With the objective of developing technological innovations for the restoration of degraded pasture in the Brazilian Amazon region, this project involves all Embrapa units in the North region, besides additional ones in the Midwest. The intended result is to develop technological solutions which involve forage planting methods, e.g. no-till farming, intercropping of forage with annual crops, and alternatives techniques, to combat problems such as infestation by weeds and pest insects orlow soil fertility. In addition, a great effort will be made to organize data on the topic produced in the region in the last 40 years.
Pasture degradation is considered the major problem in cattle breeding in Brazil, affecting an area of 70 million hectares in the country’s Midwest and North regions. The restoration of degraded pastures has been recognized as the main modernizing action of cattle breeding in the Amazon region, since it allows the reuse of deforested areas which are currently abandoned or underutilized, thus increasing productivity, reducing deforestation, fostering soil carbon sequestration, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and rendering the activity more sustainable.
This is a timely moment to recover these vast extensions of unproductive and degraded Amazonian pastures, since various ongoing government programs (More Food, Low Carbon Agriculture Program, FNO Fund, etc.) are providing the necessary means to support investment in the restoration of degrades pastures in the Amazon region, offering loans at low interest rates and long amortization periods.