Forages encompass an extraordinary variety of herbaceous and woody plants selected mostly from undomesticated grass and legume species.

Improved forages, grown as perennial pastures or in diverse combinations with crops, provide high-quality feed for livestock while at the same time improving soil quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Sown forages are a decidedly eco-efficient option, which help to combat hunger and poverty and also deliver major environmental benefits.

While offering wide scope for adaptation to climate change impacts, improved forages might also be agriculture’s most promising option for climate change mitigation. Superior pastures, when adequately managed, show great potential for carbon sequestration second only to that of forests.

Moreover, some Bracharia grasses possess a remarkable ability to suppress nitrification the microbial process responsible for emissions of nitrous oxide by means of a substance released from their roots.

Information from CIAT.