Page 164 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 3

Ecosystem Based Adaptation Activities to
Climate Change for Sustainable Agriculture
2.4. Holistic Planned Grazing

Holistic planned grazing is a part of holistic management and is a framework
for adjusting the intensity and timing of grazing in grasslands and fodder recovery
periods. The main principles of its implementation can be summarized as follows:
Reducing the number of herds by dividing livestock into larger groups
Planning of plant recovery/growing times before planning of grazing times
Basing the stocking rate on fodder suitability
Careful creation of drought reserves according to the number of grazing
days left in the season (fodder available until the next estimated rain fall versus
the number of animals)
Planning of ecological monitoring to determine whether the growing,
grazing, grazing-free period and livestock management strategies affect
grassland health (Savory, 2016).
Holistic Planned Grazing aims to maximize soil cover, biological mass
production, grassland biodiversity and livestock performance. At the same
time, while adapting to the financial needs of producers as well as local
socio-cultural dynamics, it also strives to minimize the pest cycle, weed and
invasive species (Savory, 2016). Grazing plans are not fixed, on the contrary,
they are based on continuous cycles, monitored and adapted. In this way,
according to the requirements of farmers, communities, flora and fauna, it is
tried to maximize the resources during growth and non-growth seasons. It is
successfully applied in the USA, Argentina, Australia, Kenya, Mexico, Pakistan,
South Africa, Sweden and Western Turkey, where it is widespread.

Table 7: Prepared by the author using the Benefits and Challenges of Holistic
Planned Grazing (FAO, 2018d) report.

BENEFITS CHALLENGES
• Decreasing water and wind • The knowledge-based EBA
erosion farming system requires a com-
• Increased nutrient cycling (in- plete perception of the main
cluding carbon sequestration) principles
• Increased water leakage and • It is often confused with ‘rota-
retention tional grazing or collective graz-
• Increased grassland drought ing systems’.
resistance and resilience to • Lack of carefully examined
climate extremes scientific studies to verify the
• Extension of grassland growth demands of implementers
periods • It is based on an holistic ap-
• Increased grassland bearing proach that requires the inclu-
sion of economic and social
capacities management inputs
• Increasing economic return for
rural dwellers

Year 2 / Issue 3 / January 2023 149