Tibetan herdsman Xihegya, 35, used to believe the old saying
that to live as a grasslands nomad was to die as a grasslands
nomad.
But it's been a while since he last went chasing water and
pasture for his stock on the grasslands near the source of the
Yellow River.
Xihegya now lives with his family in a brick house near the seat
of Maqu County, the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gannan,
northwest China's Gansu Province, raising 300 sheep and 40
cattle in his four heated shelters
"I bought my herd around the Spring Festival. After three months in the
shelters, 80 sheep are ready for sale which could make me a net
profit of 7,000 yuan (US$863)," he says.
The Shouqu Grassland, where the Yellow River makes a big bend
after entering Gansu from Qinghai, was the area Xihegya used to roam
with his herd.
However, the stock lost weight due to a lack of grass in winter
and herdsmen suffered heavy losses, Xihegya recalled.
So many nomadic Tibetans in Gannan kept more livestock as a way
to increase profits.
But the increase in stock numbers caused ever-worsening
environmental damage, said Xize, an official of the Tibetan group
with Maqu County government.
The wetland in the 858,667-hectare Shouqu Grassland used to
provide the Yellow River with 2.7 billion cu m of water annually,
but this has dropped by an average 10 percent since the late
1980s.
Sand dunes are now ubiquitous in Shouqu, which was once covered
with grass, said Xize.
The Autonomous Prefectural government of Gannan took steps in
2004 to encourage Tibetan nomads to rear livestock in fenced
shelters instead of moving from place to place to feed their
herds.
In addition to assisting Tibetan herdsmen in acquiring loans for
constructing heated shelters, the prefecture also offered technical
help in shelter building and animal husbandry.
The 2,533 heated shelters now in the prefecture can sustain the
same number of livestock that would have required 80,000 hectares
of pasture.
Xihegya has constructed four shelters with heating facilities
and a new brick house near the county seat of Maqu.
"Raising stock on procured fodder in shelters has reduced
pressure on the pasture and guaranteed the sale of healthy sheep
and cattle all year round," said Xihegya, who estimated his income
this year would top 40,000 yuan, three times his income before he
settled down.
With his former hardships behind him, he now enjoys the
conveniences of a fixed abode -- television, healthcare and school
for his children.
"There was a saying, 'Once a grasslands nomad, always a
grasslands nomad', but the reality is different," Xihegya said. "I
am doing fine after leaving the grasslands."
Nomadic Tibetan herdsmen in Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu provinces and the Tibet Autonomous Region are increasingly
settling down into a fixed way of life.
More than 18,000 herding families have built permanent
residences in a bid to preserve the grasslands for their children
to enjoy.
(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2006)