The alliance between CIAT and Mexico's Papalotla Group has been one of the driving forces behind the development of improved tropical pastures. The genesis of this relationship dates back to the year 2000, when the possibility of the seed company evaluating the hybrid and determining if it has potential as a crop is explored. Until that time, CIAT had been operating a forage improvement program and had advanced in the production of Urochloa (Brachiaria) and other genetic forage material, but being an organization dedicated to research, it faced challenges in achieving the rapid commercialization of this material. In this process of synergy, what is achieved is that CIAT can benefit farmers in developing countries with improved technologies, while the private sector, represented in this case by Papalotla, contributes to the development, use and dissemination of the advanced biological technologies achieved by the CIAT (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, 2000).
The first interspecific hybrids in the breeding program of Urochloa (Brachiaria) of the CIAT (cvs. Mulato and Mulato-II) were released in the Americas in the early and mid-2000s by the Papalotla Group (Maass et al., 2014). Originated in Africa and transferred to Latin America on ships during the slave trade, the Urochloa (Brachiaria) quickly adapted to the region's acidic soils (CIAT, 2001). In the early 2000s, CIAT developed the Mulato hybrid to be released in 2003 with exclusive worldwide rights for production and sale. Papalotla, on the other hand, provides seeds and advice to growers (CIAT, 2001). Mulato, which constitutes the world's first tropical hybrid grass, is distinguished by its ability to increase meat and milk at a time when small and medium-sized farmers were being hit by global policies of economic openness (CIAT, 2002).
In 2005, the Mulato II variety (CIAT 36087) was released by Grupo Papalotla. As Peters (2011) points out:
“The cv. Mulato II is the result of three generations of crossing and selection carried out by the CIAT Tropical Forage Project, based on crosses initiated in 1989 between B. ruziziensis R. Germ. Evrard with 4-6 tetraploid sexual B. decumbens tapf v. Basilis 1 apomictic tetraploid. Sexual progenies from this first cross were placed under open pollination to generate a second generation of hybrids, from which a genotype was selected for its good agronomic characteristics, which was crossed again using the same open pollination procedure with a series of apomictic and sexual accessions and hybrids”.
Mulato II reinforces the benefits of the new hybrids: it continues to be confirmed that they resist the passage of cattle, hail, that they suppress weeds and help to retain soil moisture and fertility, in addition to resisting the salivation insect, so that they constitute a powerful biological tool for the rehabilitation of pasture, allowing greater productivity and agricultural efficiency in the long run (CIAT, 2001). Likewise, the phrase of Eduardo Stern, of the Papalotla Group, in a CIAT publication (2001, p. 17) applies to this hybrid, to the effect that with improved forages, “less land is needed to produce more, so that pressure on the jungle is relieved”.
The diagram below (figure 1) shows the evolution in scientific and innovation developments with peaks between 2005 and 2006 when Mulato II was launched and there is evidence of a notable growth in these developments towards the year 2020.
The relationship between CIAT and Grupo Papalotla seeks to influence the transformations that are required to improve communication between R&D institutions and organizations, national universities, NGOs, seed trading companies, associations and/or associations of producers, public-private companies with their own training and extension initiatives (Enciso, et al. 2019), and to improve the level of regional influence and feedback between institutions and organizations that contribute to the improvement of the promotion, dissemination of technologies to producers and rural extension.
Consistently, it is the relationship between organizations (CIAT-Papalotla), the factor that has allowed us to promote R&D and expand the market for hybrid pastures nationally and internationally, which generates greater access to quality products for livestock producers, improving the quality of milk and meat, as well as the quality of life of consumers and rural populations dedicated to livestock.
Although there is a strong link between institutions such as Papalotla and CIAT, in which the former finances some of the activities of the latter and contributes to the development of hybrid forages, this does not happen between most Innovation and Development institutions and intermediary agents. In the period 2001 to 2017 (a period marked by Papalotla's acquisition of exclusive rights to hybrids developed at CIAT in 2001, until the start of the importation and distribution of hybrid pastures by that company in 2017), the sale of hybrid seeds showed an increasing but fluctuating behavior (Gallo-Calo et al. 2021). According to Gallo-Calo, the fluctuations that mark the growth of these seeds respond to challenges such as adverse regulatory policies, taxes, cultural traditions, international market movements, climatic and sociopolitical factors, among others.
