SINO-AUSTRALIAN WORKSHOP

Our observation is that major human change is occurring both in personal outlook and opportunity and in management structures at government and business levels as China moves from a centrally planned and controlled economy to a market based one – at an escalating rate.

The issues of grassland degradation and management are complex, and are both technical and socio-economic

• Central planning required that as much land was farmed for grain as possible but now policy is reversing this earlier need. Was this in itself responsible for the reduction in grassland and an increase in grazing pressure on the balance? 

• Forbidden  grazing (pasture destocking and or resting) areas were introduced and while I have anecdotal evidence at the highest provincial level that this in some cases resulted in the ability to run 2-4 times more stock in some areas, did it increase the grazing pressure and degradation on the remainder?

• What are sustainable grazing levels/pressures on the multitude of Chinese grassland types?

• How should grazing be managed at the transhumant collective, the nomadic group or the fixed farm boundary level at different times of the year?  Is it possible to really assess livestock numbers (as livestock equivalents) at the local and county level?

• What are the key socio-economic issues that will make a herdsman change his cultural and traditional practices on his own or through the group?

• What practices can seriously be recommended for adoption and how is that process to be encouraged?

Understanding the environment, variability and risk management is critical

• I am amazed at how many introduced and local species have been used over the years in various trials in China.  Du explained to me that a major problem in some areas of Qinghai was how do you overcome the  drought period following the winter break which has already germinated the majority of species. Are there local adapted species which can be selected for higher productivity under grazing? Do we need hard seeded species to overcome the issues of seed bank depletion under varying seasonal situations from year to year?

• How do herdsmen manage the effects of severe snow storms every five to ten years or shorter than normal summer seasons which result? Does this impact on degradation as well as livelihoods?

Stronger focus required on soil-plant-animal systems eg. legume availability and survival

• There appear to be few legumes surviving at reasonable production levels in many Chinese pastures yet legume intake can be a very important factor in animal growth and production.

• Is this an issue of grazing management or species introduction?

Extension models will need to change as the planned economy moves to market based

• One advantage of the planned economy was that management practices could be changed by creating new laws and providing resources. The provision of resources directly by the extension service is common in developing economies.

• A move towards the market economy will mean that herdsmen will need to see an obvious short term advantage from adopting new grassland management practices which may conflict with issues of longer term ecological stability and reclamation. What plans and resources will enable the Animal Husbandry Bureau Grassland Extension Station staff to support county extension staff and for those staff to enable more demonstration sites and field days?

Linkages between research-extension-farmers will need to be strengthened

• With the market economy farmers will be critical of relevance or just not interested in research.  How will linkages be developed and handled??