560, Q120
This paper presents a comparative sustainability analysis of three different groups of farming systems (Maronesa breed, other cattle breeds and mixed cattle breeds) identified in the area under examination (the native territory of the Maronesa cattle breed) and following the MESMIS procedure – Framework for the Evaluation of Natural Resources Management Systems via Sustainability Indicators. The aim is to establish which farming system is the most sustainable, identifying the indicators that best contribute to its sustainability together with the most unfavourable indicators where improvements can be made.The results analysis leads to confirm an empirical trend according to which the rearing of cattle breeds different from Maronesa has greater relative sustainability. Cattle farms with a mixture of breeds came next, if the financial assistance allocated to the current activities of farms is not taken into account. Where financial assistance is included, the sustainability of the different groups becomes more similar, in accordance with breed and rearing system, despite their different scores in the various sustainability parameters. By evaluation area, the Maronesa breed group scores highest in terms of environmental sustainability, while the other breeds group is leading in terms of economic and social sustainability.
sustainability, cattle farms, environment
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