Sustainable tropical dairy systems

Executive Summary

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) advocates for animal-origin products with low carbon emissions, supporting nutrition and rural livelihoods. The project aims to enhance the productivity of tropical dairy systems in an eco-efficient manner, thereby contributing to food security in Cauca, Colombia, and Manabí, Ecuador. The tropical agro-environment fosters diverse productive alternatives and forage utilization for animal feed, making the livestock sector pivotal for economic and social welfare. However, it faces challenges such as climate change adaptation and mitigation. Consequently, there is a global trend towards eco-efficient livestock production strategies, aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and societal demands for cattle dietary strategies enhancing profitability and climate sustainability. The project will assess productive and environmental parameters on dairy farms in both regions, focusing on carbon and water footprints, ecosystem services, and nitrogen balance. Subsequently, it will develop animal feeding and nutrition strategies to enhance profitability, nutrition, rumen fermentation efficiency, milk quality, and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly enteric methane. The project will produce documents showcasing the nutritional, productive, and environmental characteristics of traditional and eco-efficient dairy herds, implementation of sustainable feeding strategies, and technology adoption via ICTs to foster climate-sustainable milk production in tropical regions. Climate-smart dairy production systems emerge as technological alternatives for sustainable, intensified, environmentally friendly, and economically viable cattle farming, enhancing food security in the target regions.

The technological solution

The project aims to boost dairy system productivity in Cauca, Colombia, and Manabí, Ecuador, via climate-smart production strategies, including: 1) Characterizing productivity and nutritional profiles of feed sources. 2) Evaluating environmental parameters of dairy production systems. 3) Developing sustainable bovine feeding strategies to enhance productive efficiency while being environmentally friendly. 4) Bridging the technological gap through knowledge dissemination and technology transfer to farmers and communities in the target regions.

Results

Beneficiaries

2,083 people related to the agricultural sector of Colombia and Ecuador, including at least 20 independent cattle ranchers or those associated with cooperatives that are part of the cold milk supply chain to commercial plants operating in the department of Cauca, Colombia, and the province of Manabí, Ecuador, three companies marketing dairy products, 1,045 producers, students, and/or professionals from the agricultural sector participating in workshops and/or field days, university events on training in the use of climate-smart feeding strategies in dairy herds, and 1,000 people linked to the agricultural sector using the software generated in the project called Climate-Smart Productivity Information System for Tropical Dairy Herds (iSiCPec) and trained through webinars. Additionally, 15 students and professionals will be involved as technicians or through internships, research work, and professional experience within the framework of the project.

Sustainable Development Goals

Main donors