Contracting Grassland to Herdsmen

Anchor:

"Ten thousand miles of Changtang grassland" – that's how people describe north Tibet, where the practice of contracting grassland to herdsman households has helped prevent widespread grassland degradation over the past decades.

Zhang Wan has more.

Reporter:

As one of the five largest pastoral areas in China, Tibet boasts vast grasslands that have sustained generations of local herdsmen. Protection of the grassland eco-system has become very important.

Driving along the Changtang grassland in Nagqu, we see rows of wire netting encircling different areas of the pasture. We are told this is part of the practice of contracting grassland to herdsman households, which has been carried out since the 1980s.

In Tibetan pastoral areas, the government signed contracts for the rights to grassland with local herdsman, whose households then take charge of the pasture.

Sixty-one-year-old Lang Jie is a local herdsman who has about 80 yaks and over 120 sheep on his pasture.

"With the grassland contracting policy, we always have grass to feed our livestock all year round. That's why we have been raising more and more stout and strong yaks and sheep these years."

Animal husbandry is the pillar industry in Nagqu prefecture. In recent years, many standards have been set up regarding the carrying capacity of the grassland, proper stocking rates as well as grassland management and protection. Yuan Yong is deputy director of the local Bureau of Agriculture and Husbandry.

"The policy of grassland contracting has been carried out for about 20 years. Prior to the policy, all the farm animals just grazed on any part of the pasture, and the government had the job of construction, management and protection of the grassland. However, with the policy, herdsmen are responsible for managing and protecting their own land. They have to keep in mind the carrying capacity of their grassland and the proper stocking rate to prevent their grassland from degradation or desertification. As a result, people's awareness of protecting the grassland has been greatly raised."

During the past two decades, local herdsmen have benefited from the grassland contracting practice. They believed in the process of developing farming and pastoral areas in Tibet, it's important to transform the practices of traditional stock raising into modern animal husbandry. Lang Jie takes hiself an an example.

"Before the contracting system was put into practice, no one took care of the grassland. But after we got our own land, we all started to do our best to protect and manage it well. Our income has greatly increased due to the grassland contracts.

For example, I can rent out our grassland whenever I don't need that much for my own livestock."

Zhang Wan, CRI news, Tibet.