Methodological strategy for a sustainable livestock development plan

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(Edited)
A sustainable forage development plan is framed in a harmonious relationship between man and nature, which guarantees the optimal and sustainable rational use and exploitation of natural resources, respecting the cycles of nature. Likewise, sustainable development is a model that is contextualized to the reality of agroecosystems, and could generate a positive impact, since it becomes imperative to conserve biological diversity and reduce the impact of climate change.

The vision of this sustainable model can be achieved with the application of a systems approach, to address complex problems, being necessary that structural and functional diagnostics are carried out to know the diversity of processes on which a transformation is aspired to be executed. Allowing to identify weaknesses and agree on strategies or alternatives to achieve the objectives, establish indicators that allow evaluating the results obtained, schedule the execution of technologies and establish agreements between the different governmental and university institutions for the execution of technical support.

Based on the aforementioned, below is a method to start collecting the information of interest to establish the sustainable development plan.

Diagnosis and mapping of the area


First of all, in order to collect the information for the execution of the actions according to the needs of the livestock and agricultural sector, it is proposed as a first step to identify the area of action, share an agroecological paradigm, identify limitations, potentialities and opportunities in addition to making a design together with the producers. The suggested methodology will make it possible to collect the information either individually by production unit and/or by sectors consisting of 20 livestock production units in a surrounding area, which could be called the Nucleus of sustainable agricultural production units (NUPAS).

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Such a diagnostic instrument may have the following components:

  • Component 1: general information about the farm or the sector. This component contains general information related to the farm, the producer and his family nucleus (Municipality, parish, sector, address, number of families, area of production units, predominant physiographic characteristics (topography and soil type), main land use, conditions of access roads.

  • Component 2: The producer's vision. This component describes the situation you want in the future. It indicates where you want to get to in a certain time frame, with new technologies and taking advantage of the opportunities of the environment. The purpose of this vision is to guide and motivate to make the desired changes a reality.

  • Component 3: The current situation. At this stage of the elaboration of the farm plan, the main tool to analyze the current situation is the map that the actors will draw. The purpose is to observe and reflect on how the farm is, what is there and how the components are distributed (infrastructures, - animal herd: species, type, quantity, condition and production of meat and milk, destination of production, fish production - water sources, - irrigation systems, - forest cover: type, area, time, - paddocks and pastures: area, species, condition, - annual and/or perennial crops: species, area and yield, machinery, implements and equipment, technical assistance, financing, among others).

  • Component 4: The limitations or the "problems". This component of the plan presents the most important limitations or “problems" that the producer has that affect the well-being and/or productivity of land uses.

  • Componente 5: oportunidades para el desarrollo de la finca. En este componente se mencionan las oportunidades que presentan la finca, sector o entorno, y que podrían contribuir a alcanzar la visión del plan (limitación, causa y posible solución).

  • Component 6: The desired situation. This component is essential for the elaboration of the farm plan because, based on the vision of the actors, the limitations and their possible solutions, the opportunities presented in the farms and their surroundings, the actions to be carried out in the coming years (two, three or five years, depending on the plan) should be proposed to try to achieve what corresponds to the vision.

  • Component 7: The actions that must be followed to reach the desired farm. This component describes the activities or investments that must be made to achieve the changes drawn in the map of the previous component. The language that should be used should be direct and short sentences. This is where the technologies that are promoted for sustainable land management play a very important role.

Final considerations
Dear readers, once the plan is formulated, its execution is expected and, of course, monitoring should be established, it is recommended that the facilitator periodically evaluates the progress of the plan, measuring and rating how much of the plan has been executed, what difficulties have been faced, if there are needs in which the facilitator or the institutions or organizations could collaborate.

Thank you for reading our article, until a next installment.

Bibliographic references
  • Tropical Agronomic Research and Teaching Center-CATIE, (2010). How to prepare a farm plan in a simple way?. Technical series-Technical Manual No. 96.

Sources

- Photography and images:All photographs and images are the property of the author @amestyj
- Agrotecnia banner: made by the author @amestyj with own images
- Hive Banner: Designed by the author @amestyj with image owned by hive.

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