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

Abstract

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.