Sustainability indicators applied to dual-purpose livestock farming in Santiago Rodríguez, Dominican Republic

Abstract

Agricultural activities generate nearly 6% of the Dominican Republic's GDP. Despite this, the approximately two million head of cattle do not meet national demand. This is due to the fact that the subsector faces high input costs and obsolete production systems. Furthermore, the country lacks accurate and up-to-date statistics for the dairy and meat sectors, let alone timely estimates of sustainability. Thus, this study aimed to measure the sustainability of dual-purpose livestock farming in the province of Santiago Rodríguez, Dominican Republic through the application of productive, social, environmental, and governance indicators. To this end, the SAFA tool with its 116 indicators was selected, combined with the cyclical measurements of MESMIS. Thirty-four indicators were adapted. With this, 12 farms were analyzed, four per municipality, using a survey with 54 questions: 30 closed and 24 opened. The system's sustainability was found to be medium: challenges such as low dairy productivity, high climate vulnerability, limited knowledge of the chain, low involvement of women and youth, high dependence on unskilled personnel, poor use of silvopastoral resources, non-compliance with environmental regulations, and damage to soil, water, and air resources must be overcome to maintain sustainability. The midpoint of sustainability is leveraged by fair prices for meat and milk, low costs and number of workdays, pregnancy frequency, and high cultural values, which translate into a barely positive profitability.