How to use Gobi

In order to make rational use of land, we mainly take the following measures. First, focus on water control, rationally develop water resources, and speed up the implementation of a number of major water conservancy projects, such as the three major water conservancy projects in Zhengyixia of Heihe River, the water conservancy project in Ejina irrigation area in the lower reaches of Heihe River and the comprehensive management project of soil and water conservation. Make good use of existing river water resources scientifically and rationally, and actively develop groundwater resources. By 2005, the effective irrigation area of farmland will reach 28,000 mu, the water-saving irrigation will reach 26,000 mu, the irrigation area of new forage land will reach 50,000 mu, and the natural grassland will be restored to 700,000 mu. The second measure is to focus on the implementation of returning grazing to grassland and natural forest protection projects, and strive for new breakthroughs in Australian aid projects. Another measure is to focus on ecological management, do a good job in key projects such as demonstration in pastoral areas, comprehensive agricultural development and water-saving irrigation of farmland, and enhance the ability of agriculture and animal husbandry to resist natural disasters. By 2005, the scale of grassland construction in the whole banner will reach 2.25 million mu, and 200 grassland kulun will be built.

At present, there are also some problems and difficulties in land development and utilization. First, the degree of land development and utilization is not high. The available land area of the whole flag is 3,755,706 hectares, accounting for 32.86% of the total land area. Under the current technical and economic conditions, a large area of land is still difficult to use. Second, although the territory is vast, the reserve resources for land development and utilization are limited by specific natural conditions, such as water shortage and low substitution of grassland resources. Crucially, the shortage of water resources is the most important limiting factor for land development and utilization. The Ejina River is often in a state of waterless. Therefore, in order to make full use of this vast land resource, we must first solve the problem of water resources.

Research Group: Just now you talked about grass-field rotation. What is the specific form of grass-field rotation in Ejina Banner?

Ejina Banner: The grass-field rotation just mentioned is not a strict farming method. The situation here is like this: some cultivated land used to have water to cultivate, but later there was no water, so it was naturally abandoned and overgrown with weeds; When conditions are right, this part of the abandoned land will be taken out to continue farming. In fact, grass-field rotation is a farming method. If you plant grass, you should consider what kind of grass to plant, leguminous grass or something else. This is not the case here. Let weeds grow naturally. This mainly refers to our farm. In the 1950s, we built a farm here. When the farm was built, it had more than 40,000 mu of land. Especially during the Cultural Revolution, pastoral areas should also learn from Dazhai. At that time, more land was reclaimed, reaching more than 50 thousand mu, which was not allowed to be planted in the late Cultural Revolution. Over time, the willows will grow, so will other grasses, returning farmland to grassland. At present, the industrial benefits of cotton and cantaloupe are very good, and some original farmland has been restored. Therefore, it is not grass-field rotation in a strict scientific sense.

Research Group: There are almost 3.2 million hectares of grassland here. What is the productivity of these grasslands? For example, how many acres of grassland can carry a sheep unit?

Ejina Banner: The Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau will introduce the basic situation of agriculture and animal husbandry in detail later. The grassland in Ejina Banner is mainly the range of East and West Rivers and Oasis, which we call oasis grassland. In addition, there are Gobi grassland, mountain grassland and lake grassland, which are basically divided. The grasslands in the lake area are basically reeds. In the fifties and sixties, reeds grew quite well and were relatively high, but now they have degenerated into chicken feet reeds. You can't see them riding camels, but now you can clearly see rabbits running. Mountain grasslands are mainly concentrated in Mazongshan area, mainly raising camels, as well as some sheep and goats. Grassland in mountainous areas mainly depends on rainfall. If it rains twice a year, grass will grow well in mountainous areas, which can last for two years generally. After all, the density of livestock is not too high. Gobi grassland is mainly distributed in the central, eastern and western Gobi. Generally speaking, the middle Gobi grassland is better. The central Gobi is about 1 10,000 square kilometers, with good coverage. The western Gobi grassland refers to this area between Mazong Mountain and Xihe River. Among these grasslands, oasis grasslands with high livestock density are mainly concentrated on the east and west banks and around big towns. It is mainly composed of trees and shrubs, such as Populus euphratica and Tamarix chinensis. Populus euphratica mainly depends on deciduous leaves, which fall in autumn and sheep live by deciduous leaves in winter. Camels usually eat fresh red willow. Camels like red willow. We have six kinds of red willow here. Some camels especially like to eat it. When there is no other food in winter, sheep mainly eat the fallen leaves of Tamarix chinensis. There are also bitter beans, which are especially bitter when they are fresh. Sheep and camels don't eat it. Only when the taste changes after frost can sheep and camels eat it. As far as licorice is concerned, the situation is different. There are more Sophora alopecuroides on both sides of Donghe River and more Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch on both sides of Xihe River, mainly distributed in the upper reaches, with obvious regional characteristics. The grasslands in Ejina Banner are mainly divided into these four categories.

