Poverty reduction by industries: to plant grass and keep stocks in Guizhou rocky desert areas
Original, GPIG, 03-13-2018
The karst rocky desert in the southwestern China is one of the most impoverished areas in China and also among the key counties for the national poverty reduction and development program.
With less arable land of low quality, Guizhou underwent overdevelopment on history, resulting in water loss and soil erosion as well as ecological fragility. Under the influence of those factors, the rocky desert problem is a serious concern. And the local agricultural production was once in a dilemma that “because of non-development, farmers will long be tormented by poverty, and while developing , ecological environment will be devastated once more”. Per capita income of the 14 million farmers there was well below the national average. Unswervingly upholding the poverty alleviation policy in the rocky desert area is an important task that must be fulfilled for the China’s development-oriented poverty reduction program.
In 2001, Guizhou launched a pilot project to reduce poverty in Qinglong County by developing the industry of Boer goat. With the support of science and technology, a poverty reduction model characterized by government leading, all related departments working together, flagships driving, cooperative society organizing and enterprises establishing bases to motivate farmers resulted in the formation, and the yield of successful results.
In June 2006, The state Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and the Central Coordinating Group of the Intellectual Support in Border Areas held an on-the-spot meeting in Qinglong, proposing to launch a pilot project to reduce poverty by popularizing grassing and stock keeping in rocky desert areas in eight provinces in southern China. From 2008, the central government has allocated poverty relief funds for three consecutive years to launch a pilot project ti plant grass and keep stocks in rocky desert areas in Guizhou.
The land features of rocky desertification in Guizhou
Located on the upstreams of the Pearl River, Qinglong was a county with a serious rocky desert problem. Over the past ten years, the county has scored tremendous achievements in the control of rocky desert by developing grassland animal husbandry. Cooperation has been established between a flagship enterprise -Qinglong Grassland Animal Husbandry Center and farmers, and the responsibility and rights of both sides were clearly defined. The center extends breeding sheep to farmers who repay it with lambs. And the center then lends those sheep to other impoverished farmers. The Qinglong model, which integrated the development of grassland animal husbandry , the control of rocky desert and restoration of ecological environment into one, got a great success and was imitated and popularized in southwestern China.
According to Zhang Daquan, director of the center, Qinglong Grassland Animal Husbandry Center has introduced fine grass seeds, Boer goats and Dorper sheep from Australia. These kinds of sheep with large body could yield a lot of meat of superior quality, and unlike the local black goats, they did not gnaw the roots of grass, bringing no harm to ecological environment. The center popularizes grass planting and sheep keeping by providing farmers with breeding sheep, grass seeds and technological service. The earnings were shared by the center and the farmers. At the initial stage, the center got 40 percent of the earnings while the farmers 60 percent. And now the center gets 10 percent while farmers get 90 percent in an attempt to further benefit the farmers.
At the same time, the center rented land to the farmers to plant grass and herd sheep and each farm household can get a rental of 200 yuan per mu. Farmers working for the center to pasture sheep can get a basic salary of 900 yuan every month for pasturing 50 to 60 sheep. If the fertility rate exceeds the required quota, an excessive reward will also be guaranteed.
During the course of the previous ten years, the pilot project to reduce poverty by planting grass and herding sheep, which closely linked the interests of the Grassland Animal Husbandry Center, farmers, townships, villages, technical foregoers and sheep keeping associations together, was launched in Qinglong, Guizhou. This method not only reduced poverty by increasing the income of farmers but also developed the industries further, and accumulated poverty relief funds which improved the ability to reduce poverty. Statistics show that, in 2010, a total of 290,000 mu artificial grass were planted and 235,000 sheep were raised in Qinglong, raising the per capita income of farmers from 630 yuan to 3,300 yuan. And each year water erosion of 20 square kilometers land was also brought under control.
Qinglong model has been among the five models recommended by the Ministry if Agriculture to control the rocky desert by planting grass and keeping stock and has been popularized in the 43 counties in Guizhou.
