China's grasslands, threatened by the severe desertification and
deterioration, now face a challenge of decisive importance, says Xu
Zhu, head of the Grassland Research Institute of the Chinese
Academy of Agricultural Sciences.?
According to related statistics, China has a total of 287
million hectares of grassland. However, due to severe
deterioration, the rate of fenced grazing land in comparatively
well-conserved pastures is only 20 percent.
The tendency of desertification and deterioration is more
conspicuous in the grasslands of the Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region. Of the 63.59 million hectares of
pastures in the region, 38.67 million hectares are experiencing
desertification and deterioration, accounting for about 60 percent.
The affected rate in the Hulun Buir Grassland is 23 percent; that
of Xilin Gol Grassland is 41 percent; and Ordus Grassland, over 68
percent.
According to Xu Zhu, pasture animal husbandry accounts for only
5 percent of China's agricultural structure, while in developed
countries, the average figure is 60 percent. The unsteady
ecological conservation of the grassland would result in the
unsustainable eco-environment protection and unsustainable social
and economic development. It will demand people to change their
current mode of production and diet.
China is not behind others in technologies for rehabilitating,
improving and managing deteriorated grasslands. The country now has
the capability to develop large-scaled, high-tech supported and
modern animal husbandry, Xu Zhu said. However, currently, it's
crucial to work out a permanent solution on how to control
grassland desertification and deterioration. He suggests that the
demarcation line between agricultural and pastoral areas be
removed. Instead, the grasslands should be divided into grassy
marshland, typical grassland, semi-desertified grassland and
desertified grassland, and proper measures should be taken for each
of them so as to develop modern animal husbandry combining with
farming and herding.
In provinces with large areas of grassland, protective measures
have been taken.
Pastures of small acreage have been developed so as to protect
big grazing lands; policies for balancing the grassland protection
and grazing have been worked out; and a system of grazing in
enclosed pastures in rotation has been established. Meanwhile,
high-efficiency artificial grasslands and high-yielding forage
production base have been built. Hopefully, these efforts can
initiatively curb the severe deterioration of grassland and realize
the balance between grass protection and herding, while helping
solve the livelihood problem for herdsmen.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, June 27, 2004)