Li, Changling

Li, Wenjun

Li, Yanbo

Xie, Yina

Zhang, Qian

English

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky UKnowledge International Grassland Congress Proceedings XXI International Grassland Congress / VIII International Rangeland Congress Necessity of Mobility Strategy to Risk Aversion Livestock Husbandry: A Case from Bayantala Village of Xilingol Prefecture, Inner Mongolia, China Yina Xie Peking University, China Wenjun Li Peking University, China Qian Zhang Peking University, China Changling Li Peking University, China Yanbo Li Peking University, China Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc  Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/21/17-1/15 The XXI International Grassland Congress / VIII International Rangeland Congress took place in Hohhot, China from June 29 through July 5, 2008. Proceedings edited by Organizing Committee of 2008 IGC/IRC Conference Published by Guangdong People's Publishing House This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Grassland Congress Proceedings by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact UKnowledge@lsv.uky.edu. 　 Multifunctional Grasslands in a Changing World 　 Volume Ⅱ 　 瞯 ]869　 瞯Grasslands/Rangelands People and Policies——— People in Grasslands/RangelandsNecessity of mobility strategy to risk aversion livestock husbandry :a case from Bayantala villageof Xilingol prefecture , Inner Mongolia , ChinaY ina X ie , Wenj un L i , Qian Zhang , Changling L i and Y anbo L iDepartment o f Env ironmental Management , Peking University , Bei j ing 100871 , China , E‐mail : x iey ina＠ pku .edu .cnKey words : rangeland management , risk coping strategy , mobility , Household Production Responsibility System , InnerMongoliaIntroduction Highly temporal and spatial variability in arid grassland ecosystem adds risk and uncertainty to livestock husbandry(Behnke and Scoones , １９９３ ) . T raditionally , Mongolian herders adapted to the fluctuation by moving herds to greenergrassland ( Sneath , ２０００) , while the lately implemented Household Responsibility Contract System ( HPRS) in pastoral InnerMongolia encouraged a settled form of livestock raising , pen‐raising , which relies primarily on stable forage input to preventecological stresses . However , the reality shows that the pen‐raising can not fully replace the traditional mobility strategy . Thispaper aims to examine the reasons why herders maintain mobility strategy when coping with natural hazards , so as to justify thenecessity of mobility strategy to risk aversion to livestock husbandry .Materials and methods The study site , Bayantala Village (BV) is located in the northeast of Suniter Left Banner ( SLB) . Threehundred seventy two herders of １０５ households live on the ６７０ km２ area of pasture in BV , breeding ２６ ,９５１ livestock in Jun of２００６ . BV is prone to natural hazards , and HRCS based pen‐raising was introduced in ２００２ to stabilize livestock productionduring the recent multi‐year drought , yet herders still cling to the mobility strategy . A field study was conducted in BV during２００６‐２００７ , ２６ random samples out of ７５ households whose sustenance rely on livestock husbandry , and ５ local governmentagencies were targeted to collect economic data of mobility and pen‐raising by means of structured and open‐ended interviews .Cost‐benefit analysis was applied to compare the economic efficiency of the two strategies .Results and discussion Pen‐raising based settled livestock husbandry works at an economically inefficient level , which makesherders turn to mobility . On one hand , mobility strategy is more cost‐effective than pen‐raising . The comparison ( Table １ )shows that total cost of mobility is ５０％ of pen‐raising , while its benefit is greater since more livestock were sold in fall at ahigher price than in summer . On the other hand , loss of mobility during drought due to required settlement has increasedproduction costs by ２７５％ while the benefits were merely augmented by １０９％ . Thus a household摧s net annual income wasreduced by ３１％ between ２００１ and ２００６ , according to the economic data from ２６ samples .Table 1 Cost‐bene f it analysis o f both mobility and settled pen‐raisingItem ( Unit) Group １ : Move Herds Group ２ : Settled Pen‐raisingCost Analysis ( CNY/SSU /Day) Pasture Rent ０ 照.３１ Hay ０ �.７５T ransportation Fee ０ 照.１７ Corn ０ �.３２Livestock Loss ０ 照.１１ Cultivated Forage ０ �.０５Well Water Fee ０ 照.０３ A .D . T reatment ０ �.０８Total Cost ０ 照.６２ Total Cost １ �.２０Benefit Analysis( ％ ) Percentage of Summer Selling １５ 1Percentage of Summer Selling ９４  Percentage of Fall Selling ７２ 1Percentage of Fall Selling ６ 篌Source : interview from July to August in ２００７CNY : China Yuan ; SSU : Standard Sheep Unit ; A .D . : Animal DiseaseConclusions Herders stick to traditional mobility strategy to avoid risk related to environmental fluctuation since it iseconomically ineffective to adhere to the contracted pasture and raise livestock in pens as HRCS requires .ReferencesBehnke R .H . , Scoones . I . , １９９３ . Rethinking range ecology : implications for rangeland management in Africa . DrylandNetworks Program Issues Paper .Sneath D . , ２０００ . Changing Inner Mongolia : pastoral Mongolian society and the Chinese state . Oxford University Press .

Necessity of Mobility Strategy to Risk Aversion Livestock Husbandry: A Case from Bayantala Village of Xilingol Prefecture, Inner Mongolia, China

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Necessity of Mobility Strategy to Risk Aversion Livestock Husbandry: A Case from Bayantala Village of Xilingol Prefecture, Inner Mongolia, China

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