Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Agroclimatic zoning: a planning strategy for agricultural and livestock systems in Alta Guajira, Colombia

Typical landscape in the Alta Guajira. Photo: D.A. Gómez-Latorre (2014)

Abstract

One of the most important dry agroecosystems in Colombia is found in the northern Guajira region, which has native inhabitants (sociocultural aspect) and semiarid zones (ecological aspect). This condition has resulted in great vulnerability in agricultural production systems to adverse climatic events, which require large scale action. For example, the establishment of agroclimatic suitability zones are needed to access information, for decision-making. The aim of this study was to carry out agroclimatic zoning in the municipality of Uribia (La Guajira) for agricultural production systems and animal feed species. The criteria used to identify the agroclimatic suitability zones included: plant coverage present in the municipality, soil suitability, water storage under water stress, regular conditions found in the municipality, and an extreme water deficit event. The evaluated conditions showed variations in agroclimatic suitability during the periods January to April and August to November. During an extreme water-deficit event between August and November, the suitable area for the establishment of production systems with plant species (type C3 and C4) was smaller (77,000 ha) than in the period January to April (130,000 ha). The agroclimatic suitability categories in Uribia did not exhibit differences between the evaluated periods under average water-deficit conditions.

Keywords

Land cover, Dry zones, Water deficit, Production systems

PDF

References

Allen, R.G., L.S. Pereira, D. Raes, and M. Smith. 1998. Crop evapotranspiration, guidelines for computing crop water requirements. FAO, Rome.

Amiri, F., A.R. Shariff, and T. Tabatabaie. 2012. Monitoring land suitability for mixed Livestock grazing using geographic information system (GIS). pp. 241-266. In: Alam, B.M. (ed.). Application of geographic information systems. Institute of advance technology (ITMA), Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia. Doi: 10.5772/47939

Arbiza, S. 1986. Producción de caprinos. AGT, México D.F.

Arce, C. and E. Uribe. 2015. Managing vulnerability and boosting productivity in agriculture through weather risk mapping: A guide for development practitioners. Agriculture Global Practice Technical Assistance Papers. World Bank, Washington, DC.

Basualdo, A., M. Berterretche, and F. Vila. 2015. Inventario y características principales de los mapas de riesgos para la agricultura disponibles en los países de América Latina y el Caribe. IICA, San Jose.

Brown, G. and C.M. Raymond. 2014. Methods for identifying land use conflict potential using participatory mapping. Landsc. Urban Plan. 122, 196-208. Doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.11.007

Brunini, O., J.R. Zullo, H.S. Pinto, E.D. Assad, E. Sawazaki, A.P. Duarte, and M.E.Z. Patterniani. 2001. Riscos climáticos para a cultura do milho no estado de Sao Paulo. Rev. Bras. Agron. 9(3), 519-526.

Cleves-Leguízamo, J.A., J. Toro-Calderón, L.F. Martínez-Bernal, and T. Loeón-Sicard. 2017. La Estructura Agroecológica Principal (EAP): novedosa herramienta para planeación del uso de la tierra en agroecosistemas. Rev. Colomb. Cienc. Hortíc. 11(2), 441-449. Doi: 10.17584/rcch.2017v11i2.7350

Corpoica, Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria. 2016. Plan de manejo agroclimático del sistema productivo de ganadería ovino-caprina, municipio de Uribia, departamento de La Guajira. Mosquera, Colombia.

DANE, Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística. 2014. Censo nacional agropecuario 2014. In: https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/agropecuario/censo-nacional-agropecuario-2014; consulted: April, 2019.

Eslava, J.A. 1993. Climatología y diversidad climática de Colombia. Rev. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. Ex. Fis. Nat. 18(71), 507-538.

FAO. 1976. A framework for land evaluation. Soils Bulletin 32. Soil Resources, Management and Conservation Service, FAO Land and Water Development Division, Rome.

FAO. 1991. Guidelines: land evaluation for extensive grazing. FAO Soils Bulletin 58. FAO, Rome.

FAO. 1996. Agro-ecological zoning guidelines. FAO Soils Bulletin 73. Soil Resources, Management and Conservation Service, FAO Land and Water Development Division FAO. FAO, Rome.

Field, C.B., V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, Q. Dahe, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, G.-K. Plattner, S.K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley. 2012. Informe especial de los Grupos de trabajo I y II del Grupo Intergubernamental de Expertos sobre el Cambio Climático, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and Nueva York.

Fischer, M. and S.H.V. Velthuizen. 2002. Climate change and agricultural vulnerability. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis; World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg.

