DefinePK

Abstract

In Musakhel and Barkhan districts of Balochistan and along the western slopes of the main
Sulaiman mountain range, Baloch tribes raise animals, mainly sheep and goat, on rangelands that are commonly owned.  This paper looks into the impact of economic forces such as income, prices, interest rates, and taxes  on an individual animal raiser’s behavior towards resource use and productivity. An individual animal raiser’s behavior towards resource use expressed in number of animals raised per unit of rangeland/stocking rates/use rates, directly  impacts rangeland productivity or  carrying capacity  because the rangelands in Balochistan are generally overgrazed. Under such overgrazed conditions an increase in stocking/use rates leads to a decrease in range carrying capacity or productivity and a decrease in stocking/use rates leads to an increase in carrying capacity or productivity of the rangelands. The paper analyzes changes in economic forces that lead to changes in animal raiser behavior and changes in animal raiser behavior that lead to changes in range carrying capacity and productivity.