Posted on May, 15 2010

The seminar Sustainable Cattle Ranching Practices: Challenges and Perspectives in the Bolivian Pantanal was held in May through an alliance between the Center for Tropical Agricultural Research (CIAT), the San Matías Cattle Ranchers Association (AGASAM) and the San Matías Protected Area, in collaboration with WWF. The seminar was held in San Matías and was replicated in the city of Santa Cruz, in the Center for Tropical Agricultural Research.

This seminar was held within the framework of the Promotion of the Application of Good Practices for Cattle Ranching in the Bolivian Portion of the Pantanal project, which according to Nelson Joaquín, head of the CIAT Research Department, has the aim to spread cattle ranching production experiences under environmentally friendly practices in the Pantanal in order to revalue the production in the Pantanal and motivate the cattle ranchers of Santa Cruz to implement these practices.

The speakers presented the application of good practices for cattle ranching in the Pantanal, stressing the Brazilian experience in trying to avoid environmental impact and improving the cattle ranching production.

In the words of Fabio Ramos, Agrosuisse consultant and speaker of the seminar, traditional cattle ranching practices could cause a series of impacts on the environment, and states that “the main problems that they cause are a decrease in water quality, clearings and erosion, the use of fire to recover pastures and their sowing without forage intentions”. However, there is an alternative to avoid the environmental problems derived from cattle ranching practices: the application of environmentally friendly good practices for cattle ranching.

Cattle ranching practices can be summed up as activities that contribute to the development of sustainable production systems, practices that involve the recovery from environmental degradation states, practices that promote the preservation of natural resources and are economically feasible throughout time, the use of scientifically tested and proved technologies, and the elimination of practices that may cause a negative impact on the environment.

The speakers stressed the importance of using good practices for cattle ranching, which would generate a better cattle ranching production. The application of these practices and the support of different public and private institutions, NGOs, universities, companies and associations, “served to strengthen the work of the Brazilian Organic Cattle Ranchers Association (ABPO), formed by organic cattle ranchers who now export organic meat to Europe”, said Leonardo Barrios, ABPO chairman. “By applying environmentally friendly good practices for cattle ranching, we have given our product an added value, selling a concept of respect for the environment than many people are willing to pay for”, declared Leonardo.

And as Fabio Ramos commented, “there is a market for organic cattle ranching”. This was demonstrated by the Brazilian group JBS-Friboi, the biggest exporter of bovine meat in the world, which created a brand of organic meat and exported it to Europe. Now we have “a differentiated type of meat that complies with the requirements of the European market, which represents the biggest market in the world”, as well as the place where the Pantanal organic meat is sold.