When it comes to livestock capacity, the situation is changing. In the fifties and sixties of last century, when the oasis was good, it was about 160 mu of grassland on average, but now it is much worse.

Let's talk about the grassland situation in Ejina Banner.

According to the grassland survey conducted by the Grassland Survey and Design Institute of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in 2004, the total grassland area of the whole banner is 82,600 square kilometers, accounting for 72.08% of the total grassland area, of which the usable grassland area is 36,200 square kilometers, accounting for 43.83% of the total grassland area of the whole banner, belonging to desertification grassland. The climate is extremely dry, with an average annual precipitation of 20-30mm and evaporation of 3700-4000mm.

As mentioned above, grassland vegetation can be divided into four types by region: Gobi grassland, riverside grassland, desert grassland and lake basin. Among them, the natural environment of Gobi grassland is the driest, the plant species are poor, and the desert elements in Central Asia are absolutely dominant; The best grassland in the whole banner is concentrated along the Ejina River. The main communities are Tamarix chinensis, Phragmites communis, Sophora alopecuroides and Glycyrrhiza uralensis, but the area is only 6.5438+0.06 million mu, accounting for 8.5% of the total grassland area in the whole banner.

According to many biological factors such as climate, soil, topography and vegetation and their interaction, all kinds of grasslands in the whole banner are divided into four categories and seven subcategories: temperate grassland desert, temperate desert, lowland grassland and lowland meadow. Among them, the temperate desert is the largest, with a total area of1110,000 mu and an available area of 45.32 million mu, accounting for 9 1.4% and 83.4% of the total grassland area and available area in the whole banner respectively. However, the grass yield per unit area ranks at the bottom of the four types of grasslands, only 4.7 1 kg per mu, and the annual grassland area required by sheep is 167 mu.

According to the palatability, nutritional value, utilization rate and aboveground biomass of forage grass, the four types of grassland in the whole banner are divided into five grades and eight grades. At present, there are no first-and second-grade grasslands in the whole flag, but only third-and third-grade grasslands, that is, fourth-and seventh-grade grasslands with an yield of 300-400 kg per mu and 50- 100 kg per mu, which have been gradually replaced by eighth-grade grasslands with an yield of less than 50 kg per mu. Up to now, the grassland area of Grade 8 has accounted for 9 1.4% of the total grassland area of the whole banner.

Since the 1980s, due to the decrease of atmospheric precipitation year by year, the groundwater level drops sharply, and the accumulation of unfavorable factors such as serious water shortage, overgrazing and man-made destruction of vegetation, a large area of grassland has been seriously degraded, and grassland desertification, degradation and desertification have become increasingly serious. The number of plant species in the whole flag dropped sharply from more than 200 to 134, and the endemic and endangered species in many places were degraded in a large area. The plant species in 100 square meter decreased from 5 species to 12 species, the average biomass per mu was less than 20 kg, and the livestock carrying capacity of grassland decreased by 54%.

In terms of construction and protection, since the 1980s, the Banner government has stepped up its efforts in construction and protection. At the beginning, farmers and herdsmen were encouraged to circle grasslands, and they were also encouraged to circle grasslands contracted by themselves. At that time, the enclosed grassland was subsidized by seven yuan per mu. Later, it was a protective measure to allow farmers and herdsmen to cultivate some grass on their own grasslands to supplement the shortage of grasslands. Since 2002, combined with the national project of returning grazing to grassland, the whole flag has implemented large-scale grazing prohibition measures. Up to now, the grazing prohibition area has reached 3.8 million mu. Farmers and herdsmen in the project area should all move out. On the one hand, the state has given subsidies in this regard, withdrawing from an acre of grassland and subsidizing 4.95 yuan for five consecutive years; Then, in combination with other projects, these farmers and herdsmen will be permanently withdrawn, and they will not be allowed to enter again after withdrawal, and these grasslands will be permanently prohibited from grazing. The resettlement of these farmers and herdsmen is assigned to a certain number of forage fields. For people over 56 years old, rural areas implement a social pension system, and farmers and herdsmen over 56 years old can receive pensions without grazing, not to mention returning to the original grassland. Young and middle-aged herders should change their way of thinking, from the original grassland animal husbandry to house feeding and semi-house feeding. Combined with the implementation of the project, immigrant housing, supporting silage pits, sheds and other facilities were established, which laid the foundation for house feeding. Through these measures, herdsmen will be driven away from the natural grassland, and the grassland will have the opportunity to farm and live, and grazing will be banned forever.

