Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.‏ United Nations Development Programme2016-04-192016-04-191996World Animal Review 87: 9-161014-6954http://hdl.handle.net/10919/66153Metadata only recordThe promotion of commercial livestock husbandry has long been seen as a means of destocking African rangelands and increasing livestock output through increased offtake. This paper argues that commercialization does exact a long-term downward pressure on African stocking densities, which will make many policy makers, administrators, and range scientists happy. However, the shift form subsistence to market-oriented forms of range livestock husbandry also exerts downward pressure on total rangeland output and undermines the capacity of rangelands to support human populations, a possibility that is no likely to be warmly welcomed by displaced pastoralists.text/plainen-USCommercializationGovernment policyLivestock fatteningRangelandsPastoralismLivestockStocking rateStocking densityEcosystemAbstract