Tibetan livestock products have good prospects on the international market, according to foreign experts at an international seminar on highland pasture stock breeding held in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Ethan Golding, a senior program manager with the US Trace Foundation, said that at a winter food fair in San Francisco in January, Tibetan yak cheese was voted one of the most popular cheeses by leading chefs from throughout the world.
"Milk from the Tibetan yak has a high protein content and is very suitable for making cheese. Ten kilograms of cow's milk can yield one kilogram of cheese while yak's milk can produce 1.5 kilograms. In addition yak cheese is pollution-free and tastes great," he said.
Golding also showed great interest in air dried yak meat. "Westerners know that yaks mostly live in the wild, and are attracted to yak meat for its safety and wildness," said Golding.
Camille Richard, who has done special research on goats in Tibet, said that the Tibetan goat yields the finest cashmere in the world. This is due to Tibet's high altitude and cold weather.
"In India, places near Tibet have similar kinds of goats but inmuch smaller numbers. Cashmere shawls produced in these regions are very popular in the west, so cashmere products from Tibet should have very bright prospects on the international market," said a stock breeding specialist from India.
(China Daily May 20, 2002)
