Educational outreach programs will be needed to promote improvements. Because traditional extension programs rarely focus on integrated management or small farms, changes are also required in these institutions. Governments need to avoid policies that cause small-scale farmers to abandon their mixed systems, and they must formulate policies that encourage and reward the protection of natural resources and environmental quality. A greater understanding of the interactions between national policies and local incentives would help assure that appropriate policies are developed.

The conversion of tropical rain forests to open pastureland for cattle ranching is governed by socioeconomic and political pressures existing in each country. This section discusses the potentials and limitations of pasture-based cattle raising, with emphasis on regions where cattle ranching has greater importance.

Cattle are herded in Brazil on land cleared from tropical rain forest. Credit: James P. Blair © 1983 National Geographic Society.