Pasture use and Maintenance:
Policy Pressures and Options

Pastures established in the sub-humid and humid tropics have an intrinsic tendency to degrade rapidly through weed invasion and loss of soil fertility. New technologies developed to counter these processes, either through improved pasture species, better management techniques, or intensification of cattle production, need a supportive policy environment. Four policies are particularly relevant:

- Land taxation
- Investment in research and extension for intensification
- Construction of feeder roads
- Availability of credit to smallholders

The third and fourth policies are relevant strictly to areas of established livestock production by contrast with the policy prescriptions for uncleared areas, which are critical appraisal of road building and selective credit controls.

In addition, recent findings on the carbon-sink value of improved tropical pastures open the possibility of carbon sequestration schemes on pasture land.

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