Grasslands of the World.pdf - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

The Russian Steppe 383
experts themselves passed from the scene. Should active extensification and
steppe rehabilitation , of which there is little sign at present, appear at some
stage again on the agendas, it will have to draw on the old literature records,
such as are being recalled in this chapter. These records are of further importance
as they developed independently from scientific and managerial thinking
in the West, especially in the USA , where similar vegetation types seem to have
given rise to quite different approaches, both in science and in management .
Recent literature from the Russian Federation on the subject is mostly related
to satellite imagery and ecological modelling (Gilmanov, Parton and Ojima,
1997). To avoid confusion, and because of the reliance here on older literature,
the botanical names will be quoted as originally reported. Consequently, we
use Euagrypyron and Agropyron repens rather than Elytrigia repens.
Current tendencies in Russian agriculture are that the large-style arable
units of the former Kolkhozy and Sovkhozy collective production units are
retained as the central and collective core, mainly for cereal production, with
only a little livestock held centrally. Livestock will be divorced further from
the collective by the kolkhozniki themselves and become more family-based.
Sooner or later, family herds will have to rely on family-run pastures, hayfields
and by-products of their own arable operations. At present, communal and
public grazing resource s are used by privately owned livestock.
Is history repeating itself? Grazing rights shared out by or among the
village community (mir) were typical of the pre-revolution era. While the
grazing land – and often the grazing itself – was communal , livestock were
family-owned. Fenced-off grazing blocks and “ranches ” were rare. Although
large landholdings in the more prosperous agricultural regions were the rule,
landlords invariably had to cope with large resident communities of peasants
and with their demands for cropland, pasture and hay for their cattle in return
for labour. Does the present-style Kolkhoze fulfil the role of the pre-revolution
landlord? Do peasants continue to expect to be provided for as before? Is
a Russia with family-based autonomous farms still a long way off?
The Russian steppe, like many of the major natural grasslands of the world,
is a formidable natural resource. With the present land-reform programmes
following a new, often uncharted, course it may well be that the natural grassland
and, in particular, the steppe will resume a large part of its old significance
as a primary grazing resource . The Former Soviet Union (FSU)-industrialstyle
Kolkhozy and Sovkhozy , with livestock housed throughout the year,
have proved uneconomic and unsustainable . Family-based mixed farming with
paddock grazing may develop in parallel with the current tendency of grazing
the kolkhozniki herds on natural grassland and steppe. Permanent or temporary
pasture as a resource of grazing and fodder may regain prominence at the
expense of annual fodder and grain crop. Half of the cereal crop, it was claimed,
was fed to livestock. Maize used to be grown for silage on more than 10 million
hectares, often in areas either too cold or too dry , whether aided or not