Legume-based feeding systems for smallholder dual-purpose cattle production in Latin America

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/422

[slp_project_ciat04]

full title: "Legume-based feeding systems for smallholder dual-purpose cattle production in Latin America"

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Simulation of costs and benefits of supplementing milking cows with legumes during the dry season in two hillside regions of Nicaragua
    (Journal Article, 2008-03-01) Holmann, Federico J.; Tiemann, Tassilo T.
    Objectives of this study were to compare costs and expected benefits of feed supplementation in cattle with alternative shrub legumes during the dry season using as a case study the hillsides of Central Nicaragua. The information used was gathered in a survey of 32 farms in the states of Boaco and Chontales in Central Nicaragua. The survey was designed to determine herd structure, land use patterns, milk and beef production, and use of inputs for animal nutrition, in order to estimate production, reproductive parameters and employment of family/contracted labor, as well as indicators of profitability of the alternatives under study. To calculate the economic return to the investment in alternative forages, a simulation model that applies optimization techniques through linear programming, implemented as a spreadsheet, was used to perform an ex ante evaluation of the costs and benefits of different land use alternatives and of interactions between technological components and biological productivity. The model compares the costs and benefits of the traditional feeding system versus an improved feeding system. The traditional system consists of grazing naturalized pastures (Hyparrhenia rufa) during the rainy season. In the dry season producers supplement the herd with small areas of king grass (Pennisetum spp.). The improved feeding system consists of establishing forage legumes for dry season feeding as a supplement to replace king grass during the dry season. Supplements to evaluate are the shrub legume Calliandra calothyrsus as partial replacement of the herbaceous high quality legume Vigna unguiculata, commonly known as Cowpea. Under the new feeding system, herd size can be increased by 60% due in part to the increase in stocking rate as well as to the increase in the quality of the diet offered with higher protein content. This increase in herd size raises both milk and beef output that generates an increase in farm income by 1.8 times more (i.e., from $1,314/farm/yr to $2,386). The economic return to family labor is increased by 20% to $ 5.26/day equivalent to 2.3 times higher than the local wage rate. The adoption of Vigna (Cowpea) after the harvest of maize/beans and a shrub legume as Calliandra to replace king grass seem to have the potential to significantly improve the productivity in smallholder farms. with the resulting increase in the economic return to family labor.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Economic evaluation of current and alternative dual-purpose cattle systems for smallholder farms in the central Peruvian highlands
    (Journal Article, 2009-07) Bartl, K.; Mayer, A.C.; Gómez, C.A.; Muñoz, E.; Hess, H.D.; Holmann, Federico J.
    In four communities in the Peruvian Andes, 56 farmers were interviewed every three months over a period of one year. Information linked to milk and cattle production such as activities, inputs (labour, means of production, capital) and outputs (milk, cheese, animals) were recorded using a closed-ended questionnaire. The communities were divided into two groups with low (LC) and high (HC) level of dependence on income from milk and animal sales. The survey results showed that cattle production on the LC farms was based on less land and a smaller herd (3.32 ha/farm, 1.06 lactating cows) than on HC farms (10.28 ha/farm, 4.19 lactating cows). The data from the survey and the results of the nutritional analyses of 74 feed samples were introduced into a model that applied linear programming techniques in order to estimate the farm household income under the current production systems and evaluate the economic impact of improved forage varieties for hay production. Furthermore, the economic viability of other changes in fodder and herd management was tested. Both groups were characterised by a dual-purpose system generating a gross income from the sale of both, milk and live animals in the amount of -21 (LC) and +1057 US$/farm and year (HC). Due to higher production costs for forages and better access to markets, LC communities were characterised by an integrated crop–livestock system whereas in the HC group income was mainly based on livestock. Introduction of improved and fertilized barley for hay production, was estimated to increase the annual farm income