Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.2
3.0
Journals
Animals
Special Issues
Small Ruminants and Rural Resilience
share announcement

Small Ruminants and Rural Resilience

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Small Ruminants".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 December 2023) | Viewed by 1002

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Stephen J. G. Hall

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool Campus, Lincoln LN6 7TS, UK
Interests: livestock biodiversity; animal behaviour; sustainable development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Small ruminants have the potential to promote and support rural livelihoods and gender equity, but there are relatively few recent scientific publications related directly to this subject. Much of the current research is of clear applicability in highly capitalised and intensive systems, but its possible relevance in other contexts is often unclear. Scientific insights are needed to identify and mitigate the constraints on sustainable household or village levels, or peri-urban production, with special reference to their resilience under climate warming, and social, economic and policy challenges.

Reviews and original papers are invited that either (a) enable the current or future constraints on these small-scale systems to be identified, or (b) report on the developments in livestock production science that are of clear potential benefit to the resilience of these systems. Papers that combine both these approaches will be particularly welcome.

Prof. Dr. Stephen J.G. Hall
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sheep
  • goats
  • small ruminants
  • rural development
  • peri-urban livestock
  • gender equity
  • sustainable livestock
  • rural resilience

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

14 pages, 1676 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Management Practices and Breeders’ Perceptions of Climate Change’s Impact to Enhance the Resilience of Sheep Production Systems: A Case Study in the Tunisian Semi-Arid Zone
by Aziza Mohamed-Brahmi, Mehrez Ameur, Ilyes Mekki, Alicia Tenza-Peral, Masarra Nasraoui, Yathreb Yagoubi, Samir Smeti, Samia Ben Saïd, Naziha Atti, Sandra Lobón and Mokhtar Mahouachi
Animals 2024, 14(6), 885; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14060885 - 13 Mar 2024
Viewed by 667
Abstract
Global climate change inflicts unambiguous risks on agricultural systems and food security. Small ruminants are known for their ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions. This paper aims to characterize sheep production systems in a vulnerable agricultural zone and the breeders’ perceptions of [...] Read more.
Global climate change inflicts unambiguous risks on agricultural systems and food security. Small ruminants are known for their ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions. This paper aims to characterize sheep production systems in a vulnerable agricultural zone and the breeders’ perceptions of climate change to apprehend challenges that they are confronting, and formulate resilience actions. The data analysis is based on 94 semi-structured surveys of sheep farmers carried out in the Tunisian semi-arid region. The PCA analysis results revealed three main sheep production systems. The agro-pastoral rain-fed system (AGPRF) is dominant (55%), with large farms and common pastures integrating cereals and fodder. The agro-pastoral irrigated system (AGPI: 20%) is characterized by small-area and forage irrigation (1.8 ha) and a smaller number of ewes but a greater use of animal feed supplementation. The agro-sylvo-pastoral system (AGSP: 25%) is a system where grazing is based on common lands and using tree sub-products, while the agricultural area is exclusively used to cultivate cereal crops. Sheep breeders’ climate perceptions are summarized as unpredictable climate events, a decrease in precipitation, and an increase in temperature. Resilience actions principally consist of reducing flocks’ numbers, using alternative local feed, fodder, and water resources, and building more shelters and planting more trees in the grazing areas. Nevertheless, cost-effectiveness should be considered in such vulnerable zones to insure the sheep production systems’ sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Small Ruminants and Rural Resilience)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-1
Back to TopTop