Abstract
Keynote paper presented at the International Leucaena Conference, 1‒3 November 2018, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.Despite the great potential of legumes in cattle production, their adoption and use throughout the tropical world remain limited. While this is largely attributed to factors such as limited knowledge or access to credit, lack of information on the viability and profitability of the technology can influence the adoption decision. The objective of this study is to evaluate the profitability of including Leucaena diversifolia, accession ILRI 15551 in a Colombian beef cattle production system. For this purpose, we use data from a grazing experiment comparing a grass-legume association (Brachiaria hybrid cv. Cayman and L. diversifolia) with a grass monoculture (cv. Cayman) in the Valle del Cauca department, both with the purpose of beef production. We use a discounted cash flow model, developed with the simulation software @Risk, which considers inherent risk and uncertainty factors in these types of rural investment projects, under three different pasture degradation scenarios. The results indicate that the inclusion of L. diversifolia is financially profitable and substantially improves the associated risk and performance indicators. Profitability indicators increased in a range of 15‒110%, and the probability of suffering economic losses decreased from 72% to 0%. The results were directly related to the increases in animal productivity (49%) and efficiency resulting from including the legume. This work shows that L. diversifolia has significant potential to increase both animal production and profitability, which is conducive to the sustainable intensification of beef production in grazing systems.
Highlights
The forage-based cattle sector plays a key role in tropical food production, food security and poverty alleviation (Peters et al 2013; Capstaff and Miller 2018)
This work shows that L. diversifolia has significant potential to increase both animal production and profitability, which is conducive to the sustainable intensification of beef production in grazing systems
The association of Cayman and L. diversifolia increased animal production by 49%, compared with a Cayman monoculture
Summary
The forage-based cattle sector plays a key role in tropical food production, food security and poverty alleviation (Peters et al 2013; Capstaff and Miller 2018). The sector is being associated with problems of land degradation, deforestation, water pollution and depletion, and loss of biodiversity (Steinfeld et al 2009). Under this perspective, and in the context of: scarce resources; increased global demand for food; and climate change (FAO 2017), governments, NGOs and other organizations have developed strategies to mitigate the sector’s environmental impacts, increase its efficiency and improve its productivity. In the context of: scarce resources; increased global demand for food; and climate change (FAO 2017), governments, NGOs and other organizations have developed strategies to mitigate the sector’s environmental impacts, increase its efficiency and improve its productivity In this regard, improvements in animal feeding and sustainable intensification are considered to be among the most promising strategies to date (Gerber et al 2013; FAO 2017)
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