Among hybrid seeds, the most sold is Urochloa (Brachiaria) Mulato II Hybrid. In Latin America, the main exporters of forage seeds for the lower tropics (hot regions) are Brazil and Mexico, where the former has great market power over other countries in the area, making it a very influential actor for determining the varieties to be exported and for determining prices (Gallo-Calo et al. 2021).
The vast literature offered by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) from 1979 to 2023 on the pasture program concludes that developments in scientific research on pastures, and especially hybrids, allow peasant and livestock families to increase the quality and quantity of milk and meat from cattle, resulting in better economic conditions.
For the year 2012, in its report on the forage program called “Synthesis of CIAT research programs”, the CIAT maintains that, thanks to its relationship with the Papalotla Group, in the development of scientific research on:
Superior cultivars of Brachiaria (Mulato and Mulato II —both developed at CIAT) combine high nutritional quality, drought tolerance, resistance to salivation and adaptation to acidic soils. Its release by the Mexican seed company Papalotla helped to improve livelihoods in rural areas through greater efficiency of livestock production. In addition, small producers also benefited from the sale of seed, vegetative material for planting and forage. (p.1)
In the context of the first two decades of 2000, a time of increased criticism of the livestock industry for its role in climate change. CIAT research began to account for processes such as the restoration of degraded land, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the conservation of biodiversity. The reduction of environmental impact with the implementation of improved hybrids has been reported in results such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the more efficient use of inputs such as water, nutrients, land and labor. Over the past few decades, the relevance of aspects such as impacts on the carbon footprint has been identified.
Among the socioeconomic challenges in the forage seed market identified in the literature, it points to an increase in livestock herd areas in several countries in the region, evidencing the extensive dimension of livestock activity, which is expressed in low levels of competitiveness (Gallo-Caro et al. 2021). On the other hand, low biomass and deficiencies in animal nutrition are other factors that lead to low productivity, sustainability and profitability indicator results. In this scenario, the adoption of improved forage technologies represents an effective tool for improving sustainability indicators by bringing benefits in environmental, economic and social terms. Other challenges that were revealed are technical: impediments related to the lack of adequate infrastructure and the necessary technology for the sustained production of forage seeds, which has hampered the efficient production of both grass and legume seeds, combined with the lack of knowledge of producers of the practices of production and post-harvest management of forage seeds (Enciso Et al. 2020b).
The use of new methodologies in projects, including, for example, historical reviews, institutional analyses, social cartographies or the incursion of a gender approach, has provided a deeper understanding of issues such as limitations and bottlenecks in research, resulting in the identification of challenges of a different order. This can be seen more strongly in the early 2000s.
In the Sankey diagram that represents Papalotla's relationships in scientific development and innovation (Figure 7), highlights the prevalence of institutional history as the theme with the greatest recurrence. This phenomenon reflects the essential link between CIAT and the Papalotla Group, highlighting the collaboration of diverse actors and alliances in geographical and scientific fields. The breadth of the fringes associated with institutional history reveals the intensity of this link over time (Figure 7).
A more detailed analysis shows that social and environmental impacts are at the center of the graph, reflecting the research trajectory on the science of improved forages and pastures. The bands corresponding to these categories indicate the diversity and evolution of knowledge, highlighting the processes of transformation of seed material and the practices associated with it that relate to the environmental impact derived from the development of hybrids and grass varieties (Figure 7). In contrast, the commercial relationship emerges as the topic with the lowest impact on the graphic, suggesting that this aspect has not been central to the textual discourse analyzed.
In addition, the analysis reveals that social impact is a recurring and significant element in Papalotla's scientific and innovative development. The breadth of the range associated with this category highlights its prevalence and its connection to the well-being and food security of rural families, as well as to the productivity of farms that implement improved pasture hybrids (Figure 8). At the same time, there is a marked interest in environmental impacts, indicating challenges associated with climate change and sustainable development processes in the implementation of hybrids of Urochloa (Brachiaria). These challenges highlight the importance of addressing crucial environmental aspects in scientific development and innovation (Figure 8).
