Cattle are eating the forest
World population growth is causing a trend for less-developed countries to become food importers because of short-sighted agricultural practices and land-use policies. Honduras illustrates how population growth pushes farming onto marginal lands. The land used to grow tropical fruit for export is shifting to pasture where cattle are raised for export. Improved transportation links are accelerating this shift. The results of slash-and-mulch cultivation has been to diminish forest and fallow land. Although the short-term effects benefit the landless as well as the land owners, a new class of migrant worker is finding unemployment on the rise, and local populations must compete with cattle for food because the cattle are sold to international meat processors. 17 references. (DCK)
- OSTI ID:
- 6270320
- Journal Information:
- Bull. At. Sci.; (United States), Vol. 39:1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
POLICY AND ECONOMY
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CATTLE
FOOD
LAND USE
HONDURAS
POPULATION DENSITY
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
EXPORTS
ANIMALS
CENTRAL AMERICA
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
LATIN AMERICA
MAMMALS
RUMINANTS
VERTEBRATES
290400* - Energy Planning & Policy- Energy Resources
553000 - Agriculture & Food Technology
520500 - Environment
Aquatic- Site Resource & Use Studies- (-1989)