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Introduction

Mano sosteniendo una planta

In the late 1990s, the Tropical Forage research program of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT, now part of The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT) and the Mexican company Grupo Papalotla signed an agreement for the development and commercialization of interspecific hybrids of Urochloa (Brachiaria), the most widely sown forage species in the world, transforming the livestock landscape in the tropics. Although Papalotla's agricultural journey began with the sale of imported forage materials, the acquisition of the license for interspecific hybrids of Urochloa Brachiaria meant their definitive immersion, with “their own” materials, in forage technology transfer for the improvement and dissemination of improved pastures. In addition to the impact that the formal release of these hybrids had for Papalotla and for the livestock producers who adopted and continue to adopt hybrids and their mixtures, the alliance between forage research and the private sector meant the geographical expansion of scientific work, the materialized impact that, after decades of research and improvement, contributes to the transformation of livestock in the world.

The creation of improved pasture hybrids not only involves social and economic considerations, such as increasing farm productivity and increasing food security among rural families, but also involves an effort to reduce the environmental impact of livestock in the tropics.

Narrating an institutional relationship such as that of CIAT-Papalotla is especially significant, both because it amplifies the impact of scientific work on agriculture, landscapes, and forms of production, and because it investigates the relationships, territories and markets that make possible the geographical, environmental and economic reach of improved pastures, one of CIAT's most emblematic crops. By exploring issues such as the production of improved pasture, the knowledge involved in this process, and how seed multiplication is achieved on a large scale, we open the door to understanding the larger social and environmental factors that determine the adoption of agricultural technologies.

That is why, in this proposal, we propose a research exercise that reconstructs the institutional, scientific and commercial relationship between CIAT and Papalotla, with a view to contributing to the systematization of experiences carried out over the decades of joint work, the strengthening of the links between the two institutions and the prospects for development towards the near future, full of challenges and encouraging possibilities.

Varios
“Sometimes that's more satisfying for me, personally, than the economic question. That you suddenly meet someone on the street or in a place and there they greet you, you don't even know who they are, but they tell you that one day you recommended your pastures and it works for them. That gives you a lot of satisfaction. It is part, I think, of why we have made a lot of synergy between Papalotla and CIAT, we see ourselves practically as a family, because our fundamental goal is the benefit of the community and we have to transcend and leave something of an impression also on people and in the countryside”
—Papalotla
Comercialización
“The sales network is always supported. Above all, from the municipality, in its type of land, all the characteristics of the land where it is going to be planted. Better material is recommended to them and they are accompanied. Our sales network and technical advice are essential. It's accompanying him. Until what? Until the customer is satisfied”
—Papalotla
Inicios de Papalotla
“How did all this start? One of the founders of Papalotla visits Brazil and they always say this from the commercial area: “this company was born of love, of a love story”. Because this person falls in love with a Brazilian girl, maintains a relationship with her family and they begin importing grass seeds into Mexico. And he, too, always said that he had the dream of returning improved pastures to Africa, because these pastures originated there. Well, in that small intention of the year 1992, it now counts us as the main producer of Brachiaras seeds”
—Papalotla
Importancia de los desarrollos tecnológicos entre las dos empresas
“Pastures with digestibility, with good quality, tell you about the impact: you can earn 700 grams per day per animal and at the same time you can reduce up to 55% of methane emissions produced by a cow. And that's because he has less time to ruminate and more time to eat. The digestibility aspect of developed pastures is incredible potential”
—Papalotla
Importancia de los desarrollos tecnológicos entre las dos empresas
“The biggest impact that has been achieved is a more efficient use of land. All these hybrids that have been released, regardless of whether they are for a dry, humid environment, or shade, have allowed an increase in the number of heads per unit of area. If in the past it was possible to have one cow per hectare, with some of these hybrids it has been possible to obtain four cows per hectare. So that has made it possible to optimize livestock farming, making better use of the land. And the idea itself is that livestock farming will be concentrated in a smaller area and the other area will be available for other crops, or for generating forests. This has perhaps been the biggest impact that, if all the technology that comes with the hybrid is adopted, it is possible to increase the number of head units per hectare and thus it is possible to optimize livestock systems”
—CIAT
Importancia de los desarrollos tecnológicos entre las dos empresas
“For an institution, such as the Bioversity & CIAT Alliance and the CGIAR, the financial side should never be the primary motivation to enter into a relationship with a private sector. This is not our mission and it is not our vision. I think it's very important to keep this very clear and this also means that you are not in a relationship with a trading company that only offers money. Never, never, never. There must be a beneficial relationship for both of us, but for the CGIAR this aspect of the impacts on producers and of having the social and environmental aspects very present is very important. I think that's one of the successes of our relationship with Papalotla.”
—CIAT
Varios
“What people don't see is that fodder is the carpet of the world. When you stop planting cane or potato or any crop, what comes out there? Pastures”
—CIAT
Importancia de los desarrollos tecnológicos entre las dos empresas
“Our vision: we want to consolidate ourselves as the international leader in improving the production and distribution of improved pasture varieties, whose effectiveness, in facilitating the establishment of highly profitable meat and milk production systems around the world, has been proven. Well, you, CIAT, are part of that vision”
—Papalotla
Varios
“The seed is a living being that breathes”
—Papalotla
Varios
“When I finished college in 1982, everyone wanted to go to CIAT, that was the best thing in the whole world. Life would give me, after 20 years, the privilege of, not just knowing CIAT, but of being part of the CIAT project, because the impact it has had on livestock in the tropics is immense, because this has really boosted the production of meat and milk”
—Papalotla
Inicios de Papalotla
“We were born with a dream to bring technology to marginal areas of the world and to see these small producers benefiting from the technology transfer that we bring to them. Nor are we going to limit ourselves to the fact that they are only small producers, we also have businesses with large producers. But our main function is that: to be a company that pushes towards compliance and towards the improvement, in terms of profitability, of these small farmers”
—Papalotla
Inicios de Papalotla
“Papalotla comes from Nahuatl, the indigenous Mexican language and what it means is the place of butterflies. So in Nahuatl, “papa” was butterflies and “lotla” was the place, so Papalotla is the place of butterflies. This idea comes out precisely to highlight this metamorphosis in cultural terms, how people evolve, as if they were in the likeness of a butterfly”
—Papalotla