Abstract

RAMIREZ, Bertha L; LAVELLE, Patrick; ORJUELA, José A  and  VILLANUEVA, Oscar. Characterization of cattle farms and adoption of agroforestry systems as a proposal for soil management in Caquetá, Colombia. Rev Colom Cienc Pecua [online]. 2012, vol.25, n.3, pp.391-401. ISSN 0120-0690.

Objective: to promote the adoption of agroforestry systems for the recovery and reorientation of land use of traditional farming systems in the Colombian Amazon. Methods: participatory techniques were used to assess the current state of local farming systems and to exchange experiences with farmers regarding environmentally-friendly technologies. The first stage involved the application of a structured survey in 134 farms, which included variables related to livelihood and production systems. In a second stage, agroforestry ''protein bank'' plots were evaluated in two farms associated with bio-organic fertilization (FBO). Descriptive statistics and a ''t'' test for mean differences using the SPSS package were used for the analysis. Results: the group of farmers engaged in traditional farming using large areas produced 1.6 liters of milk/cow/day with large money investments. A second group that established silvopastoral systems such as fodder banks, diversified production with annual crops. A third group that engaged in agroforestry manage of small farms kept a few cattle basing production on perennial crops, and received higher income than the other two groups due to higher profits per area. Agroforestry systems with Tithonia diversifolia plots associated with FBO were higher than treatments without FBO (p<0.001). Green forage production with FBO was 4.3 kg/plant in Farm 1, and 5.8 kg in Farm 2 during 195 days since its establishment. Conclusions: a farm diversification process is under development in the Colombian Amazon with the establishment of silvopastoral and agroforestry systems, showing interesting preliminary results.

Keywords : agroforestry; bio-organic fertilization; participatory rural development.

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