Local researchers say Tajikistan has no enough pastures for all cattle, sheep and goats and propose to reduce population of them.
According to them, overstocking leads to degradation of pastures and if necessary measures are not taken they will turn into lifeless deserts.
Doctor of Sciences in Agriculture Qurbonali Partoyev considers that Tajikistan ought to urgently resolve the issue of rational management of pastures and reduce pasture load.
“Reduction in population of cattle could be compensated by development of poultry farming, which needs fewer areas for pasturing,” Partoyev said
Researchers note that unregulated growth in population of cattle, sheep and goats and irrational use of pastures cause serious damage to biodiversity, destroy medicinal herbs and bee plants, and thereby pose threat to the country’s food security.
According to data from the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, as of January 1, 2019 there were about 2,400,000 head of cattle on all categories of farms and 5,600,000 head of sheep and goats.
Meanwhile, there are 3.8 million hectares of pastures in the country that is reportedly not enough for pasturing all animals.
