Evaluating Financial Viability and Adoption Conditions of Foraging and Silvopastoral Systems for Cattle Farmers in Orange Walk, Belize

Abstract

The cattle industry in Belize is a booming industry that requires time and great management for it to be successful. Given the fact that the agricultural sector in the country is on the rise in recent years to compliment the country’s growth, there is room for improvement in the cattle industry to not only make it more productive, but also more sustainable. With more than 5,000 farmers that depend on the cattle industry, threats such as access to finance, pests, and diseases, high transportation costs, lack of market, weather-related events (drought or flooding) risk putting the livelihoods of the farmers in peril; hence the need to improve cattle farming in the north. The farmers in the north of country tend to stick to traditional practices rather than to use silvopastoral systems. With the implementation and adoption of silvopastoral systems on the farms, the farm’s productivity would not only increase, but the impact that cattle farming has on the environment can be mitigated as well. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the financial viability of the farms and to find out what are the favourable conditions needed for the farms to adopt and implement silvopastoral systems in Orange Walk, Belize. This was done by characterizing the farms that are found in the Orange Walk district and to find out what silvopastoral systems (if any) are being used on the farms through a survey that was applied to the farmers. Farms were then grouped depending on the amount of silvopastoral systems that are implemented on the farms. Once determined, a workshop was carried out with farmers from each group along with officials from the ministry and livestock association to confirm some preliminary findings from the survey and to confirm the conditions needed for adoption and implementation of silvopastoral systems. A financial analysis was conducted to determine the financial viability of the farms’ current operation and with scenarios where silvopastoral systems are implemented to see what would better suit the farms; for the financial analysis, only one farm from each group was selected. With the farmers forming groups based on high implementation, low implementation, and no implementation, the financial analysis of the farms current operation was carried out along with scenarios that implemented improved pastures and live fences as divisions that shows increase in the farms’ net present value and cost-benefit ratio. Similarly, conditions such as technical assistance and access to financial aid were considered the most necessary among others for the adoption and implementation of silvopastoral systems by the farmers during the workshop. Although our cattle industry is just growing, the conditions needed for farmers to implement the systems in their farms is not only possible, but also within reach of the farmers that simply require more guidance and awareness of how these systems can be implemented.