Economic viability of a silvopastoral system with and without the inclusion of carbon credits

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study analyzes the economic viability of exotic and native caatinga forest species grown in silvopastoral systems, combined with the Guinea grass forage crop, compared to monoculture forestry systems, using carbon credits as an alternative source of extra income, aiming for an economic return on the sale of standing timber for firewood production. The experiment was conducted at the Experimental Station of the Pernambuco Agricultural Research Institute (IPA) in Belém do São Francisco, located in the semi-arid region of the state of Pernambuco, in the Itaparica micro region. Four tree crops were chosen, two of which are native to the Caatinga biome: Angico (Anadenanthera colubrina var. Cebil) and Aroeira (Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão), and two exotic eucalyptus clones, E. urophylla x E. tereticornis. Guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq) was chosen as the forage. The intercropping of Guinea grass with the two eucalyptus clones proved to be economically viable in all the economic parameters analyzed, and this is the most suitable for marketing standing wood for firewood production. It is not economically advisable to sell the standing wood for firewood production in the monoculture and silvopastoral systems with the native species (Angico and Aroeira) at 96 months of age due to the system's economic unfeasibility. By adding the possibility of financial credit through the atmospheric carbon sequestered by the trees, it is possible to make all the costs of forestry crops in silvopastoral and monoculture systems economically viable.