Sustainable milk and beef production in Nicaragua: actions and opportunities for an inclusive value chain

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dc.creatorHoek, Rein van der
dc.creatorMena Urbina, Martin A.
dc.creatorCorrales, Roldan
dc.creatorMora Benard, María Alejandra
dc.creatorBoekhorst, Jeanne
dc.creatorOjango, Julie M.K.
dc.date2016-09-19
dc.date2016-09-14T15:34:46Z
dc.date2016-09-14T15:34:46Z
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-27T14:40:38Z
dc.descriptionIn Nicaragua the cattle sector accounts for 36% of agricultural exports and presents an important opportunity for smallholder farmer livelihoods. Current extensive dual-purpose (milk and beef) cattle production leads to soil degradation, deforestation, high levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of product, and a shift of the agricultural frontier towards the vulnerable Caribbean region. The CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish is implementing activities to make the dual-purpose cattle value chain more efficient, competitive and inclusive, with a specific focus on gender equality. Feed and forages work has improved the productivity of forage-based livestock production (up to 100% in terms of kg milk/ha), increased carbon accumulation and at the same time reduced its ecological footprint (by over 50% in terms of GHG emissions per unit of product) as part of LivestockPlus. This concept addresses sustainable intensification in three ways: socioeconomic – market opportunities and policy application; ecological – improved farm and natural resource management practices; and genetic – improved forage cultivars. Work on genetic improvement of cattle has included establishing an information, input, and service data platform linked to breed improvement in a wider farm-household context. It involves continuous monitoring and assessment of the performance of the predominant breed-types reared by 155 farmers in central Nicaragua as an initial step towards informing development of breeding strategies for dual purpose cattle in mixed farming systems. In collaboration with a farmers cooperative, capacity development in Farmer Field Schools and on-farm research involving 1000 farmers has resulted in increased productivity (milk by 40%, liveweight by 70%), income (by 20%) and natural resource integrity (establishment of 4,000 ha of silvopastoral systems). Strategic alliances have been developed between value chain actors (farmers' organisations, NGOs, research, private sector with a focus on value addition to livestock products while increasing gender equity. In general, however, adoption of improved technologies and practices is still low. There is therefore a strong need for an increased policy incidence on sustainable livestock development and incentive mechanisms for farmers and other value chain actors, including certification of sustainable livestock products.
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/77048
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/85176
dc.languageen
dc.publisherInternational Center for Tropical Agriculture
dc.rightsOpen Access
dc.sourceHoek, R. van der, Mena, M., Corrales, R., Mora, M.A. and Ojango, J. 2016. Sustainable milk and beef production in Nicaragua: Actions and opportunities for an inclusive value chain. Poster prepared for the Tropentag 2016 Conference on Solidarity in a Competing World—Fair Use of Resources, Vienna, Austria, 19–21 September 2016. Cali, Colombia: CIAT.
dc.subjectmilk
dc.subjectlivestock
dc.subjectvalue chain
dc.subjectganado
dc.subjectleche
dc.subjectcadena de valor
dc.titleSustainable milk and beef production in Nicaragua: actions and opportunities for an inclusive value chain
dc.typePoster

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