Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in Qamdo Prefecture

BALSANG CERING

Natural Forests and Forest Products in Qamdo

Qamdo Prefecture is the second largest forest region in Tibet, with 1.2349 million hectares of forested land and 2.2178 million hectares of bush land, and a forest coverage rate of 31.71 percent. Forests in the Jinshajiang River Valley play a protective role for the Yangtze River Valley. Blueprint for forestry construction in the Qamdo Prefecture: (1) The wide valleys of the Jinshajiang, Lancangjiang and Nujiang Rivers are cold in winter and cool in summer, with a dry winter and spring. When compared with other parts of Tibet, they have a longer frost-free period and more rain, which is concentrated in the summer. The natural forests there are protected by mountains. (2) In the middle reaches of the Jinshajiang, Lancangjiang and Nujiang river valleys, forests are found on the banks at an elevation of 3,000-4,400 meters. River valleys with an elevation of less than 3,000 meters will be exploited for the development of major economic forests.

Qamdo Prefecture

Qamdo lies in southeast Tibet, adjacent to Sichuan, Yunnan and Qinghai provinces. It features high mountains and a plateau, at an average elevation of 3,500 meters. Out of a total area of 108,700 square km, it has 50,727 hectares of farmland, 5.75 million hectares of grasslands, and 230,200 hectares of forests. The population is 584,000, of which 541,000 are farmers and herders. Climate: Low temperature, low rainfall, clear distinction between dry and rainy days. Annual average temperature: 7.6 degrees C. Frost-free period: 38-161 days. Annual average sunshine: 2,139-2,776 hours. Average rainfall: 400-600 mm (with more rains in the north part) concentrated in the three months of June, July and August. Economic Contribution: The output value of agriculture and livestock breeding totals 533 million Yuan, making up 70.3 percent of prefectural GNP.This breaks down into an agricultural output value of 159 million Yuan and livestock breeding 349 million Yuan. The per-capita net income of farmers and herders is 1,393.87 Yuan.

Qamdo Prefecture has had bumper agricultural harvests for six years running, a significant change from the past. The same period has seen impressive improvement in construction of an ecological environment, which is also a boon for the wider area of western China.

BUMPER AGRICULTURAL HARVESTS. Before 1994, grain production hovered around 100 million kg a year. After the Central Government convened the third conference on work in Tibet, grain production increased at an annual rate of 10 million kg as the result of an increase in per-hectare output from 2,250 kg to 3,150 kg. The per-capita share of grain rose from 178.9 kg in 1995 to 245 kg by the end of 1999. The reasons for the fast increase in grain production include increased financial input into farming, better varieties of seeds (with an increase rate of over 30-60 percent), and improvement in the infrastructure. The popularized use of fine variety of seeds, chemical fertilizer and pesticides all made major contributions. In the winter of 1999 and spring of 2000, farmers repaired 5,899 irrigation canals and dug 1,967 pools; and built 112 irrigation canals and 42 pools. This made it possible for 853 more hectares of farmland to be irrigated. In the meantime, efforts were made to improve the farming and livestock breeding structure, cut the size of farmland devoted to crop cultivation, and increase the area devoted to growing feed. Slopes with a gradient of 25 degrees or more are planted with grass and trees. Area at an elevation of 3,900 meters or higher are all devoted to growing grass, and the farmland devoted to crop cultivation is controlled at around 40,000 hectares.

LIVESTOCK BREEDING. Livestock breeding, the mainstay of the local economy, is concentrated in Denqeng, Riwoge, Gyamda, Benba, and areas at an elevation of over 3,900 meters. By the end of 1999, the prefecture raised 3.45 million head of livestock and produced 45,219 tons of meat, 50,261 tons of milk and 1,079 tons of wool. The per-capita share of meat and milk was 78.2 kg and 84.8 kg respectively. For the further development of livestock breeding, efforts were made to strengthen construction of grasslands through the introduction of a responsibility system. Thus far, 12,000 hectares of grasslands have been enclosed, 100,000 hectares of grasslands have received fertilizer, and 6,666.7 hectares of grass have been grown. Thanks to these efforts made, the death rate of animals dropped 0.3 percentage points from the year before to 2.7 per cent; 90.4 percent of the 810,429 newborn animals survived, with the survival rate dropping by 0.5 percentage points from the previous year.