Hua Limin

Redesigning Livestock Systems to Improve Household Income and Reduce Stocking Rates in China’s Western Grasslands

Synopsis Results and implications of a study of rangeland/livestock systems in four counties in western China are discussed. Two key questions were posed: (1) Can changing the current livestock production system to an alternative enterprise, or (2) can changing key management practices in current enterprises increase household profit at same stocking rate (SR) or maintain profit at lower SR? The answers to these questions and their implications in terms of structural adjustment and attitudinal change for the long term sustainability of NW China are helpful in planning new livestock systems.

Engaging with Land Users: The First Steps on a Long Road

This chapter is like an anatomy lesson. It dissects the conduct of a major rural development project from the initial site selection through the various steps required to refine the project objectives and adapt them to local conditions and the efforts involved to get stakeholder involvement in project implementation and monitoring and evaluation. The key element is that land users need to be involved right from the start. Farmers are direct land users, and any positive responses on land management approaches can only be achieved through farmers.

Livestock Husbandry Development and Agro-Pastoral Integration in Gansu and Xinjiang

This is an overview of the grazing systems in common use in NW China. People are recognized as a key factor in the management of rangelands and the participation of herders and other land users is especially important in arresting and reversing rangeland degradation. Current strategies to achieve more sustainable rangeland use are examined.

Herders’ Income and Expenditure: Perceptions and Expectations

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the changes in livestock man- agement and grassland condition that have taken place in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Gansu Province, over the past 2 decades. Household surveys were used to assess the current financial situation (income and expenditure) and interviews with herders shed light on their livestock management practices. The objective was to better understand the causes of degradation in this region and why herders continue to over graze their rangeland resources.

Exploring the Options in North-West China's Pastoral Lands

Synopsis Present-day land utilization in the pastoral regions of NW China shows the influence of both the long tradition of herding and the impact of population increases through inward migration, and of the changing policy environment from the mid-twentieth century. Management options and livelihood strategies for the herders and farmers in NW China are considered and evaluated. The necessity of working within a systems framework is explained.

Ecological Restoration and Control of Rangeland Degradation: Rangeland Management Interventions

Synopsis The problems and prospects for reversing land degradation and for ecological restoration of degraded landscapes are reviewed. Animal husbandry on rangelands in NW China is under great pressure. This pressure is leading to a major transformation of the livestock sector, from one that is resource-driven (based on available forage, water, crop residues/by-products) to one that aggressively looks for new resources (grain, fodder crops, energy inputs). This shift has resulted in environmental damage and disruption to the traditional systems of production.

Agro-Pastoral Integration in NW China: A New Paradigm?

Synopsis The local agro-pastoral economy is changing in NW China; farming activities seem to be very instrumental to livestock development, rather than the other way around. Furthermore crop production has expanded to meet the increasing demand for fodder (and grain) for animal feeding and herd growth. In some areas agricultural activities seem often to represent strategies to claim user rights to plots of land by converting rangeland to cropland. It is clear that the process of modernization of the region has changed patterns of natural resource management in critical ways, increasing dependency on marketbased dynamics and important out-migratory fluxes and reliance on off-farm income, with remittances playing an important role in the local economy, together with revenues from the tourism sector in some selected areas.

A study on the economic injury level of plateau pika (Ochtona curzoniae) and its control index.

The economic injury level of plateau pika(Ochtona curzoniae) and its control index were studied in the alpine meadow and alpine steppe of Dacha village in Sunan County from 2007 to 2008.The population of plateau pika was positively correlated with the reduction of prairie grass production(aboveground biomass) and the economic losses with the correlation coefficient(r)=0.976 5.The linear regression equation between the number of plateau pikas effective holes(X) and grass production reduction(M) was M=-16.960 3+0.918 0X.The control costs per unit area were 25.05 yuan/hm2 when Clostridium botulinum type C was used for biological control in this area of 1 330 hm2.It was confirmed that the economic injury level of plateau pika was 130 effective holes/hm2 and the allowed economic loss ratio was calculated as 11.2%.the actual density of plateau pika was 510 effective holes/hm2 and the economic loss ratio was up to 32.9% in the research area.