Agroecological practices to support tropical livestock farming systems: a Caribbean and Latin American perspective

Abstract

With global climate changes currently occurring, and particularly given the severe energy and food shortages occurring throughout tropical regions, agroecological (AE) systems are drawing renewed attention as an efficient alternative to intensive models of production, particularly unsuitable in regions of the world such as the Caribbean or Latin America. There is a pressing need to focus on livestock farming systems (LFS) and characterize their potential contributions to global sustainability. A multidisciplinary approach is needed to address these multiple and complex problems. Traditionally, LFS have shown their sustainability high potential. The purpose of this work is to highlight solutions to minimize inputs, by describing some success and diverse case studies through the Caribbean. These systems were analyzed at different levels: animal/function, farm/family, and territory/society. This produced a set of guidelines that help to increase the efficiency of tropical systems, particularly those concerned with (1) choosing the best-suited genotypes, while enhancing population biodiversity; (2) matching the farming system to the available resources, feed, and byproducts; (3) steering the whole farming system through reproduction management with no hormonal treatment, while facilitating system reproducibility and increasing performances; (4) controlling health constraints instead of annihilating risks and implement an integrated management design to reduce chemical treatments or increase the use of nutraceuticals; and (5) mitigating climate constraints by using soft techniques. In the second part of this work, some integrated systems are described. The Tosoly farm of Colombia, for instance, is conceived as a totally integrated crop-livestock system, allowing the additional production of energy at the farm level. Thus, it epitomizes the positive impact that livestock can exert upon the environment. The case study of Haiti indicates how AE practices can help in designing a pro-poor sustainable milk production system. It concerns an entire dairy sector built all over the country on the basis of micro-units of milk production and processing.Access provided by Universidade de Lisboa, member of B-on Consortium Portugal

Beef Cattle Farming Strategy in Baluran National Park

“…Pratama et al (2021) report three main preferences of a farmer in selecting forages: the palatability of the cattle, nutrient content, and forage productivity. A feed integration system is applied to maximize production to increase farming efficiency (Alexandre et al, 2021). 4.…”

Dual-Purpose Cattle Raised in Tropical Conditions: What Are Their Shortcomings in Sound Productive and Reproductive Function?

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Comparison of mathematical models to estimate live weight through heart girth in growing Pelibuey sheep

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