The Role of the Livestock Farming Industry in Supporting the Global Agricultural Industry

The livestock farming industry is a strategic industry and has a very important potential for the advancement of the agricultural industry. The livestock farming industry is an industry that plays a role in providing protein food for most of the world’s population. Not only as a food provider, but also having a very large contribution to the progress of agricultural cultivation in the world. The livestock industry contributes part of the needs of the agricultural industry through the provision of environmentally friendly organic fertilizers. The integration of the livestock farming industry and the agricultural industry is a mutually supportive system. The integration of plants with livestock is basically an agricultural system characterized by a close relationship between plant and livestock components in a farm in a certain area. The bio-mass waste products from the agricultural industry can be used as a source of animal feed or as raw material for compost. The combination of the livestock industry with the agricultural industry provides enormous economic value for the development of the livestock and agricultural sectors. In Indonesia, the concept of integration between the livestock industry and the agricultural industry has been proven to improve the standard of living and economic status of the community. Some important materials will be discussed in more depth in this paper, including: (1) integration between livestock and rice, (2) integration between goats and cacao plants, (3) integration of livestock with oil palm, (4) integration of ruminants with cassava plants, and (5) integration of cattle with horticultural crops. Utilization of livestock and agricultural waste can reduce environmental burdens. Livestock farming industrial waste in the form of manure can be combined with agricultural wastes. This waste can be used as raw material for organic fertilizers which can be used as a fertilizer provider to support the cultivation of food crops, horticulture and plantations. The development of livestock in an area can encourage farmers to fill their vacant land to be planted with forage. Guidance efforts that will be carried out will be oriented towards land conservation. This is done through the arrangement of forage planting. Therefore, this will have a positive impact on increasing forage production. This effort will ultimately support the improvement of feeding patterns, proper land arrangement and being able to reduce the rate of erosion. The existence of livestock will add a source of manure. This is certainly synonymous with increasing land fertility which can provide business opportunities in optimizing land use diversification. The role of livestock in the livestock industry is the main support and complement in the system of integration in the livestock industry-agricultural industry.