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

The Russian Steppe 413
and – unless good basic husbandry is guaranteed – often not economically
justified. The impression is that continuous cropping cannot be sustained
on the majority of soils at the present low levels of fertilizer , biocides and
mechanization. In present-day farming practice, however, improved production
of grass for feeding cattle is the main motive inducing farmers to plant pastures.
If stock that help to improve soil fertility are kept, they should themselves be
profitable. In the same fashion it is not profitable to grow legumes for the main
purpose of fixing nitrogen.
The large expansion in arable area in the 1950s and 1960s in the FSU was
at the expense of the steppe. The first crops after ploughing were good. Most
of the remaining grassland was soon broken and converted into arable land.
Very little new grass was sown . It was perhaps not appreciated that the fertility
encountered had been built up through grassland. Conversely, forage production
was promoted primarily as a means of improving animal production.
Efforts were directed at separate components, e.g. dairying based on maize
silage or on zero-grazing , with little regard for the soil-degrading effect this
practice has.
In the 1970s and 1980s in the FSU, direct grazing became rare and was
sacrificed to large-scale stall-feeding and to zero-grazing operations based on
fodder crops such as maize and oats. Many of these operated on the extreme
edges of the mixed -farming scene, and lost sight of the crop-livestock integration
perspective.
In the past decade, by contrast, village herds have increasingly began to
roam the surrounding countryside. Communal or public grazing resource s
are increasingly threatened by livestock privately owned. Workable solutions
are needed to come to the aid of vulnerable grasslands, livestock, crops and
soils, especially for the small mixed -farm family. Although the former large
Kolkhoz-style arable farming units may be retained as the central and collective
core, livestock production will continue to become more and more family-based.
Sooner or later, family herds will have to be fed from family-run
pastures and from by-products of the arable operations. This should provide a
sound basis for crop-pasture rotation s.
CONCLUSIONS
The political and social changes of the past fifteen years have had a marked
effect on grassland and livestock production systems . The great industrial
livestock units based on indoor feeding are now few, and many have broken up
for economic reasons. Much of the ruminant livestock is now in small familyowned
herds, often too small for economic herding . A fresh approach to
grazing rights and stock management is needed to ensure that the new grazing
situation maintains livestock production while avoiding environmental damage
through overuse of nearby grassland while neglecting more distant pastures.
This will require interventions in two fields : first, facilitating the development