Research Group: What is the proportion of permanent grazing ban on 3.8 million mu of grassland?

Ejina Banner: Those who quit are permanent. If they quit, they will not be allowed to enter again. Of course, it is permanent at present, but it may be more difficult after it is restored to a certain extent. The coastal areas of the two lakes are mainly Haloxylon ammodendron and Haloxylon ammodendron. Haloxylon ammodendron has a large area. Haloxylon ammodendron is a very important tree species in arid areas of western China. It is drought-tolerant. On the other hand, it has economic value and can be inoculated with cistanche deserticola, a parasite in the root of Haloxylon ammodendron. Returning grazing to grassland, including some projects of the Ministry of Forestry, is mainly to protect Haloxylon ammodendron forest. A large part of the 3.8 million mu mentioned just now is Haloxylon ammodendron forest. Our two lakes area is the main area of Haloxylon ammodendron forest. By withdrawing villages and merging towns, two sapphires in the two lakes were removed, with the aim of moving out the herdsmen here. The next step is to concentrate camels in Mazong Mountain. Camels are more harmful. It eats a lot and is tall. Eat poplars as soon as they come out. Therefore, the number of our camels is also decreasing. In the past, the Arab League was called the hometown of camels. When our flag was the highest, there were 20,000 to 30,000 camels. Now it's about 1. 1, 000 camels. But as a species, our unique camel needs to be protected. Now Mazongshan camel breeding has been protected as an experimental base for camels in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

In addition, the transferred sheep will be placed in the farm and a part of forage base will be set aside. It is also a problem to carry out all house feeding at once, which can only be a gradual transition from semi-house feeding to house feeding. There is a problem of reducing the number of livestock and improving the quality of livestock. In addition, it is necessary to increase the yield of individual fluff.

That is to say, after several years of grazing prohibition, the comparative inspection shows that the vegetation coverage in the project area has increased from 8 ~ 15% before grazing prohibition to more than 20% now, the grass group index has increased obviously, and the forage yield per mu has increased by about 10 kg. This shows that although the grassland is deteriorating, as long as we take certain measures, it is still very effective and the benefits are still obvious. The fence effect of Populus euphratica forest is also obvious, on the one hand, the coverage is increasing, on the other hand, the biodiversity is also increasing. But on the one hand, it also shows that overgrazing is indeed an important factor of grassland degradation. Haloxylon ammodendron grows well like a fence, because before the fence, camels eat all the new branches; Especially the camels near Youqi, because they are barren, we can eat all the branches of Haloxylon ammodendron in our Haloxylon ammodendron forest, but they can't turn green the next year, and the damage is still quite great.

Generally speaking, grazing prohibition is an important measure with obvious effect. However, it is impossible to ban them all at once. Where there is no grazing prohibition, we must promote the balance between grass and livestock and realize a virtuous circle of grassland. Another is to strengthen grassland law enforcement and reduce man-made damage to grassland. The third is to help popularize some new technologies, and so on.

By the way, man-made destruction is mainly the excavation of cistanche deserticola. If the excavation is reasonable, the damage is not great. Reasonable excavation means that the roots of Haloxylon ammodendron cannot be exposed after excavation. People who are engaged in mining cistanche deserticola all the year round here use this method, which generally has no effect on the growth of Haloxylon ammodendron. However, some people outside are not like this. They tried their best to catch and kill the goose that laid the golden eggs. After digging, they took all the cistanches, big and small, without backfilling, so that the roots of Haloxylon ammodendron were exposed and Haloxylon ammodendron died soon. Another kind of destruction is digging licorice, which is more destructive than digging cistanche deserticola, because digging licorice is digging away the roots and it is difficult to recover. Then there's Haloxylon ammodendron. Now all three behaviors are prohibited.