Carbon Footprint Analysis And Mitigation Strategies In The Indonesian Buffalo Milk Supply Chain: A Life Cycle Assessment And Scenario Modeling Approach
Keywords:
Life Cycle Assessment, carbon footprint, buffalo milk, smallholder systems, mitigation strategiesAbstract
The increasing global demand for sustainable food production necessitates a comprehensive understanding of livestock environmental impacts. Buffalo milk production, while economically significant in Indonesia, contributes substantially to greenhouse gas emissions, yet empirical data on its carbon footprint in smallholder systems remain limited. This study applied a Life Cycle Assessment with cradle-to-farm gate boundaries to quantify the carbon footprint of buffalo milk and evaluate mitigation strategies. Primary data were collected from 150 smallholder farms across three provinces complemented by IPCC guidelines and national statistics. The average carbon footprint was 4.37 kg CO₂-eq per kg fat- and protein-corrected milk, exceeding the global average of 3.2 kg CO₂-eq/kg FPCM, with enteric methane contributing 53.2% of total emissions. Five mitigation strategies were modeled: improved forage quality, tannin-rich browse supplementation, manure management optimization, genetic selection, and integrated silvopastoral systems. The integrated scenario achieved a 37.6% reduction, lowering emissions to 2.73 kg CO₂-eq/kg FPCM. These findings provide evidence-based recommendations for sustainable buffalo dairy development in Indonesia's smallholder sector and support the country's Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.
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