The natural vegetation cover of pastures, which occupy 47% of the total land area of our republic (21.1 million hectares), is now under great threat, and their area is rapidly declining. According to experts, over the past 25-30 years, 50-70 percent of the pastures of the republic are in a crisis state, 11 million hectares of pastures have lost their potential for the production of renewable feed and have become unsuitable for livestock use.

      As a result of the crisis of pastures in the context of aggravating climate change, the ecological situation in these areas has worsened. As a result, the level of drought is increasing, soil erosion is increasing, and the speed of dust storms is increasing day by day. This situation will seriously affect the lifestyle and health of not only 4 million people living on these pastures, but also people living in other regions of our republic.

      In recent years, these problems have arisen due to the fact that in the process of using pastures their economic potential was not taken into account, scientifically based procedures and norms for pasture use were not observed.

      The destruction of vegetative cover on grazing areas in this way leads to a number of worrisome consequences. In particular, the loss of natural vegetation cover will drastically reduce the climate change mitigation potential of pastures. This leads to further deterioration of the ecological situation in these areas and has a great negative impact on the healthy lifestyle of the population. In addition, the annual increase in the scale of the pasture crisis causes a shortage of fodder in the area. As a result, the opportunities to engage in animal husbandry, which is the main source of income for the local population, will be sharply limited.

From this point of view, the pasture crisis leads to a number of environmental and socio-economic problems. There are a number of aspects related to the solution of these problems and their possibilities.

         Uncertainty regarding the economic potential of pastures, the available natural forage stock and the geobotanical condition is one of the problems hindering the proper development of the sector. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the last comprehensive geobotanical research at the republican level was carried out 34 years ago. To date, there are no accurate scientific data that fully reflect the current state of the republic's pastures.

      Methods for determining the economic potential of pastures were developed in the 80s of the last century, and the methods for assessing pastures have not been improved to date, moreover, the scientific basis for assessing pasture degradation and its various stages has not been developed. , this is not true.

      The shortage of staff is one of the biggest problems in the industry. In the republican "Classifier of areas and specialties of higher education" there is only 1 bachelor's direction of training (Plantology (Pasture plant science of the desert)) and 1 master's specialty (Pasture phytomelioration), related to the field of pasture management. this area per year. If you look at world experience, then in the USA, where pastures are widespread, in 1925 there were 15 universities, and by 2020 in the field of ecology and pasture management, a system of awarding master's and doctoral degrees has been created.

      The curricula and scientific programs of existing educational areas and specialties in the field of pasture animal husbandry are based on old information and do not meet the requirements of the modern era and international educational standards. It is necessary to introduce educational technologies of such countries as the USA, Australia, Germany, Iceland, which have developed pasture science in the world, into the education system of our country. There is a great need to create separate departments and faculties specializing in this area.

      There is a clear shortage of scientific and pedagogical personnel, especially pasture geobotanists, for the development of the industry. For the sustainable development of the industry, it is necessary to sharply increase the rate of training of qualified specialists in this field in the coming years.

Toshpulot Rajabov,

Director of the Institute of Agrobiotechnologies and Food Security of

Samarkand State University