to 127 and 1257 US$ for LC and HC, respectively. This increase was accompanied by an increment of the animal number. Maintaining the animal number but increasing the milk production/cow by feeding additional forage was a less profitable option generating 50 and 1221 US$ of income per farm and year for LC and HC, respectively. The production of hay was limited by high costs (external labour) in LC communities and the restricted availability of family labour in the HC group. A scenario based on the use of improved cow genotypes led to the highest estimated annual farm income for HC communities (1280 US$) but was less favourable for LC. The modelling results showed that the best development strategy depends on various factors such as production costs, access to the markets and to irrigation and availability of different feed resources.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Benefits of adopting improved forages in smallholder farms in Central America: An ex post analysis
    (Journal Article, 2009-02-01) Holmann, Federico J.; Argel M., Pedro J.; Pérez, E.
    The objective of this study was to estimate the benefits received by producers who adopted improved forages as part of a project[1] carried out in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica in terms of increased productivity, stocking rate, and income due to the additional sale of milk and beef in retribution for family labor. Data were obtained from a survey carried out in 2007 that included nine producers in Guatemala, 16 in Honduras, 16 in Nicaragua, and 15 in Costa Rica who had adopted different grass and legume options during the period 2003-2007. The area planted to improved pastures increased in all countries, ranging from 12% in Guatemala to 105% in Nicaragua. Except for Guatemala (where the animal inventory decreased almost 11% due to Hurricane Stan), all countries expanded their herds (between 34% and 41%) in practically all animal categories, not only adult cows. On-farm milk production during the dry season increased 9% in Guatemala, 47% in Honduras and Nicaragua, and 71% in Costa Rica. Milk production during the rainy season remained practically invariable in Guatemala, but increased 48% in Honduras, 19% in Nicaragua, and 53% in Costa Rica. On the other hand, these increases in milk production were also favored by the rise in milk prices in all countries, ranging from 7% in Nicaragua to 36% in Costa Rica during the dry season and from 4% in Nicaragua to 36% in Costa Rica during the rainy season. Beef production accordingly increased 15% in Nicaragua, 46% in Honduras, and 74% in Costa Rica. similar to the trend observed in milk production, beef production did not increase in Guatemala because producers had to sell animals to recover from the losses caused by Hurricane Stan. Likewise, at the end of the project, producers in all countries received higher prices as compared with those obtained at the beginning of the project. The price of beef paid to the producer increased 9% in Guatemala, 4% in Honduras, 5% in Nicaragua, and 11% in Costa Rica. Because of these significant increases in annual milk and meat production, major increases were also observed in the annual net income of farms, reaching 32% in Guatemala, 288% in Honduras, 177% in Nicaragua, and 238% in Costa Rica. These extraordinary increases in net income can be attributed to three factors: (1) the higher milk price in 2007 as compared with that of 2003; (2) higher production due to the better diet; and (3) increased production due to the higher stocking rate allowed because of the adoption of and increase in area sown to improved forages. The increase in the net income of these producers has triggered an increase in the economic returns to family labor, as compared with the commercial value of a day’s wages. Therefore, the returns to family labor in Guatemala went from 3.1 times the value of the minimum wage in 2003 to 6.0 times that value in 2007, representing a 97% increase. In Honduras, the returns to family labor went from 2.9 times the minimum wage in 2003 to 9.8 times that value in 2007, representing a 238% increase. Similarly, in Nicaragua these returns represented a 104% increase and in Costa Rica a 200% increase.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Realizing the benefits of cover crop legumes in smallholder crop-livestock systems of the hillsides of Central America : Trade-off analysis of using legumes for soil enhancing or as animal feed resource
    (Presentation, 2009-12-01) Quintero, Marcela; Estrada, R.D.; Holmann, Federico J.; Rao, Idupulapati M.; Martens, S.; Peters, Michael; Hoek, Rein van der; Mena Urbina, Martin A.; Douxchamps, Sabine; Oberson, Astrid; Frossard, Emmanuel
    Presentation to the CGIAR Systemwide Livestock Programme Livestock Policy Group Meeting, 1 December 2009