Original, GPIG, 03-13-2018
The karst rocky desert in the southwestern China is one of the most impoverished areas in China and also among the key counties for the national poverty reduction and development program.
With less arable land of low quality, Guizhou underwent overdevelopment on history, resulting in water loss and soil erosion as well as ecological fragility. Under the influence of those factors, the rocky desert problem is a serious concern. And the local agricultural production was once in a dilemma that “because of non-development, farmers will long be tormented by poverty, and while developing , ecological environment will be devastated once more”. Per capita income of the 14 million farmers there was well below the national average. Unswervingly upholding the poverty alleviation policy in the rocky desert area is an important task that must be fulfilled for the China’s development-oriented poverty reduction program.
In 2001, Guizhou launched a pilot project to reduce poverty in Qinglong County by developing the industry of Boer goat. With the support of science and technology, a poverty reduction model characterized by government leading, all related departments working together, flagships driving, cooperative society organizing and enterprises establishing bases to motivate farmers resulted in the formation, and the yield of successful results.
In June 2006, The state Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and the Central Coordinating Group of the Intellectual Support in Border Areas held an on-the-spot meeting in Qinglong, proposing to launch a pilot project to reduce poverty by popularizing grassing and stock keeping in rocky desert areas in eight provinces in southern China. From 2008, the central government has allocated poverty relief funds for three consecutive years to launch a pilot project ti plant grass and keep stocks in rocky desert areas in Guizhou.
The land features of rocky desertification in Guizhou
Located on the upstreams of the Pearl River, Qinglong was a county with a serious rocky desert problem. Over the past ten years, the county has scored tremendous achievements in the control of rocky desert by developing grassland animal husbandry. Cooperation has been established between a flagship enterprise -Qinglong Grassland Animal Husbandry Center and farmers, and the responsibility and rights of both sides were clearly defined. The center extends breeding sheep to farmers who repay it with lambs. And the center then lends those sheep to other impoverished farmers. The Qinglong model, which integrated the development of grassland animal husbandry , the control of rocky desert and restoration of ecological environment into one, got a great success and was imitated and popularized in southwestern China.
According to Zhang Daquan, director of the center, Qinglong Grassland Animal Husbandry Center has introduced fine grass seeds, Boer goats and Dorper sheep from Australia. These kinds of sheep with large body could yield a lot of meat of superior quality, and unlike the local black goats, they did not gnaw the roots of grass, bringing no harm to ecological environment. The center popularizes grass planting and sheep keeping by providing farmers with breeding sheep, grass seeds and technological service. The earnings were shared by the center and the farmers. At the initial stage, the center got 40 percent of the earnings while the farmers 60 percent. And now the center gets 10 percent while farmers get 90 percent in an attempt to further benefit the farmers.
At the same time, the center rented land to the farmers to plant grass and herd sheep and each farm household can get a rental of 200 yuan per mu. Farmers working for the center to pasture sheep can get a basic salary of 900 yuan every month for pasturing 50 to 60 sheep. If the fertility rate exceeds the required quota, an excessive reward will also be guaranteed.
During the course of the previous ten years, the pilot project to reduce poverty by planting grass and herding sheep, which closely linked the interests of the Grassland Animal Husbandry Center, farmers, townships, villages, technical foregoers and sheep keeping associations together, was launched in Qinglong, Guizhou. This method not only reduced poverty by increasing the income of farmers but also developed the industries further, and accumulated poverty relief funds which improved the ability to reduce poverty. Statistics show that, in 2010, a total of 290,000 mu artificial grass were planted and 235,000 sheep were raised in Qinglong, raising the per capita income of farmers from 630 yuan to 3,300 yuan. And each year water erosion of 20 square kilometers land was also brought under control.
Qinglong model has been among the five models recommended by the Ministry if Agriculture to control the rocky desert by planting grass and keeping stock and has been popularized in the 43 counties in Guizhou.
