No weeding in the field that used to grow the grain to feed the whole family? This is a situation that farmer Liu Rui, 64, faces for the first time in his life.
He and his fellow villagers in the northwest province of Shaanxi sowed grass seeds in the spring last year, and got enough grain for his family free from the government in the fall. Meanwhile, Liu was amazed that his five hectares of land on the loess plateau is now covered in green.
Liu, of Yangqing Village, near the old revolutionary base area of Yan’an, is one of tens of thousands of farmers living in the economically backward western area of China. These people, who used to fight against drought and sand encroachment, are now being mobilized to return their farmland to grassland and forest.
Historians believe that 2,000 years ago, the plateau was home to forests and wild life. However, the increasing population and the opening up of farmland has devastated the soil, and the area is now listed among the world’s weakest eco-systems.
Aware of the problem, the Chinese government began promoting the project of returning farming land to grassland and forest last year. Shan Lun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that it was the first time for peasants to abandon their farmland in China’s history of farming.
According to Liu, a beneficiary of the project, his income from selling grass was 16,000 yuan (US$1,900) last year. Some 100 farmers in his village have seen their annual incomes increase by an average of 1,000 yuan (US$120) after planting trees and grass.
Statistics show that, so far, some 230,000 hectares of farmland have been covered with green grass and trees in Yan’an. Zhang Shenian, mayor of the city, said that the cradle of China’s red revolution is now brewing a green revolution with the same significance.
In neighboring Inner Mongolia, Manda, who had been a shepherd for half a century, has put down his whip and become a keeper of a no-grazing zone. Similarly, more than 200,000 shepherds have given up their old way of life in neighboring Gansu, Shaanxi and Ningxia.
The project also benefits farmers in the rainy south, where people have started cultivate saplings to supply to the west.
(People’s Daily 09/03/2001)
