Livestock, fodder, pastures and people

In 1998 a research project began to study the possibilities for improving livestock productivity in the Karakoram Mountains in Northern Pakistan. The project, known as the Agri-Karakoram Project, aimed to examine the constraints to livestock production and to explore ways of overcoming some of those constraints while sustaining the fragile mountain ecosystem. The research was funded by the European Commission under the INCO-DC programme and involved seven organisations:

*The Macaulay Institute, United Kingdom,

*Spanish Council for Scientific Research (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas), Spain,

*Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Germany,

*The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, Pakistan, Pakistan Forest Institute, Pakistan

*Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Pakistan, and

*International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal.

This book represents the outcome of that project. It describes the research process, summarises the findings by identifying some of the key biological and socioeconomic constraints to the improvement of livestock productivity, and suggests ways in which some of those constraints may be overcome. We thank ICIMOD for making their facilities and expertise available to publish the findings.