Silvopastoral farming, where trees and forage plants are planted in livestock pasture, may support biodiversity and offer solutions to high deforestation rates, according to a new
A transition to silvopastoral systems (SPS), when implemented in a participatory way where farmers can decide how the system is adopted in their farms and make commitments to conserve remnant forests, could help
Over the last 20 years,
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The team's findings include:
Even the small, remnant forests found on the farms studied were host to unique communities of invertebrates and plants, evidence that preserving these should be a priority in terms of biodiversity.
Silvopasture supports greater numbers of native plant species (72 species) compared to traditional pastures (62).
Fewer herbivorous pests are found in silvopasture compared with traditional pastures. On average, across the farms surveyed, almost twice as many (a 95% increase) of insects (called Hemipterans) were found in traditional pasture compared to silvopasture. This may indicate that greater biological control by invertebrate predators such as spiders occurs in silvopasture, although further data is needed to confirm this hypothesis.
Twenty-five per cent of trees planted to establish the silvopasture were from the legume family (Fabaceae) which have the potential to increase soil fertility by fixing nitrogen from the air to the soil, and may therefore help increase the productivity of livestock.
The use of improved forage grasses, such as Brachiaria, may contribute to increased productivity in silvopasture compared to traditional pastures, as we found the average height of the grazing grasses in silvopasture was more than double that in traditional pasture.
Silvopasture can sequester more carbon than traditional pasture, and allows higher stocking densities (between 1.25 and 3.75 times higher than conventional pasture), resulting in an average 1.8 times less GHG emissions. However, primary forest plots are still 66.5 times more effective at storing carbon than silvopasture and it is therefore vital to halt further deforestation. Regenerated forests sequestered between 27 to 164 times more CO2 per hectare per year than SPS.
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'Deforested areas have a high potential to transition from intensive farming to more sustainable practices, including silvopasture. Since many of these areas are next to forest remnants in Caqueta, adopting more sustainable agriculture, coupled with farmers' agreements to protect remaining forests would prevent further conversion of primary forest and slow overall deforestation rates. While sustainable agriculture alone is insufficient to reduce deforestation, silvopasture could play a significant role in helping to achieve
Report
The project's report and recommendations Agri-environmental policy, silvopastoral systems, biodiversity and climate change is published in both English and Spanish.
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