China's grasslands, threatened by the severe desertification and deterioration, now face a challenge of decisive importance, says Xu Zhu, head of the Grassland Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 

According to related statistics, China has a total of 287 million hectares of grassland. However, due to severe deterioration, the rate of fenced grazing land in comparatively well-conserved pastures is only 20 percent.

The tendency of desertification and deterioration is more conspicuous in the grasslands of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Of the 63.59 million hectares of pastures in the region, 38.67 million hectares are experiencing desertification and deterioration, accounting for about 60 percent. The affected rate in the Hulun Buir Grassland is 23 percent; that of Xilin Gol Grassland is 41 percent; and Ordus Grassland, over 68 percent.

According to Xu Zhu, pasture animal husbandry accounts for only 5 percent of China's agricultural structure, while in developed countries, the average figure is 60 percent. The unsteady ecological conservation of the grassland would result in the unsustainable eco-environment protection and unsustainable social and economic development. It will demand people to change their current mode of production and diet.

China is not behind others in technologies for rehabilitating, improving and managing deteriorated grasslands. The country now has the capability to develop large-scaled, high-tech supported and modern animal husbandry, Xu Zhu said. However, currently, it's crucial to work out a permanent solution on how to control grassland desertification and deterioration. He suggests that the demarcation line between agricultural and pastoral areas be removed. Instead, the grasslands should be divided into grassy marshland, typical grassland, semi-desertified grassland and desertified grassland, and proper measures should be taken for each of them so as to develop modern animal husbandry combining with farming and herding.

In provinces with large areas of grassland, protective measures have been taken.

Pastures of small acreage have been developed so as to protect big grazing lands; policies for balancing the grassland protection and grazing have been worked out; and a system of grazing in enclosed pastures in rotation has been established. Meanwhile, high-efficiency artificial grasslands and high-yielding forage production base have been built. Hopefully, these efforts can initiatively curb the severe deterioration of grassland and realize the balance between grass protection and herding, while helping solve the livelihood problem for herdsmen.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, June 27, 2004)