Case study 5: A profitable forage-based beef industry for the red soils region of China

In 1987, a report compiled by ACIAR, Winrock International and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences noted that beef production had the potential to provide an economic basis for rejuvenating the red soils agricultural systems in southern China and to increase the standard of living of local people. Major constraints to achieving these objectives included the poor quality of feed available to cattle and the infertile soils that, when coupled with the climatic extremes, made practical year-round production of higher quality feeds a serious challenge. Further, local knowledge of beef production in smallholder mixed farming systems was limited, and the farmers were themselves in transition from using cattle for draught to growing cattle for sale. This case study describes how a consortium of Australian and Chinese organisations undertook an ACIAR-funded project in two provinces - Hunan and Jiangxi - to develop forage production and cattle nutrition technologies appropriate to the red soils region and thus improve beef production and farmer income.