CATIE promotes innovations in pasture management while increasing tree cover on Honduran cattle farms

• In agreement with the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and in coordination with national stakeholders, best management practices and silvo-pastoral systems are being implemented in the development of cattle farms in Olancho.

May 23, 2023. Olancho is considered the department with the highest cattle raising activity in Honduras. This cattle ranching is characterized by being extensive, with low productive and reproductive indexes. However, CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center), in coordination with other institutions, has begun to promote the sustainable intensification of livestock farming. In this sense, they are generating knowledge and experience on various management practices and silvo-pastoral systems that have the potential to sustainably intensify livestock production. Among this range of practices, rotational grazing has proven to be efficient in increasing the productivity of grazing areas, with the potential to triple forage production per unit area.  

However, in order to develop adequate rotational grazing, an adequate number of paddocks is required and to take advantage of the pasture in its optimum quantity and quality. In Olancho, the division of paddocks to implement rotational grazing implies a considerable investment, due to the use of traditional barbed wire fences with dead posts combined with live posts or "prendones".

Another important practice in sustainable livestock farming is tree cover. On-farm trees contribute significantly to biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and income generation for producer families. However, forest cover on Olancho's cattle farms could be greater and more diverse. Previous studies have determined that Olancho's cattle ranching families, in addition to live fences, are interested in establishing timber trees of high commercial value, but one of the limitations is the damage caused to the trees by grazing animals.

It is at this point that the combination of electric fences (powered by a solar panel) with live fences and timber trees on the boundaries, as an alternative to reduce costs in the implementation of rotational grazing and at the same time protect the timber trees, taking advantage of the facility to protect the trees from damage by cattle by installing additional lines in the electric fence, that is, leaving the line of trees between two electrified lines, arises in a participatory manner.

Specifically, in agreement with American Bird Conservancy (ABC), CATIE is developing a group of model farms in Olancho, for which a farm plan was developed in a participatory manner and the implementation of the aforementioned practices began. It is expected that these farms will be taken over by the project to support the Honduran livestock NAMA, where environmental and productive indicators will be monitored, as well as in other pilot farms that will be developed in other areas of the country.

It is expected that the evidence and scientific and technical knowledge generated by these projects will motivate the National Sustainable Livestock Platform (PNGS, its Spanish acronym) to design and promote a national sustainable livestock policy, with its respective strategy and joint action plan.