Helping farmers select forage species in Central America: The case for a decision support system

Intensification is a key strategy for smallholder farmers in Central America, and improved forages can play a significant role. To facilitate adoption of forages a spatial decision support system (SDSS) is under development to target forage species to particular biophysical, socio-economic and manag...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: O'Brien, R., Peters, Michael, Cook, Simon E., Corner, Robert J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: 2003
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/43531
Description
Summary:Intensification is a key strategy for smallholder farmers in Central America, and improved forages can play a significant role. To facilitate adoption of forages a spatial decision support system (SDSS) is under development to target forage species to particular biophysical, socio-economic and management niches. This paper discusses the role of improved forages in smallholder systems, and the potential for a SDSS to provide information and recommendations to farmers and their advisors. The potential pitfalls of designing and implementing a SDSS for developing world agriculture are discussed and addressed, and the SDSS under development is described.