Abstract
A variety of indicator-based methods have been developed for the sustainability assessment of farming systems (FSs). However, many of them lack holisticity, focus on a specific agricultural sector/product, and do not provide aggregated results to better support decision-making process. The goal of this study was, for the first time, to assess, in a holistic manner, the sustainability performance of different FSs in southeastern Cyprus. The methodological framework involved three major steps. First, the sustainability context was set, and a list of 41 environmental, social, and economic indicators was created. The indicators were then calculated using data from 324 farms. Second, six FSs were identified using multivariate analysis. Finally, the sustainability of FSs was assessed by combining numerical (construction of four composite sustainability indices) and visual (presentation of indicator scores and values with graphs and tables) integration approaches. While the indices provided the “big picture”, visual integration revealed the areas where policy interventions are needed. The analysis showed that sustainable agricultural practices are already used by some farmers in the area. The results could be used for benchmarking purposes and to aid decision-making process in Cyprus but might also be useful for other Mediterranean regions with similar agro-ecological conditions.
Highlights
In the agricultural sector, sustainability assessment is a key step in building sustainable farming systems (FSs), viz. that are environmentally friendly, economically viable for farmers and socially acceptable [1,2]
This paper explores the suitability of the proposed methodological framework for assessing and comparing the sustainability performance of divergent FSs, while an attempt is made to address the aforementioned “limitations” identified in the literature
This study focuses on two key agricultural districts located in the southeastern part of Cyprus, namely Larnaca and Famagusta (Figure 1) with a population of about 144,900 and 47,000, correspondingly [25]
Summary
Sustainability assessment is a key step in building sustainable farming systems (FSs), viz. that are environmentally friendly, economically viable for farmers and socially acceptable [1,2]. That are environmentally friendly, economically viable for farmers and socially acceptable [1,2] It follows that such assessments, methodological approaches, frameworks or tools, should consider all three dimensions of sustainability to allow an integrated (or holistic) assessment of FSs [3,4,5,6,7,8]. A large number of indicator-based sustainability assessment tools already exist and are applied in practice [2,3]. In such tools, indicators are used individually, as part of a set, or in the form of a composite index [6,11]. A balanced set of indicators is preferred, even when heterogeneous, since individual indicators are of limited use to sufficiently represent all essential sustainability aspects of a complex system [3,7]
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