The main reason for tsetse eradication, in the past, has been to remove the restraint of disease on cattle production. It is now argued, that the major restraint is not disease but poor land made worse by overgrazing.An association between overgrazing and drought is recognized in South America, Central America and Australia. In Africa there is strong, but circumstantial evidence that overgrazing may be linked to climatic change. Tsetse populations may in the past have been a major restraint on overgrazing but with new advances in technology it is now possible for such populations to be “managed” in order to protect vulnerable rangelands.Such a concept would mean changes in the attitude of society to tsetse which should come to regard them as a potential asset rather than as a liability.
