Planting herbs in China's 'water tower': Alleviating poverty the ecological way
By Ni Tao, People’s
Daily
China's
achievements in poverty reduction in recent years have been unprecedented.
Official data shows China has lifted more than 700 million people out of
poverty in the past four decades. By 2020, China aims to eradicate poverty to
build a moderately prosperous society.
Qumalai, is such a
deeply impoverished county, located in the north of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture of China's northwest Qinghai Province. It is a pure pastoral
highland in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, mainly inhabited by Tibetans.
Photo:
A brook in Qumalaicounty stretches into the distance.
Its average
altitude is more than 4,000 meters, with a typical plateau cold
climatecharacterized by coldness and anoxia, lengthy exposure to sunshine and
strong ultraviolet radiation. The annual temperature difference is small, but
the daily temperature difference is large.
The harsh climate
and geographical conditions have caused the county to be deeply impoverished.
Among its 45,718 population, 11,328 people from 3365 households are registered
as poor, said Li Jian, deputy secretary of the Qumalai County Party Committee.
Li said that a
lack of industries has been the bottleneck for local development. "The
largest industry, cattle and sheep, is facing limited grazing because of the
degradation of grassland," Li lamented. “We must build two or three more
industries as a matter of urgency, which can protect the ecological environment
and increase people's income.”
However, creating
industries in Qumalai requires caution.
As the core area
where Asia's three greatest rivers - the Yellow River (mother river of China),
Yangtze River (the world's third largest river) and the Langcang River (also
known as Mekong River and the longest river in Southeast Asia), start their
long journey of life, Qumalai bears great ecological significance which can
never be overemphasized.
Each year, the
source area of the three rivers supplies about 6 billion cubic meters of water
downstream. It is therefore called the "China Water Tower.” It is also the
most concentrated area of plateau biodiversity, home of the Tibetan antelope,
wild yaks, Tibetan wild donkeys, brown bears, snow leopards, wolves, hawks and
larks.
Qumalai's special
geographical location, abundant natural resources and important ecological
functions make it an important ecological filternot only for China, but also
for Asia and the world.
In 2016, Chinese
President Xi Jinping emphasized that Qinghai must shoulder the great
responsibility of protecting the source of the Three Rivers and the "China
Water Tower.”
With the ecology
being the first priority, the central and local governments have made
relentless efforts for years. In 2015, the central government established a
compensation mechanism for ecological protection among regions.
Qinghai Province
has also created jobs as grassland ecological guardians for 49,000 registered
poor people, said Wang Enguang, deputy director-general of the Qinghai Forestry
and Grassland Bureau.
At the
county-level, Qumalai has set up more than 60 ecological animal husbandry
cooperatives.
These cooperatives
largely optimize resources and can operate with less labor, enabling young
herdsmen to accept vocational education and skills training.
As a local
governor, Li is more concerned about how the local people can go beyond this
goal of poverty eradicationand realize prosperous development in a sustainable way.
In Li's eyes, a
solution lies in Maduotownship, where some six hours' trek through bumpy roads,
mountains and rivers can reach from the county downtown. He sees potential in a
large Chinese herbal plantation there.
Oddly, it used to
be a place which by no means had any connection with“hope.""No one
would want to come, and only old horses know the way," TujuLuozhoujiangcuo,
secretary of the Party Committee of Maduo township, said. There are no roads,
no electricity, and no network signals. In summer, even off-road vehicles may
fall into a marsh at any time.
Because of the
climate, rodent infestation and historical overgrazing, the desertification of
the land is particularly serious, with nearly 60 percent of the grasslands
desertified. Without good grazing grassland, nearly 70 percent of the herdsmen
in the whole township moved to Golmud and other places, added Tuju.
But this started
to change two years ago when Zhengletang Biotechnology Group came and set up
its subsidiary QumalaiZhengbaicao Traditional Chinese Medicine Planting Co Ltd,
which plants isatis root and sophora flavescens rooton about 3,333
hectares of uncultivated land.
As the pioneer of alpine herbal plantations, Zhengbaicao
faces enormous challenges. In addition to the lack of infrastructure, raising
herbsin cold areas with an average altitude of 4,500 meters is by no means an
easy task. The first thing the company needed to figure out was the feasibility
of its plan.
With the help of experts from various institutions, including
the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Agricultural University, after a long
period of research and tackling key scientific and technological bottlenecks,
the company has mastered the necessary cultivation, purification and extraction
technology.
After more than two years, the first experimental batch of
plants has been successful. Li said that the old idea that Qumulai was too high
for planting had been disproven.
In fact, Maduo township's high altitude has proven to be an
advantage for herbal plantations as it offers a large area of available
uncultivated land, and excellent water
quality and soil. Herbs grown here will be pollution-free.
So far, the planting base has rented nearly 6,667 hectares of
land in Maduotownship, involving 14 herdsmen, and the annual income from the
land transfer alone exceeds 2 million yuan ($285,000).
In the words of Wang Lige, general manager of Zhengletang, the
herbal plantations not only bring job opportunities to local herdsmen, but also
better preserve the water and soil and control local rodent infestation. He
said the alpine rodents eat grass roots, largely causing soil desertification.
The herbal rootsare bitter, effectively controlling rodent infestation.
Cuojiduojie, 35,lives in
poverty in Guoyang village in Maduotownship. Other thanaround a dozen livestock
for the six-member family, he has no other source of income. Last year, he
worked in the plantation base loading and unloading, and earned nearly 20,000
yuan (about $2,850) in three months, a significant income.
At the same time, he learned to drive a tractor at the base.
He said he plans to buy his own tractor to till the land next year. “Now I can
work at my own home, and this won't affect my daily grazing work. But also when
I return home at night, I can also continue my pastoral work,” he said.
Cuojiduojie is not the
only one. In 2018, Zhengbaicao recruited more than 30 herdsmen in Maduotownship.
Like him, herdsmen come to the base to work after releasing
cattle and sheep in the daytime. In the evening, they drive cattle and sheep
back to their enclosures. During the past year, the minimum income of herdsmen
from the base was 7,000 yuan ($995) and the maximum income was 30,000 yuan
($4,266).
Sun Jianfei, chairman of Zhengletang Biotechnology Group,
said the base only hires local herdsmen for the labor work, because people from
other places would struggle with altitude stress. “In the future, we plan to
set up a primary processing plant,” he said.“Hopefully this can add some value
to the herbs and achieve self-hematopoietic capacity.”
For a township like Maduo, where residents have always
depended on nature to raise livestock, this is the first time for them to work
at an enterprise at their doorstep. This is exactly what Zhengbaicai wants to
achieve, hoping that the herbal plantations would make the local herdsmen
“stay”.
With the alignment of ecological, social and economic
effects, Sun said the plantation base will be expanded to 6,667 hectares in the
next phase, and will gradually expand to 66,667 hectares, making it one of the largest
Chinese herbal planting bases in China.
Planting herbs in China's 'water tower': Alleviating poverty the ecological way
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