|
Project Topic
|
SUREPASTOR aims at increasing the resilience of the Mediterranean agro-pastoral sector, by introducing a series of innovative management approaches for sheep farming systems in areas where the sector is traditionally linked to the exploitation of marginal lands, improving its environmental, economic and social sustainability. The project will last 36 months and in the first phase the Mediterranean agro pastoral systems will be investigated, focusing on the relationships between sheep farming with traditional breeds and rangeland management. A preliminary analysis will be carried out in 5 Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt to make the state of art on farm characteristics, pastoral areas, small ruminants management and performance, local trends related to climate change, and social issues.This information will be then used to identify new management strategies (e.g. best practices, new technologies, digital tools) for their improvement in terms of climate change adaptation, resilience, environmental and socio-economic sustainability, gender and youth issues, market promotion. Models of intervention and promotion will be formulated in close collaboration with the farmers with a special focus on women and younger generations needs, leveraging technology and innovative agronomic managements to enable sustainable, resilient agropastoral farming. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will be performed to quantify the impacts of the innovations proposed on the basis of also a modelling approach to estimate pasture productivities, stocking rates while maintaining the ecosystem services. The second phase of the project will be focuses in test and validate ad-hoc protocols based on specific needs of each case study country (at least 2 selected extensive sheep farms per each country, with a total of 10 pilot farms), leveraging on local or traditionally adapted breeds. At farm level, experimental plots will be settled so as to identify constraints, barriers and incentives to be promoted and sustained to counteract climate change and as strategies for adaptation. Best practices to increase soil fertility and Carbon stock will be implemented (relevance to Call: Proposals, building on good pastoral practices in the Mediterranean Area, should promote an enabling environment for viable agro-pastoral farming and rational use of rangelands: land, water and biodiversity management (including local animal breeds), Carbon, Nitrogen and overall GHG footprint). The possibility of exploiting innovative technologies of Precision Livestock Farming Technologies will be also tested and evaluated. Animal performance will be also analysed in terms of animal intake, forage digestibility, milk yield and its composition, and average daily gain. Moreover, meat production and quality will be analysed, taking into consideration the physical and chemical characteristics of the product of the supply chain (relevance to Call: Proposals should also consider products´ quality in terms of consumers’ health and safety, provision of socio-ecosystem services, questions of social, gender and generational dynamics).The project will analyse the entire value chain to identify feasible and effective strategies, to promote and exploit traditional pastoral products in the Mediterranean market. Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) will also be performed to analyse the socio-economic consequences of the proposed strategies in the different sheep farming systems along their life cycle, in order to assess the environmental and socio-economic performance of the best practices identified in the project and to highlight eco-innovative solutions that will support an effective transition to a more sustainable Med agro-pastoral system.
|
