Contribution of traditional goat farming systems to the sustainable intensification of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa: The example of the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) increase smallholder yields and environmental benefits by enabling positive interactions between livestock and crops. As goat farming is popular in Africa, in this study, we aimed to characterise goat-rearing systems and further understand the role of goat management and the relevant drivers in ecological intensification processes. We conducted an exploratory snowball sampling of 147 goat breeders in the western provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The smallholders used five agroecosystem components: animal husbandry (100%), croplands (100%), rangelands (73%), fishponds (22%) and beekeeping (2%). In 97% of the cases, the agroecosystem of a single farmer was fragmented, with an average of 3 ​± ​1 plots of land. In 31% of the cases, the plots of land were 2.5 ​km apart from the others, 40% were 2.5–5 ​km apart, and 29% were over 5 ​km apart. The short distance (<2.5 ​km) between animal husbandry land and cropland was positively associated (p < 0.05) with the use of manure as fertiliser and crop residues as animal feed, contributing to ecological intensification. Additional factors (training, breeding pigs and goats, vegetable gardening) were significantly associated (p < 0.05) with the aforementioned agroecological practices. Consequently, three categories of goat breeders were distinguished. The first group, not committed to ecological intensification, had free-grazing goats. The second group also had free-grazing goats, whereas the third tethered or kept goats in confined areas, and both were committed to ecological intensification. Traditional goat farming contributes to ecological intensification when smallholder farmers follow best management practices.