Agriculture Stuff for /K/ountry

Agriculture for new /k/ountry

What can we grow?


1. Rice (Specifically Laman Padi and Langkawi-Pantai Cenang)
2. Rubber (India Rubber)
3. Palm Trees (Palm oil and coconuts)
4. Pineapples
5. Bananas
6. Rambutan (Grape like fruit that has gummy taste)
7. Cocoa (Chocolate of course)
8. Durian (Weird fruit that can smell really bad or really good depending on the person)
9. Tomatoes
10.  Peppers
11.  Sweet Potatoes
12.  Yams
13.  Sweet Corn

What can we raise?

1. Cows

Breeds to consider: Senepol, Ankole-Watusi, Brahma

2. Pigs

Breeds to consider: Mulefoot, Tamworth, Large Black

3. Chickens

Breeds to consider: White Leghorn, Golden Buff Chicken, Barred Rock Chickens

4. Rabbits (Special accommodations are necessary because Rabbits are heat sensitive)

Breeds to consider: New Zealand White, American, Silver Fox, Flemish Giant

5. Goats

Breeds to consider:
- Dairy Breeds: Nubian, Nigerian Dwarf, LaMancha, Boer
- Meat Breeds: Spanish, Boer, Savanna/Savannah

*all breeds and crops listed above are heat tolerant, the only exception are the Rabbit Breeds as all Rabbits are sensitive to heat




Important Things to Consider

What is considered a "small farm" in Asia varies from one country to another. In Taiwan, a pig farm with 2000 animals is considered a small one, while in the Philippines and Thailand small-scale raisers typically have 10-20 pigs. In Japan, Korea, and Taiwan there has been a trend towards fewer livestock farms with larger numbers of animals to give economies of scale.
Large-scale producers almost always have an advantage over small-scale ones, in terms of lower costs. In Japan, the average number of animals kept by a farm in 1992 was 25.7 times that of 1970. This is not an encouraging sign for small-scale producers in countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. It implies that the development of the commercial livestock industry may mean the disappearance of hundreds or thousands of the less economic units.

TL;DR size of Island/land depends on how much livestock we can support


Plant Waste and Cutting Costs Feeding Livestock

In the traditional backyard production system, livestock eat whatever forage is available, supplemented by crop residues, cut grasses, and any other feedstuffs the farmer can find. Typically, traditional livestock breeds can tolerate a rather poor diet but are slow to gain weight. Once farmers change to more intensive commercial production, the feed supply becomes a major problem. High performance livestock need a high quality diet. The small size of Asian farms limits the amount of feed that can be grown on the farm itself, and most farmers use feed concentrates. Nearly all Asian countries are highly dependent on imported feedstuffs, and feed is generally the largest part of production costs. Programs to lower the cost of feed and make more use of local feed resources can be a great help in improving small farm efficiency. In Malaysia, there are programs to use the abundant agro-industrial wastes as livestock feed, and new sources of forage such as chopped oil palm fronds are being explored. Taiwan, with its rice surplus, has included forage in its paddy field diversification program. Specialized forage producers use their former paddy fields to grow Pangola grass, Napier grass, or green corn. This is sold to local livestock producers, and provides 70% of local forage demand.

TL;DR leftover plant stuffs should not be wasted as it can be used to feed animals and grow more plants





Animal Production

Small-scale producers find it impossible to breed high performance animals from the small herds on their own and neighboring farms. A common problem among small-scale producers is their limited access to improved livestock. This puts them under an added disadvantage in competing with large commercial enterprises, which can afford excellent animals and have large herds of breeding stock to select from. A basic part of promoting livestock enterprises is an AI service which small-scale producers can afford.

Possible Solution(s):

1. Prevent commercialization of livestock, work as a whole to breed various lineages 	of livestock until a suitable breed performance is acquired and then continue on with said breed lineage.

2. Start off with high performance breeds of livestock. This requires a bit of cash but will be a better future investment because you already start off with quality instead of trying to breed it.



Animal Waste

In the traditional system, livestock manure was a valuable product used as a fertilizer in crop production. With the intensive raising of large numbers of animals, it has become difficult and expensive to dispose of livestock wastes. There are now many programs, particularly in the industrialized countries of Asia, to convert livestock wastes into a less offensive form that can be used as organic fertilizer. Even in Japan, with its massive feed imports and many intensive livestock farms, croplands have the potential capacity to absorb all livestock wastes, providing the problem of distribution can be solved.
For small pig farms with less than 200 head, a system using a manure bed in the pig house has been developed in Taiwan. The mixture of sawdust and manure is regularly collected and made into organic fertilizer.

TL;DR Compost, compost, and compost. Animal waste makes some of the best fertilizer for plants. For saw dust we can use whatever is leftover from cutting down and harvesting the native trees on the island.





Opinions



Livestock

In terms of livestock we need to focus on animals that are hardy and produce a lot of meat, eggs, milk, etc. Chickens, goats, and rabbits should be the main priorities in terms of establishing livestock on a small island because of their low costs and high meat yield (See “What can we raise?” and “Breeds to Consider”. These three types of livestock are cost effective, space efficient, and for the money can produce the amount of food needed to feed everybody adequately granted that we have enough of each type of the three livestock listed so that more animals can be bred in the future. While their meat yield in extremely high pigs and cattle should be focused on later due to their large size, amount of space needed, and cost to feed.
	In terms of exportation livestock I personally believe that if we did this that we would lose money. We would lose money due to other countries mass producing tons more livestock than we would. On top of this I'm sure there are excruciatingly harsh rules and regulations when it comes to exporting livestock goods.




Crops
All of the crops listed in the “What can we grow?” section are all viable choices, but since were limited on space we need to focus on only a few that will benefit us. Rice, palm trees, rubber trees, tomatoes, bananas, pineapples, and sweet potatoes are in my opinion the only crops that should be grown due to the fact that they thrive in a hot, humid, Malaysian like climate. Some odd crops that we could cash in on due to their high exportability and demand are Rambutan and Durian. These two particular crops are becoming popular and if we farm them on our island we can make a little extra money, and every little bit of money counts when accumulating revenue for our countries funds. But since our country will be small we must take into consideration how much space we have to work with and what will benefit us, and when I mean benefit us I mean it will accommodate important nutritional needs while we are living on the island/land getting things set up.








*disclaimer! All of this information is assuming that our country will have a tropical, Malaysian like climate*


Sources


General Information
http://www.agnet.org/library.php?func=view&id=20110729115122&type_id=1

Chicken Breeds
https://www.purelypoultry.com/heat-hardy-chickens-c-154_252.html

Cow Breeds
http://www.countrysidemag.com/91-3/heather_smith_thomas_2/
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/brahman/

Pig Breeds
http://littlepigfarm.com/pig-breeds/

Rabbit Breeds
http://users.tamuk.edu/kfsdl00/rabb.html
http://www.raising-rabbits.com/meat-rabbits.html

Goat Breeds
http://www.grit.com/animals/raising-goats-zm0z13mjzgou.aspx?PageId=3

Crops
http://www.agridept.gov.lk/index.php/crop-recommendations/1083-rambutan
http://www.dit.go.th/agriculture/durian/situate.htm
http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/tropical-vegetables.html