Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar

With this alternative, the milk production cost was US$0.33/kg while the
price received was US$0.32/kg. Therefore, the additional income from the
sale of male calves increased farmers’ income a little above the minimum wage
and paid for variable costs.
This alternative also proved to be the most attractive, with productivities
of 1,500 kg/lactation and even up to 2,000 kg/lactation. In no scenario did
the forage alternatives evaluated in this study (Brachiaria + Arachis or
Brachiaria + Cratylia) succeed in reducing milk production costs at levels
below that of the native pastures supplemented with brewers’ yeast.
Under the assumption that brewers’ yeast ceases to be a viable option for
supplementation, another option evaluated was maize at US$0.23/kg. For the
option of Brachiaria with Arachis and/or Cratylia to form part of the solution,
and with milk production levels of 800 kg/lactation, maize price would have to
be US$0.38/kg (a 65% increase) so that the cost of producing milk equals the
current alternative. Therefore it seems very unlikely that producers will adopt
the alternative of Brachiaria with Arachis and/or Cratylia if they have brewers’
yeast and/or maize at US$0.23/kg as alternatives. With milking cows
producing 1,500 kg/lactation, the price of maize would have to increase 9% to
equal the production cost of both alternatives evaluated.
The fundamental reason why none of the improved forage options were
economically better than the current management practice of native pastures
+ brewers’ yeast is because of the high capital investment required per milking
cow. The low current proportion of milking cows induces a high depreciation
rate of improved pastures per cow. In Pucallpa, the percentage of milking
cows was 41% while in Costa Rica and Nicaragua this figure was close to 60%.
Therefore, to invest in these new improved forage alternatives, it would be
necessary to increase the percentage of milking cows in a year to a minimum
of 53%, or increase the stocking rate of 0.9 AU/ha to 1.3 AU/ha by
introducing more animals. In this new scenario, the evaluated forage options
would form part of the solution.
From the financial viewpoint, Figure 7 presents the real interest rates
that could be paid if a producer in Pucallpa invests in the establishment of B.
decumbens associated with A. pintoi. Peru had the highest real interest rate of
the three countries considered in this study, with 34% (44% nominal minus
10% annual inflation rate). Therefore, even if the investment in these new
forage options was economically superior, the high real interest rate available
in Peru did not allow producers to adopt these technologies. Therefore, in the
financial scenario existing during the study, producers in Pucallpa had no
option for intensification, (not even with productivities/cow of 2,000
kg/lactation and with payback periods of 10 years) because it was not
possible to pay a real interest rate of 34% (the best scenario possible was
15%).
101