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

1 Main Achievements <strong>and</strong> Lessons learned in agricultural <strong>and</strong> pastoral
Development
1.1 Development achievements
To speed up development in Tibet, five Working Conferences on Tibet have
been held by the central authorities since the beginning of reform <strong>and</strong> opening
up. Under the competent leadership of the CPC Central Committee <strong>and</strong> with
the strong support of the entire Chinese people, the Tibet Autonomous Region
has always prioritized issues related to farmers, the agricultural sector <strong>and</strong>
the rural areas, improving production <strong>and</strong> living conditions for farmers <strong>and</strong>
herdsmen <strong>and</strong> sparing no efforts to increase the farmers’ income. By emancipating
our minds, deepening reform <strong>and</strong> doing earnest <strong>and</strong> solid work, we have
achieved rapid <strong>and</strong> sound development of the economy in the agricultural <strong>and</strong>
pastoral areas, bringing to the people the tangible benefits of development.
1. Farmers’ income has maintained double-digit growth for seven consecutive
years, consistently raising the living st<strong>and</strong>ards of farmers <strong>and</strong> herdsmen
To further implement the central authorities’ strategy of “prioritizing betterment
of production <strong>and</strong> living conditions for farmers <strong>and</strong> herdsmen <strong>and</strong>
increasing farmers’ income in the economic <strong>and</strong> social development of Tibet”,
the TAR party committee <strong>and</strong> government have made timely assessment of
the situation in the agricultural <strong>and</strong> pastoral areas. We have shifted our focus
from just increasing grain yields to increasing the income of farmers <strong>and</strong> herdsmen.
For several years we have held special meetings <strong>and</strong> sessions to discuss
the right way to help people generate more income. We have adopted a number
of measures to increase farmer income, including income generation through
the input of policies, investment, industrialization, employment <strong>and</strong> reforms.
These measures have been taking effect, forming a wide range of solutions for
farmers <strong>and</strong> herdsmen to generate more income. In 2009, the per capita net
income of farmers <strong>and</strong> herdsmen reached 3,532 Yuan, which represents a 1.5
times increase over that of 2000. The living st<strong>and</strong>ards of farmers <strong>and</strong> herdsmen
have been improved, with cars, motorcycles, washing machines, refrigerators,
televisions, mobile phones <strong>and</strong> other high-quality consumer durables gradually
entering into the average household.
2. Food production has been stable <strong>and</strong> sustained at a level of 920,000 tons
per year, with a more optimized cropping structure.
Through constant efforts to enhance the per-unit yield of grains <strong>and</strong> edible oil,
we have improved the per-unit grain yield by more than 78 kg compared with
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