13m 13s: Lenght
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This educational film focused on adaptation practices for tropical dairy producers is the first of the ADAPTA video series! The aim of ADAPTA is to identify and document local successes in sustainable land management practices that farmers, ranchers and landowners in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands could adopt to build climate change resilience. The objective of this outreach project is deliver climate services, to provide educational resources and a reference tool for practitioners in the form of written documents and short videos. Drought and heat have been hitting Caribbean producers hard and have had some particularly detrimental effects on the livestock and dairy industry. As grasses died this summer due to lack of rain, producers in the US Virgin Islands were forced to take measures ranging from collecting tree limbs and branches for fodder, to relying on imported feed and actually culling herds. Pastures were so over taxed many will have to be re-sown completely at great cost to farmers. In Puerto Rico, producers saw their costs rise as they relied ever more heavily on imported feed. Many also saw their production go down as heat stress and lack of nutrients took their toll on herds. Unfortunately, climate models are predicting more of these boom- bust rainfall cycles, with more extreme droughts expected. However, there are measures that farmers can take to reduce the impacts of drought and increased temperatures! Watch as Dr. Guillermo Ortiz of the University of Puerto Rico and rancher Neftali Lluch of the Lajas Valley in Puerto Rico discuss various practical steps to combat rising temperatures and prolonged drought. Stay tuned for our next videos which will be focused on adaptive practices in forestry, plantains, and fruit and vegetable production. We believe Caribbean producers are some of the most innovative in the world. Through this project we hope to highlight and share how local farmers are adapting to remain successful in the face of climate change and many other challenges. For more information on the project, please visit our website at: http://caribbeanclimatehub.org