Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar

The capital required for this level of adoption in different regions and
countries ranged between US$6 and US$54 million, equivalent to an
investment of US$44/cow in Honduras and US$249/cow in Nicaragua.
Furthermore, the payback period varied from 6 months to 3.2 years because
the levels of investment were highest, except in Honduras where there was
already a significant adoption of improved forages.
Level 3. This level was the most difficult because it demanded the
highest investment. Achieving an impact at the regional level required from
US$8 million in Honduras to US$82 million in Nicaragua; however, the
benefit, in terms of additional income for producers in the dry tropics in
each country, ranged between US$14.3 million/year in Honduras and
US$30.7 million/year in Nicaragua. Thus, based on this cash flow, the
payback period needed to recover the initial investment varied from 0.6
years in Honduras to 2.7 years in Nicaragua.
Seed Requirements for Technology at the Regional Level
Table 10 presents seed production needs required for the establishment
of each forage alternative, according to the level of adoption at the regional
level in each country (Table 8), assuming an annual rate of adoption of 10%
of the available area for each alternative.
Level 1. About 9 t of C. argentea seed are required per country per
year. Seed production/ha of Cratylia is approximately 160 kg/ha (Argel and
Lascano, 1998) and the demand for seed is about 8 kg/ha (Table 11).
Because availability of Cratylia seed is a limitation, to satisfy the demand it
will be necessary to establish 58 ha of seed multiplication plots in Costa
Rica, 48 ha in Honduras, and 62 ha in Nicaragua.
The demand of sugarcane propagation material is similar to that of
Cratylia. It is estimated that 1 ha of sugarcane produces 60 t of planting
material for multiplication and that approximately 14 t are needed to
establish 1 ha (Table 12). Therefore to satisfy planting needs, 68 ha of seed
multiplication plot must be established in Costa Rica, 15 ha in Honduras,
and 102 ha in Nicaragua.
Level 2. The amount of seed required to achieve this level of adoption
at the regional level is greater because the area to plant is larger, especially
of Brachiaria spp. However, grass seed is not a constraint because of the
existence of local seed companies.
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