View from There: Jaime Ubidia

Irrigating pasture-based dairies in the middle of the world highlands

View from There with Jaime Ubidia, Sustainable Business Development at SEMAGRO in Ecuador.

Ecuadorean highlands present a unique topography. Two parallel high mountain ranges cross the country from north to south creating valleys with diverse climates between them. The temperature is regulated by the elevation since equatorial weather has no seasons, except for the ones created by rain or the lack of it. As you would expect in this topography, all available water comes from slowly disappearing glaciers, high mountain snowfalls and highland rains. Some of the water will roll down the valleys though rivers, but most of it will be absorbed by the high mountain ecosystems to be released slowly throughout the year. In the last decade we have seen multiple climatic challenges: high-water demand from cities and agricultural areas, higher rain concentration in fewer months in the year, higher temperatures and longer dry seasons. It is imperative we use our water better if we want to continue producing year-round with half our mainland territory involved in some sort of agricultural production.

TRADITIONAL WATER USE BECOMES A CHALLENGE

Increased demand and lower water availability will change the way water has been managed traditionally by producers. Inefficient flood irrigation and uncontrolled pollution of water must be improved and regulated. Precision irrigation and streams protection from animal and industrial contamination will have a dramatic impact on water use efficiency and sustainability.

Over the years, the number of farmers mindful of the exact amount of water needed to grow their crops has been small, mainly because this was usually the responsibility of the irrigator. As a result of lack of technical support, control and maintenance, a portion of each farm ended up not being irrigated. The use of flood (about half the areas irrigated today) and uncontrolled irrigation meant ponding and runoff indicated when an area received enough water.

After the last census in 2018, a large portion of the installed irrigation infrastructure was found to be underused. In state-run irrigation systems, 47 percent of the installed capacity is currently not irrigating. In communitybased irrigation systems, about half of the area isn’t being watered, mainly due to lack of technical compliance and erratic maintenance. For similar design and infrastructure issues, in privately-owned farms, 29 percent of the area under irrigation schemes is currently not irrigated.1 Overall, close to 747.3 hectares of installed capacity is down and in need of adjustments country wide.

Furthermore, the climate changes we have seen in the last years have left some areas in the country with a need to irrigate during most months of the year, when rain just is not enough.

These matters, added to the steep slopes in Ecuadorian highlands (Sierra), inappropriate methods of irrigation, and the lack of skilled irrigators in many areas have made efficient irrigation a challenge.

It is also important to note that different industries such as mining, oil and agroindustry have been mismanaging waste for a long time, having noticeable effects on the available water. Although some guidelines are already in place, there is still a lot of room for the development of legislation that regulates and enforces water care and quality around the country. Moreover, in areas such as dairy farming, regulation is practically nonexistent, with only certain broad recommendations regarding the management and application of effluents.

TAKING PASTURE TO PASTURE-BASED

Historically, dairy farming has always been an important economic activity in our country. Over the last 30 years, a low-cost production system became increasingly important as industry quality demands and supplement costs have become a challenge to profitability. At the centre of this system, like in New Zealand, lies a reliability on pasture production.

As we moved slowly towards low-cost

“Over the last decade we’ve been adopting New Zealand technology and best practices to push our boundaries in terms of feed production.”

1. MAG (2012); SENAGUA (2018) Elaboración: Equipo IICA-SENAGUA, 2018

Effective water management has allowed for substantial yields of Brassicas and other forage crops.

feed in our dairy sector, we found ourselves in a favourable situation: we could run dairy operations all the way from 0–3800 metres above sea level. With an additional bonus: because of the altitude and our geolocation, in most of our highlands we can produce high quality pastures all year round.

Now, realising the importance of pasture production in our business model has highlighted the significance of efficient irrigation in taking pasture production from another feed option to the standard way of farming for high profitability dairies.

As a profit-focused decision, efficient irrigation became a must when seeking better results from each paddock. Yields in pasture production with the right amount of water and proper management reach 20TDM per hectare without much effort, reaching productions of 25TDM per hectare in top performers. This, in terms of our production system, has been a game changer, making dairy farming an attractive business.

Moreover, efficient irrigation has been a way of building resilience into feed production. In many farms over the past years, adjusting irrigation to boost production in slightly dry seasons has allowed for feed silage and stable productions throughout the year.

Areas where traditionally dairy farming had depended heavily on supplement feed due to low production, impermeable soils (“cangahua” or undegraded volcanic ash) have seen results with low-application-rate systems over longer periods of time, finding production of low-cost feed possible. Achieving efficient irrigation and high production is a challenge.

LOOKING AHEAD

Ecuador has been looking at New Zealand as an example in terms of dairy management and pasture production. Over the last decade we’ve been adopting New Zealand technology and best practices to push our boundaries in terms of feed production. Today, low application rate/ effective irrigation systems such as K-Line and G-Set, have accounted for drastic changes in the yields of several dairy farms.

The review and readjustment of existing systems such as pivots and guns to respond to soil type analyses, infiltration rates, and the skill level in each farm has allowed for changes in the pasture production culture and as a result: a need for skilled irrigators.

As Ecuadorian farmers face a production system with pasture at its core, the main challenge today lies in defining the role of irrigators within this system. As we look at what’s been done in New Zealand, South Africa and other similar pasture-based production countries, we understand the next steps towards achieving efficient irrigation lie in training skilled designers and irrigators on proactive irrigation scheduling, water management optimisation and the critical importance of maintenance.