Study On The Relationship Between Herdsman's Production Behaviour And Grassland Degradation In Xinjiang

Natural grassland is an important material basis for human survival and development,and also a significant ecological barrier. Doubtlesly, grassland degradation will influence herdman's production activity and the development of pasturing area economy. Meanwhile, it is the main inducement factor of some ecological disaster. So it has been a hot issue in academic circles. Many researches have focused on the manifestations and causes of grassland degradation. However, research on the relationship between herdman's production behavior and grassland degradation is not very much.Peasant problem is the core of"Three Agricultural Problems"in China. It is impossible to solve"Three Agricultural Problems"completely, if the rights of farmers are neglected. Because of the development of Behavioral Economics and Experimental Economics in recent years,more and more economists focus on the economic development at micro level, to explore the influence of behavior of micro subjects on the economic development. That is the reason why the research on the rural household economic behavior has been an issue at the theoretical front of development economics. This research tries to find some methods and measures to inhibit the phenomenon of grassland degradation by analyzing the internal relationship between the production decision making of herdsman and the grassland degradation.The objective set of production decision making is determined firstly in the study by literature analysis, experts'discussion and spot investigation. The objective set mainly includes five concrete goals, they are: living in the countryside freely; transferring the livestock and grassland to next generation as property; obtaining the higher income; becoming a farmer respected by others; and improving the living standard. In order to analyze their importance for herdsman in production decision making, the Paired Comparison is applied in the study. The results show that the first goal is"Transferring the livestock and grassland to next generation as property"in the production decision making of herdsman, the second is"obtaining the higher income". The two goals are used as objective functions when the linear programming model of production decision making is built. The model is a tool to analyze different situational decision making,they are: cognition status of herdsman to grassland degradation; the external restraints of grassland utilization; the market situation of livestock products; the application of production technology. The result of simulation shows:(1) Different goals of production decision making have different influences on grassland degradation. The production decisions aiming at income maximization is more favorable for relieving grassland pressure that the ones aiming at scale maximization.(2) The effect of herdsman's self-restriction on inhibiting grassland degradation is not less then government mandatory regulation for the grassland utilization;(3) Under the situation of overgrazing, The price rise of livestock products will be helpful to decrease the breeding scale;(4) The application of production technology in risk reduction will be helpful to decrease the breeding scale.Based on the results above, the research also analyzes the implementation effect and prospects of some policies and ideas, such as grassland property right system; feed-animal balance control and organic livestock industry. There are some conclusions as follows:(1) It is difficult to internalize the externalities of grassland utilization by privatization of grassland resource;(2) It is necessary that herdsman have some internal change in cognition and behavior to grassland utilization, if we want to obtain good results from feed-animal balance control;(3) Organic livestock industry is a kind of choice for realization of sustainable development.Based on the analyses above, the research proposes some suggestions for protecting herdsman's rights and interests and inhibiting grassland degradation. They are:(1) Building the system of grassland resources dynamic monitoring;(2) Promoting the transformation: the congnition of herdman on grassland degradation to action; and peasant household as the basic production unit to the unit of production +ecological construction;(3) Perfecting the Household Contract System, promoting the use right transfer, exploring the new mechanism of grassland utilization;(4) Changing the guiding ideology of policy and measurement from pursuing the supply of products to muliti-function of grassland;(5) Promoting the development of organic animal husbandry.