The City Council of La Laguna and the Pedro Molina Chair of the University of La Laguna will carry out a study to find out the effect of traditional grazing on biodiversity and establish in which areas of the municipality this activity can be carried out without negatively affecting the land.
The mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, maintains in a statement that the commitment of the municipal government with the primary sector, and with livestock in particular, is to continue advancing in actions that allow the recovery of traditional techniques and improve production models and levels of self-sufficiency, with its benefits for the environment and the preservation of the agricultural landscape as a sign of lagoon identity.
The mayor considers that the collaboration with the Pedro Molina Chair is a step to “make the most of current scientific knowledge and technology for the benefit of the sector itself and of society”
The person in charge of the Rural Development, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries area of the La Laguna City Council, Aitor López, details that one of the purposes of this study is to analyze the effect that grazing has on biodiversity and the structure of the vegetation.
To do this, some exclusion tables will be installed on the ground as a witness to contrast grazed areas with non-grazed areas.
“With the results obtained, it will be possible to estimate the livestock load of the space, that is, the number of animals per surface so that there is no negative affectation but, even, on the contrary, it can provide benefits to the ecosystem, such as favoring the development of biodiversity. of the environment, fix atmospheric carbon to the soil, retain water and humidity, and reduce the risk of forest fires”, explains Aitor López.
To carry out this study, Salvador Betancour, a shepherd from the El Rincón area, near Mesa Mota, participated.
“By establishing an appropriate stocking rate for the conservation of the space, the rancher will be able to take advantage of the food throughout the year without negatively affecting the land, which offers the possibility that the cattle have other sources of food that are not just the cultivation of forage”, says Aitor López, who recalls that “there are areas of the municipality that traditionally had an agricultural use and that as a result of their abandonment are currently invaded by vegetation. Some of these areas have potential for the development of environmentally sustainable and economically viable grazing.”
From the Rural Development area it is specified that the study may be reflected in the General Planning Plan.
In the current plan, some rustic soils are established in which grazing is allowed but not in others.
“If these scientific studies tell us that under certain conditions it is possible to graze in areas where grazing is not currently allowed, in future planning we would propose a change that allows this practice on natural protected rustic land with the terms that establish the study”, comments Aitor López, who recalls that “we are talking about a more sustainable livestock”.
The collaboration agreement signed by the City Council and the Chair will develop an annual program of research and training activities focused on traditional systems, peasant studies, economic history and ecological economics from an agroecological perspective.
Among the actions contemplated are the aforementioned analysis of the effect of traditional grazing on biodiversity and the structure of the vegetation; a test on the optimal level of supplementation of concentrates in the feeding of goats in a semi-extensive operation with grazing in La Laguna; and transfer and dissemination actions in agriculture and livestock.
The general objective of the Pedro Molina Chair of Peasant Studies at the University of La Laguna is the promotion of rural development from the perspective of agroecology, in its technical and socioeconomic dimension, based on the knowledge and structures of peasant production, with the active participation of the agents involved.
