ABSTRACT
Eleven percent of the world’s land area is used to produce crops, but an area twice this size is in rangeland—land that is either too dry or too steeply sloping to be cultivated. Fodder needs of livestock in nearly all developing countries now exceed the sustainable yield of rangelands and other forage resources. The National Land Use and Wastelands Development Council there reports that in states with the most serious land degradation, such as Rajasthan and Karnataka, fodder supplies satisfy only 50-80 percent of needs, leaving large numbers of emaciated, unproductive cattle. But if the process continues unarrested, it eventually creates wasteland as the destruction of vegetation eventually leads to the loss of soil through wind and water erosion and extensive land degradation. With most rangeland now being grazed at capacity or beyond it, substantial further gains in beef and mutton production can come only from the feedlot.
