LSIRD NAPLIO CONFERENCE POSTERS

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The role of livestock in the "MONTADOS" system

Manuel Belo Moreira & Inocêncio Seita Coelho

The "montados" system

"Montados" is a typical farming system of Southern Portugal, mainly in the Alentejo. It is an agrosylvopastoral system characterized by the following aspects: presence of the cork-oak or holm-oak trees, and in some cases Pinus in pure or mixed stands; large or very large physical dimension of each production unit; based on paid labour, part of them seasonal; very extensive use of land and production factors (work, inputs, and fixed capital).

These ecosystems are very fragile, vegetation suffers from hydric stress during the summer and, frequently, there is excess of water during the winter. Due to the rainfall regime, soil characteristics and relief, many areas are quite prone to erosion.

The "Montados" based on cork-oak stands represent 56% of the montados area; 20% in pure and 36% mixed stands associating cork-oak with holm-oak and pinus. The "Montados" based on holm-oak stands represent 44% of the area.

Livestock, when present in the "Montado" system, is usually based on native or on cross breedings (mainly between native cattle X Charolais, Limousine, or Sallers; native ewes X Merino Precoce, Ile de France, or "Bordaleiro Saloio" dairy native ewe from Lisbon region; native Iberian pig X Duroc, Large White or Landrace, see table I).

The main resources of feed supply come from rough grazing lands and shrubland - 70% of the pasture in the Montados area - complemented by stubble fields and cultivated pasture. Cereals and concentrate are used as supplement mainly for pigs and beef cattle.

* free-ranging pig

Traditional farming systems, cultures and native breeds provide for a variety of quality products that already originated the effort to assure their certification as "appellation contrôlée" (see table II)

AOP - "Appellation d'origine"; IGP - "Indication geographique", Reg. CEE nº 2081/92

ETG - "Attestation de spécificité", Reg. CEE nº 2082/92

Case studies

Based on a four year study we found justifiable for a better understanding of the "Montados" system to consider three different subsystems according to the intensity of land use: (I) one mainly agrosylvopastoral with sole cropping; (II) mainly agrosylvopastoral without cropping, and (III) essentially forestry activities. In this text we only give some results of that study conducted in each of these subsystems and following two case types of each.

Brief characterization of the case study:

Subsystem I

case 1 - Agrosylvopastoral with sole cropping.

"Montado" of holm-oak and cork-oak. Wheat and oat growing in open areas, rehabilitated grazing lands (based on trifolium and lupinus) under trees. Livestock structure: cattle - 58.4%; sheep - 37.5%, and pigs - 4.1%.

case 2 - Agrosylvopastoral with sole cropping.

"Montado" of holm-oak. Wheat growing in open areas and under the trees, rough pasture and shrubland. Livestock structure: sheep -100%.

Subsystem II

case 3 - Agrosylvopastoral without cropping.

"Montado" of cork-oak. Rehabilitated grazing lands (based on trifolium). Livestock structure: cattle - 80.4%; pigs - 12.4%, and sheep - 7.2%.

case 4 - Agrosylvopastoral without cropping.

"Montado" of cork-oak. Rehabilitated grazing lands (based on trifolium). Livestock structure: sheep - 59.3%, and cattle - 40.7%.

Subsystem III

case 5 - Forestry.

"Montado" of cork-oak, Pinus Pinaster, and Eucalipthus. Livestock structure: Sheep - 92.8% and goats - 7.2%.

case 6 - Forestry.

"Montado" of cork-oak, Pinus Pinaster, Pinus Pinea, and Eucalyptus. Without livestock. Since it does not have livestock this case will not be considered in the following table.

* msu - mediterranean sheep unit

** md - man day

Discussion

These figures allow us to conclude that the most extensive farming systems loose revenues because they don't take advantage of the natural resources available. That is, case 5, without cropping or rehabilitated grazing lands, and without labour savings by comparison with the other case study, presents the smallest livestock net margin, reaching only 70% of the average of the 5 cases. This is a strong evidence that the understanding of extensification must be qualified very carefully. In fact, all these cases are extensive and all can qualify for E.U. subsidies. However, case 5 shows the most rent seeker behaviour, without any advantage to the environment or any significant advantage concerning E.U. market surplus.

Low productivity cultures and livestock, mainly based on native breeds and using traditional grazing systems (rough pasture and shrublands) cannot compete with high productivity varieties and races of intensive grwoth areas. Thus, to maintain these traditional systems mainly those based on fragile ecosystems like the "Montados", along with free and globalized markets, it is necessary to provide the farmers with extra sources of income. One part comes from E.U. grants to preserve native breeds, and to support extensive farming systems. The other part must come from a strong effort to obtain a higher value for the products in the market place. The certification procedures, as it is beginning to happen in Alentejo as shown in table II, are perhaps a good attempt to achieve this goal.

Inocêncio Seita Coelho
Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária.

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