Abstract
Caívas are traditional silvopastoral systems that occur in the Araucaria Forest biome, Southern Brazil, in which animal production and erva-mate extraction are integrated. Participatory research was conducted in caívas in the Northern Plateau, Santa Catarina State, to identify strategies to intensify pasture use and increase animal productivity. To better understand the outcomes of these strategies, a sustainability assessment was conducted in properties that participated in the research (improved caívas; IC) and those that did not (traditional caívas; TC). The Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems (SAFA) tool 2.0.0 for smallholders was chosen as it evaluates the productive unit as a whole using environmental, social, economic, and governance indicators and is tailored for small-scale production. All evaluated indicators showed higher scores for IC properties in relation to TC. In general, the SAFA analysis showed that when evaluated as productive systems, TCs are a strategic option for rural development, as 65% of their indicators were evaluated as good. With the support of rural outreach and research and the adoption of appropriate technologies, this percentage increased to 86% in ICs. These results confirm that with adequate support caívas can significantly contribute to the development of more sustainable livestock farming in Southern Brazil.
Highlights
As a response to global challenges stemming from population increase and a changing climate, alternative agricultural systems are necessary to obtain social, economic, and environmental sustainability [1]
Our analysis demonstrates that incorporating environmental, social, governance, and economic factors into assessments of sustainability enable a more nuanced understanding of traditional practices and the important institutional indicators that can play a key role in supporting sustainable development
In this case, approaching institutional indicators through good governance guidelines is an important contribution of the SAFA-SH App, since it is understood that organizations and farmers committed to sustainable development require governance structures where values and responsibilities are clearly established and transparency, accountability, process legitimacy, and rigorous sustainability management are supported [11]
Summary
As a response to global challenges stemming from population increase and a changing climate, alternative agricultural systems are necessary to obtain social, economic, and environmental sustainability [1]. Despite its recognition as a sustainable agricultural practice, measures and metrics related to assessing the sustainability of agricultural systems often give greater weight to environmental and economic indicators to the detriment of social dimensions [9,10,11], which are an essential aspect of many traditional agroforestry systems. This oversight can lead to incorrect interpretations about the sustainability of agroforestry systems [12], further threatening their continuation in the face of ‘modern’ agricultural practices. The intense degradation of some ecosystems, combined with a resistance to incorporate TEK into environmental policies, have prevented or even prohibited small-scale farmers from managing forests through agroforestry systems [13,20]
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