Livestock
Production system in high hills and Himalayas:
Cattles,
Goat, Sheep, Chauries, and Yak were the main animal components raised by the
farmers. Migratory pattern of animals follows the transhumance system. Animals
graze from the lower altitude rangeland towards higher altitude rangeland
depending upon the months and seasons of the year. Most of the chauri herders
follow this transhumance practice of livestock management system.
Opportunities and Challenges:
Livestock
rearing is the major occupation of the people living in the hills and mountain
region of the country. Majority of the people in these areas rear Yaks,
Chauries, Cattle, Sheep and Goat for income generation to meet their family
needs. The existing rangeland and pastureland and the forest resources are the
major animal feed resources. The existing pastureland and rangeland have low
productivity due to presence of the dominating weeds/shrubs and under
degradation due to high grazing pressure. Thus, there is ample opportunity to
increase and expand the pasture improvement and development works in the future.
Opportunities
for the pasture and livestock development based on the information from key
informants and farmers group discussion summarized as:
Livestock and pasture resources are potential
source of income generation through livestock products such
as milk, wool, cheese production, as well the source of tourism and herbal
medicines.
Product diversification such as making cheese,
ghee, churpi and other related products from yak and chauri milk have
great scope in the international markets. Yak cheese is very popular in
many countries like Europe, Australia and America. Yak cheese
from Nepal is especially very popular in European country Netherlands.
This is linked with the pasture improvement and making availability
of lush of pasture for grazing.
· Disasters: Natural
disaster such as landslides, rainfall, snowing in these areas can adversely
affect the productivity and livestock population in the rangelands.
· Rangelands in the higher hills and the
alpines region are mostly dominated by the unwanted weeds, shrubs and bushes
that inhibit the growth and development of the nutritious grasses, and legumes
in the pasture.
· Change in the government policies:
Despite
of the fact that indigenous practices, knowledge and strategies are vital to
sustainable development of rangeland resources and ecosystems, changes in
forest policies and land-tenure can cause detrimental interference to the
rangeland management
Absence of basic information on rangelands:
The basic
information such as altitudes, aspects, area, vegetation composition, biomass
production, seasonality of growth and utilization is lacking and this in turn
have hampered the formulation and implementation of rangeland improvement
activities at field level. Similarly, the feed value of the native pastures and
browse foliage is also lacking.
Overgrazing:
Most of the herders
keep large number of the animals, the average herd size in migratory system
ranges from 200-300 heads of animals comprising 4-6 farmers/households. Large
herds are unmanageable and grazing could be fatal. Therefore, this is another
example restricting the effective management of rangeland.
Inadequate research and extension:
Research
works on native pasture production and management especially in the northern
region is inadequate. Awareness programs towards improved forage cultivation
practices has been made however, due to shortage pf budget development,
implementation of program on larger scale has not occurred. Most of the herders
have little access to veterinary services, credit facilities and chilling
centers. Farmers and government staff lack proper training in pasture
production and livestock management.
Following recommendations have been made with an objective to
improve the existing situation of the rangeland in Nepal:
Pasture/vegetation
improvement:
- Identification and elimination of unwanted
and toxic weeds, shrubs and bushes from the grazing lands should be
prioritized.
- Conservation of the potential native
vegetation should be practiced by adopting proper grazing management practices.
- It is necessary to minimize the grazing
pressure on the rangelands.
- Improvement of the soil integrity and
fertility is must for high herbage mass production.
- Introduction of new potential herbage
species in the rangeland without replacing the other key species.
Policy issues:
· Policy
formulation on rangeland management and improvement, livestock production and
management system with emphasis on Yak, Chauri, Cattles sheep and goat would be
more practical to address the pasture productivity increment and utilization
issues.· Conservation
of the genetic resources of the rangeland ecosystem for biodiversity
conservation.
