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Abstract
Chinese grasslands are suffering considerable pressures from human and livestock
populations. It has been estimated that 90% of Chinese grasslands are suffering from light to
heavy levels of degradation. Allied to this is the low household income of herders and
farmers dependant upon livestock products for their livelihood. Although a range of reasons
have been proposed for the high levels of grassland degradation, principal among these are
the high stocking rates adopted by farmers. This not only results in high utilisation rates of
the pasture biomass, leading to bare areas and soil erosion, but individual animal productivity
rates also decline. This paper presents the results of a modelling study of a grassland system
in Gansu Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China. This shows
that reducing stocking rates leads to not only an increase in livestock productivity, but whole-farm
returns are also increased. From a sustainability perspective, the greater pasture biomass
remaining on the grassland also reduces the incidence of soil erosion in the areas.