The development of animal husbandry in Western China to cope with fierce competition

Introduction: when the eastern region emphasizes the cultivation of new varieties of vegetables, flowers and fruits and the improvement of product quality, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and other provinces and regions in the western part of China have chosen to focus on the development of animal husbandry, with cattle and sheep and their products to supplement the losses that the planting industry may suffer in the face of fierce competition Xinjiang, Ningxia, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia have a total area of 3.63 million square kilometers, accounting for 37.8% of China's total land area There are vast grasslands here, and residents have a tradition of engaging in animal husbandry But for a long time, natural grazing not only makes them lag behind in the domestic market competition, but also brings environmental problems such as grassland degradation During the "two sessions", the main officials of the four provinces and regions said that as agricultural measures to cope with the accession to the WTO, they will take further supporting policies, increase the cultivation of forage crops, introduce new livestock breeds and management methods, and focus on supporting the rapid development of animal husbandry on the premise of maintaining the production of local food crops and cash crops They made this decision because they found that the benefit of raising cattle and sheep was obviously higher than that of planting corn, wheat and cotton, and there was no competition from abroad There is still a large market space for beef, mutton, milk, cashmere, etc In Wuzhong City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the profit per 500g milk can reach 0.70 yuan In Xinjiang, the per capita consumption of dairy products last year was only 6 kg, lower than the national average of 7.4 kg, while only 1 / 3 of the raw materials of the dairy processing plants in Xinjiang came from local sources In Qinghai, smart farmers have sold their unique yak hair products to the United States, Japan and Canada The dairy products, mutton and cashmere products in Inner Mongolia are the best-selling products in China However, despite their great determination, it is not easy to realize the rapid development of animal husbandry and make it an important and competitive industry Xu Peng, a professor at Xinjiang Agricultural University and a deputy to the National People's Congress, said: "many grasslands in these areas have been seriously degraded There is no way to develop the" head count animal husbandry "by using the old lady's chicken raising method We need creative thinking " He pointed out that to achieve rapid and sustainable development of animal husbandry, "we need good grass, good livestock and good management." Some visionary local officials have begun to make various explorations In Wuzhong, Ningxia, technicians told farmers how to make corn straw into green feed, and officials told farmers to pay attention to market needs Yang Yongshan, a former mayor of Wuzhong City, a deputy to the National People's Congress, said: "we told farmers not to bury their heads in farming any more They need to stand at the head of the field and watch the table We can produce whatever we need in the market " Su Rong, deputy to the National People's Congress and Secretary of the Qinghai provincial Party committee, said that the country is now implementing the project of returning farmland to forests and grass in the west, which provides conditions for the development of animal husbandry in the agricultural areas of Qinghai Last year, Qinghai began to guide farmers to implement a new plan to transfer 1 million lambs from the western region to the eastern region for captive breeding and fattening, so as to reduce the pressure of grassland in the Western Pastoral Area and increase the income of farmers in the eastern region In Xinjiang, China's largest cotton producing area, at least 2 million mu (about 133000 HA) of low-yield cotton fields will be planted with alfalfa and other feed crops this year to reduce the pressure on the grassland and help livestock survive the winter Professor Xu Peng believes that these efforts alone are not enough In terms of improving grassland, introducing excellent livestock species and management mode, these areas need financial support from the government and foreign investment The professor's representative put forward a proposal of grassland ecological replacement project at the meeting According to his plan, in the next 10 years, the government will invest 10 billion yuan to change the current low-yield farmland in Xinjiang into high-quality forage grass, reduce the pressure of the existing natural grassland, and realize the ecological restoration of the grassland At the same time, it can help the development of animal husbandry and improve the income of farmers and herdsmen Although the specific ways to develop animal husbandry in these provinces and regions may be different, as some deputies to the National People's Congress pointed out, this will be a great attempt to adjust the agricultural structure in the western region of China, and will have a huge impact on the western region and even the whole country.