Northwest China's Ningxia
Hui Autonomous Region has recovered its million hectares of
grassland this year after banning grazing 20 months ago.
"The ban helped us regain the grasslands once covered with sands
due to over-grazing," said Li Fengqi, a farmer in Yanchi county,
Ningxia.
The county, located near the Mu Us Desert -- one of the eight
largest deserts in China -- suffered strong winds throughout the
year. Most of its grassland have turned into sand dunes.
Since the regional government of Ningxia banned grazing on May
1, 2003, many farmers in the Yanchi county has changed their
traditional habit of over-breeding on the grasslands. As a result,
over seven million mu (about 467,000 hectares) sand-hit
grasslands in the county have been recovered with grass.
The Mu Us Desert, also called the Uxin Desert, lies in parts of
Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Shannxi Province
and covers 32,000 square kilometers. People living near the desert
suffer from sand storms throughout the year.
In Otog Front Banner of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region,
which is located in the center of the Mu Us Desert. At one time 90
percent of the region had turned into sand dunes due to
over-grazing. In the year 2000, the government banned grazing on
470,000 mu (31,300 hectares) of land; now grass has
re-grown on half of the land.???
Currently, more than 60,000 farmers of the Otog Front Banner
have given up their old habits of free grazing and started to feed
from pens. As a result, more than 60 percent grasslands in the
region have been reclaimed.
(Xinhua News Agency January 3, 2005)