A Study on Sustainability of Small Holder Dairy Farming on Agroforestry System

Abstract

Dairy farming practice is one of the empowerment agriculture sectors in Indonesia, due to Labor and nutrition fact on milk. The fastest dairy farming development found in Java island, where is the most populated island in Indonesia. In the future, the development of dairy farming will force serious problem regarding limitation of farming area and forage scarcity. Therefore the objective of this research was to explore the potency of agroforestry system, as a potential source of forage for the sustainability of small holder dairy farm. Several plots were observed to measure fresh forage production according to the time of plant plantation in agroforestry. The data was also collected from the dairy farmers in Lembang, West Java. It was known that more than 36% of dairy farmers attempted the forage by utilizing forest area. It was calculated the highest forage yield was gained in low-density forage as 21.01 Mg/ha. Lower forage yield 7.09 Mg/ha was found in middle density plot. The evaluation of the forage supply in agroforestry system was evaluated by TDNA (Total Digestible Nutrient Available). It was gained as 15782 LSU (Livestock Unit) was required approximately 35.895,15 TDN Mg/yr. The result suggested that Agroforestry system in Lembang was supported for 19.53% of totally TDN demand of the dairy cattle.