Status And Forecast On Forage Supply And Demand In China

China is a country with abundant grassland resources and animal production in pasturing areas is a main component of the animal husbandry. However, China has a large of population, but has a small cultivated land. The traditional animal husbandry is mainly grain-based, and hence imposes heavy pressure on food safety in China. Therefore, it is sensible and imperative to develop the grain-saved herbivore animal husbandry. To date, the main problems facing the animal husbandry are:firstly that the grassland in the north is severely degraded and the capacity of grassland is decreasing; secondly that in agricultural areas the majority of livestock feed on straw, which has not been able to meet the need of the development of husbandry industry.In this study, status of the forage supply and demand was performed in different areas of our country, respectively. Then, analyzing the factors that impact the forage yield and the reasons that cause the livestock quantity changes. Finally, a forecast on the forage supply and demand in the next 5 years was made, and several suggestions were put forward on the development of herbivore animal husbandry.The results indicate that, from 2000 to 2008 the forage supply is less than demand in our country, pastoral and semi-pastoral areas, agricultural areas. Predicatively, From 2008 to 2013 the gap between forage supply and demand is between 10000 to 20000 million ton in China. The gap is smaller in pastoral and semi-pastoral areas than the agricultural areas. Because data collection is limited the number of livestovk used in this article is in accordance with the end of breeding stock, this value lower than the amount of livestock feeding, so the forage that the livestock need may be less than the actual value of demand, so the actual gap between the forage supply and demanddemand and supply gap in the grass.In order to promote the development of herbivorous animal husbandry and keep the balance between the forage supply and the demand, several suggestions are as follows. Firstly, to raise awareness and activeness of farmers growing forage grass; secondly, increasing the animal husbandry to encourage farmers to grow forage; thirdly, to increase the areas of artificial grassland and relying on technological progress to improve forage yield and quality; fourthly, to improve forage processing capacity, reduce post-harvest losses; fifthly, to promote the domestic and international market integration.