Research On The Effect Of Grazing Prohibition Policy To Herdsmen And Its Behavioral Response In Xinjiang

Grassland resources is an important material foundation for ecological security and development of grassland animal husbandry in Xinjiang, large area of grassland degradation directly affects the economic development of pastoral and pastoral production activities. Grassland degradation problem has caused great concern of the party and the country. In order to alleviate and solve the problem of grassland degradation, the state has invested large amounts of funds to implement the grassland restoration project since 2000, implementing rest and no grazing policy. Starting from 2011, the central government will allocate funds annually 13.4 billion Yuan to establish a comprehensive Subsidies and incentives mechanism for grassland ecological protection in eight major grassland including Xinjiang province. The main contents of subsidy incentives policy is to implementing no grazing subsidies, livestock balance reward, productive subsidies to herdsmen, forage and thoroughbred allowance. The subsidy incentives policy require the poor environmental and inappropriate grazing grassland implementing grazing prohibition, the central government will subsidize six Yuan per acre every year. However, Grazing prohibition is not only relate to livestock production but also involving a series complicated issues, like herdsmen resettlement and jobs converting, etc. Nationally, developing and improving policies and standards related to compensation is imminent.Suppressing grassland degradation is also a currently hot issue in the academic community. Most research explore the reasons for the failure of grazing prohibition policy from two angles--technology applications and macro management, attributed Herdsmen grazing violations and policy implementation process ineffective government oversight, but illegal grazing is considered the most important factor among them. However, there is little research exploring these problems:How dose illegal grazing come from? Why is the effect of the policies and measure simplemented by government not obvious? What kind of behavioral responses of herdsmen to government policies? What are the policy effects of the herdsmen’s behavioral responses? Based on the above all, this study use six typical Xinjiang animal husbandry counties as the research object, through exploring the intrinsic relationship between herdsmen’s productive behavior and policy effects of grazing prohibition, to comprehensive analysis target preferences and behavioral responses of herders and its influencing factors under grazing prohibition policy, from which aims to discover the path and measures to improve the effectiveness of grazing prohibition policies.This study demonstrates that grazing prohibition policy is an important policy measures to curb Xinjiang grassland degradation, using Variance Analysis Method to analyze the influences of grazing prohibition policies to Xinjiang herdsmen’s production, lifestyles and income. Grazing prohibition policy and Herdsmen settlement policy have changed the millennium living habits and modes of production of Xinjiang herdsmen, living conditions improved and diet changed. After grazing prohibition, the traditional mode of production has changed into grazing in warm-season and feeding in cool-season. But owing to water shortage, lagging drip irrigation technology, lack of awareness of pastoralists and difficult to application drip irrigation technology in most parts of Xinjiang, the output of fodder planting is unstable, the fodder is unable to meet the needs of captive animals, so part of the settlement herdsmen return to nomadic life. The incomes of Xinjiang herdsmen grow slowly after no grazing. This study analyzed the interests of all stakeholders between grazing policy implementation; identify the problems and contradictions that exist in grazing policy implementation. By analyzing the literature, Expert interviews and field surveys, we have defined the target set of productive behavior of Xinjiang herdsmen, it including possessing large-scale livestock rearing as possible, increasing family income as possible, living a easy and free grazing life, respecting by other people and leaving his domestic animals and grassland as property to his next generation. This research investigate 228 families that is forbidden to grazing, analyzing these goals through comparison analysis method. The results show that different herdsmen have different preferences. Among these goals, possessing large-scale livestock rearing as possible came in the first; the second is increasing family income as possible.This study use Logit model to quantitatively analysis the influence factors of major behavioral that is corresponding to the ranked first goal preferences, trying to identify the relevance between these factors and pastoralists grazing prohibition, and evaluating the effect of different behavior choice on grazing prohibition policy. The top four choices of the ranked first goal preferences are considered as the main behavioral responses, as follows: Behavioral response 1 "Expand the number of livestock in no grazing areas and renting others’ grassland", Behavioral response 2 "Purchase forage to captive breeding", Behavioral response 3"planting forage and feeding livestock in half of house", Behavioral response 4"stocking more livestock in their own balance grassland area. Herdsman grazing prohibition behavior policy responses will be affected by many factors, judging based on experience, affected mainly by herdsmen for grazing prohibition policy attitudes and economic conditions. The variable is set to per capita income of farmers, per capita arable land, per capita grassland area, farmer’s attitude towards fencing grazing prohibition. The results show that the behavior of one of the four factors does not have a significant impact, mainly because of habit extension of traditional animal husbandry methods, but also the interests of cost minimization herdsman choice; capita arable land area of 2 choice behavior is not generated significant association; the per capita income of farmers per capita grazing pasture area and the attitude and behavior of two farmers the choice of a significant association. The higher per capita income, a large pasture area (particularly hit large areas of pasture) and in favor of pastoralists grazing forage more willing to buy such as addressing the needs of livestock for forage were feeding in captivity. Per capita grassland area to choose three acts does not have a significant association; herdsman’s per capita income, per capita arable land for grazing and attitudes have a significant association. High per capita income and arable land planted forage herders more willing to address the needs of livestock for forage and achieve captive breeding or semi-feeding, and this part is also in favor of pastoralists grazing, which is undoubtedly grazing policy advantageous. Per capita income of herdsmen chooses four acts have a significant association. Per capita arable land area per capita grassland and grazing farmer attitudes and behavior do not choose four significant association. At present, the per capita income in Xinjiang Herdsmen still relatively low, so low-income sheep herders prefer more livestock on pastures own balance area livestock behavior choices.Finally, based on the idea and analysis result showed above, this study presents some policies and recommendation that can help to protect the interests of pastoralists and to improve the effectiveness of grazing prohibition policy: ① raise the awareness herdsmen and changing their concepts:altering their incorrect understanding of grazing prohibition policy, making them aware of the importance of long-term interest, changing the concept of live depending on the weather;②Strengthen supervision of grazing prohibition policy implementation:implementing a transparent system of monitoring indicators, establishing a penalty system of illegal grazing and overgrazing, taking a regulatory approach which combined the upper class and lower class;③increase the support to solve the livelihood issues of herdsmen and guaranteed their income:National Grassland Ecological compensation mechanism should offer more favorable conditions to Xinjiang, increasing the grazing prohibition-related subsidies, states should develop systems to support the subsidy policy for the cattle industry, put more efforts to improve the living conditions of herdsmen, solving the problem of interests of pastoralists because of the unclear boundary on grassland, put more efforts on skills training of pastoralists labor transfer;④ accelerate the transformation of livestock production, achieve the sustainable development animal husbandry:accelerating the construction of large-scale breeding areas, guiding pastoralists to adopt the new farming methods; ⑤build forage supply system to guarantee animal feed supply.