Pasture renovation practices of farmers in the neotropical savannahs

Degradation of sown pastures in the neotropics is a well known but poorly documented phenomenon. The paper reports the results of a survey conducted in the eastern savannahs of Colombia to quantify farmers' reactions to perceived pasture degradation. The survey was conducted in an area of 23 644 km². The sample consisted of 46 farms, which had 19 012 ha of Brachiaria decumbens pastures distributed in 374 paddocks. Of these paddocks, 196 had been sown with vegetative seed, and 281 had received modest rates of P fertilization at planting. Pastures sown on flat lands had younger modal ages (three years) and were renovated more frequently than those sown on hilly or dissected savannahs (10 years). These differences were probably a result of variations in infrastructure and relative stage of development of the two topographies, but slight differences in inherent soil fertility may also have played a role. We found no relationship between grazing management and frequency of pasture renovation. Implications for future research on pasture reclamation are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.