Assessment of the sustainability of small dairy farms in the North of Tunisia

Abstract

Description of the subject. The demand for animal products is increasing due to human population growth. In addition, climate change poses a major threat to the viability and sustainability of livestock production systems, which are the subject of much debate. Objectives. This study aims to assess the sustainability of small dairy farms in the North of Tunisia. Method. Sustainability scores were calculated on the basis of individual interviews conducted on 107 dairy farms using a tool based on indicators covering the three dimensions of sustainability (agroecological, socio-territorial and economic). It allows a quantitative assessment of farms simultaneously on three scales. The questionnaire encompasses these three scales of sustainability, and each scale is composed of a set of indicators. These indicators are aligned with the objectives and scale of analysis, reliable and simple to understand, and incorporate variables for easy measurement. The final sustainability score is the lowest value of these three scales. This analysis is combined with PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and Ascending Hierarchical Classification (AHC), statistical analyses to classify the farms into groups according to the final score. Results. The average results of the sustainability assessment show that the highest performances are recorded for the agroecological (65 points) and economic (63 points) scales, while the socio-territorial dimension penalizes the total sustainability of the farms (56 points). The descriptive analysis of the IDEA method provides a representative picture of the sustainability of small Tunisian dairy farms in the North. The PCA and AHC analyses of the data allowed the identification of four groups of livestock systems according to the components of sustainability. The first is represented by the least sustainable farms. The second group consists of farms with acceptable agroecological and socio-territorial sustainability, but very low economic sustainability. The third group is made up of farms with the best economic sustainability, acceptable socio-territorial sustainability but the lowest agroecological sustainability. The fourth group is associated with the most sustainable farms at all three scales. Conclusions. The overall results show that there is no dissociation between agroecological, socio-territorial and economic sustainability, and that improvements must therefore be made simultaneously on all three scales.