Brazil to recover degraded areas to boost cattle numbers

Embrapa, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, plans to help Brazilian agribusiness recover degraded areas and cultivate places considered unusable to boost cattle population. 

By recovering degraded pastures, Brazil will be able to double its cattle herd, said the institute's president, Pedro Antonio Arraes Pereira.

About 80 million hectares may be salvaged through technology, with Brazil having recovered two million hectares so far, Arraes said.

The degraded areas are mostly those used for cattle raising, where pasture was planted as long as 30 years in many of them. One of the most viable alternatives is crop-cattle-forest rotation system, Arraes said.

The re-sowing of pasture may be done using corn or rice, thus reducing the pressure on new areas, he said.

However, he noted that farmers must be encouraged to use these technologies, as cattle farmers do not have the necessary equipment for working with grain.