Gelcer, E., C.W. Fraisse, L. Zotarelli, F.R. Stevens, D. Perondi, D.D. Barreto, H.A. Malia, C.C. Ecole, V. Montone, and J. Southworth. 2018. Influence of El Niño-Southern oscillation (ENSO) on agroclimatic zoning for tomato in Mozambique. Agric. For. Meteorol. 248, 316-328. Doi: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2017.10.002

Grajales, H.A., D.C. Moreno, and B.J. Atuesta. 2011. Guía técnica de producción ovina y caprina: I. Aspectos favorables y desfavorables para la producción ovina y caprina. International Print, Bogota.

Gupta, A.K. 1992. Integration of livestock with agro-climatic zone-based land use planning. Livestock Res. Rural Dev. 4(1).

IDEAM, Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales. 2012. Mapa de coberturas de la tierra metodología corine land cover adaptada para Colombia escala 1:100.000 (Período 2005 - 2009). Bogota.

IGAC, Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi. 2009. Estudio general de suelos y zonificación de tierras del departamento de La Guajira. Bogota.

Islam, M.R., M.M. Rahman, M. Mahbubur, and M.A. Zaman. 2002. Effect of agro-ecological zones, farm category and season on feeds and feeding of large ruminants in rural Bangladesh. Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 15(5), 643-649. Doi: 10.5713/ajas.2002.643

Keno, B. and K.V. Suryabhagavan. 2015. Rangeland suitability evaluation for livestock production using remote sensing and GIS techniques in dire district, southern Ethiopia. GJSFR-H 15(1), 11-25.

Kim, I. and S. Arnhold. 2018. Mapping environmental land use conflict potentials and ecosystem services in agricultural watersheds. Sci. Total Environ. 630, 827-838. Doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.176

Kioko, J., J.W. Kiringe, and S.O. Seno. 2012. Impacts of livestock grazing on a savanna grassland in Kenya. J. Arid Land 4(1), 29-35. Doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1227.2012.00029

Magrin, G. 2015. Adaptación al cambio climático en América Latina y el Caribe. Documento de proyecto CEPAL, Santiago.

Márquez, J. 2006. Protección a la producción de caprinos en La Guajira. Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario, Bogota.

Martínez, F.E., L.Y. Deantonio, G.A. Araujo, E.O. Rojas, D.A. Gómez-Latorre, D.F. Alzate, L.A. Ortiz, E. Aguilera, and J.F. Boshell-Villamarín. 2016. Agroclimatic zoning methodology for agricultural production systems in dry Caribbean region of Colombia. Agron. Colomb. 34(3), 374-384. Doi: 10.15446/agron.colomb.v34n3.59672

Mesa, O.J., G. Poveda, and L.F. Carvajal. 1997. Introducción al clima de Colombia. Imprenta Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota.

Oba, G., E. Post, N.C. Stenseth, and W.J. Lusigi. 2000. The role of small ruminants in arid zone environments: A review of research perspectives. Ann. Arid Zone 39(3), 305-302.

Palmer, W. 1965. Meteorological drought. Research Paper No. 45. Weather Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce. Washington, DC.

Pinilla, G. and S. Zuluaga. 2014. Notas sobre la vegetación desértica del Parque Eólico Jepírachi, Alta Guajira, Colombia. Rev. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. Ex. Fis. Nat. 38(146), 43-52. Doi: 10.18257/raccefyn.39

Roncallo, B. 2002. Origen y evolución de la caprinocultura colombiana. Medicina veterinaria y zootecnia en Colombia, trayectoria durante el siglo XX y perspectivas para el siglo XXI. Ed. Edivez, Bogota.

Shinde, A.K., S.A. Karim, S.K. Sankyan, and R. Bhalla. 1998. Seasonal changes in biomass growth and quality and its utilization by sheep on semi-arid Cenchrus ciliaris pasture of India. Small Rumin. Res. 30(1), 29-35. Doi: 10.1016/S0921-4488(98)00087-X

Steinfeld, H., C. De Haan, and H. Blackburn. 1996. Livestock-environment interactions: Issues and option. Commission of the European Commission Directorate-General for Development. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The United States Agency for International Development and the World Bank. Fressingfield, Eye, Suffolk, UK.

Zhang, J., L. Zhang, L. Welling, Q. Yue, and W. Xiao. 2014. Livestock-carrying capacity and overgrazing status of alpine grassland in the Three-River Headwaters region, China. J. Geogr. Syst. 24(2), 303-312. Doi: 10.1007/s11442-014-1089-z

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Similar Articles

<< < 1 2 3 4 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.