Pastoralism and Rangeland Management on the Tibetan Plateau in ...

Photo 3: Storing oat hay for marketing purposes
(photograph © Wang Jian December 24, 2009)
The above four cases are built around one key word: fodder! When cattle go
through the most difficult lean days, the fodder will be worth several times its
original value. When both adult <strong>and</strong> young animals survive, poor herders will
feel hope for improvements. This is also the direction poverty reduction <strong>and</strong>
development efforts are pursuing.
5 The Feasibility of an integrated agricultural <strong>and</strong> pastoral Development
Model
Planting cultivated pastures on the plateau, nowadays, still faces some major
obstacles. Therefore, the designed objectives of a poverty alleviation <strong>and</strong>
development project that promotes an increased slaughtering rate of cattle by
ensuring fodder availability, including providing an annual subsidy of 500 kg
of fodder for each poor household <strong>and</strong> an estimated eleven days of disaster
insurance forage for a herd of 50 sheep units. In addition, when a disaster
strikes the project will provide disaster relief. If there is no disaster, then the
subsidy goes to nutrition for weak livestock. The support will go on for five
consecutive years. Each household should h<strong>and</strong> in 250 kg of livestock manure
in return. Implementation of the fodder availability project does not prevent
the poor herder households from receiving additional help or support. The
fodder availability project is expected to start with a thous<strong>and</strong> households <strong>and</strong>
then be gradually exp<strong>and</strong>ed.
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