Study On Herders’ Decision Behavior Regarding Grass-animal Balance In The Steppe Region Of Inner Mongolia

The grassland area is about8.67×107ha in Inner Mongolia, which plays an vital role in ensuring regionally and nationally economic development and ecological and social stability. However, the grassland is seriously degraded because of overgrazing and climate change. Such problem has caused widespread concern of many people. So the the "balancing animals and grass" policy has been proposed, and the policy aims at establishing a reasonable standard of carrying capacity for the reasonable use of grassland resources to achieve the sustainable development. However, these programs are commonly resisted by herders. Why are the biological policies resisted by herders? Under the Household Contract Responsibility System, the herders are directly responsible for managing these vast and important landscapes for China, and thei decisions have both direct and indirect impact on the balance between animal needs and forage supply. So it is necessary to explore the herders’grass-animal balance decision behavior and the reasons behind it. The study aims to provide the theoretical basis and support for the rational utilization and degraded grassland restoration of Inner Mongolia and even other pastoral areas in China.The Xinbaerhu Left Banner, Xilinhot City and Sunite Right Banner were selected as the study area. These three counties are located in meadow steppe, typical steppe and desert steppe regions of Inner Mongolia. The typical herders were selected as the study objects. Based on the knowledge of multidiscipline, such as ecology, economics and sociology, and using the field tests, questionnaire, the scenario experiment and model simulation method, the paper studied the pastures ecological status of herders at different economic levels, herders’grass-animal balance decision-making behavior and the factors affecting the herders’lambing, the lease of grassland, selling livestock and buying forage. The main results are as follows:(1) The community convergence of herders’pastures at different economic levels and their adaptabilityThe data from filed test in the herders’pastures at different economic levels revealed that the height, coverage intensity, and the aboveground biomass of the dominant species (including Stipa klemenzis, Cleistogenes songorica and Allium polyrhizum) showed convergence at different degrees (P>0.05); as for soil mechanical composition, the soil sand (1-0.05mm) content in0-10cm soil layer was highest at pastures of herders at low economic level; as for the total and available nitrogen, total and available phosphorus, and total and available potassium, their contents in0-10cm,10-20cm and20-30cm soil layer showed convergence at different degrees(P>0.05), respectively. Households of low economic level (LEL) had rented out excess lands and those of high economic level (HEL) had leased their available lands thus resulting uniform utilization and convergence of pastoralist households’ pastures across all economic levels.According to the results above and long-term investigation, It was found that the herders of different economic levels had different adaptability to adjust the balance between animals and grass:the herders of LEL, mostly of whom are poor, generally have relatively lager areas of rangelands compared with their livestock, and their rangelands are often occupied intentionally or unintentionally with little payment; The herders of middle economic level (MEL) have a most strong desire to breed more livestock, who often protect their own pastures by enclosure, and expand the number of livestock through leasing other herders’ rangelands; The herders of HEL choose to lease rangelands,"otor" and buy forage all the year to reduce the grazing pressure of their own pastures, and at the same time, maintain or even increase the number of livestock they own. Therefore, the paper indicated that there existed the adaptive behavior in herders’ production behavior, and according to the stocking rates they consider are necessary, the herders often shift their rangelands’ gazing pressure by leasing pasture or buying forage. All these long-term behaviors resulted in different herders’ pastures vegetation characteristics’ homogeneity of different degrees.(2) The bounded rationality of herders and their grass-animal balance decision behaviorAffected by the culture, tradition, habits, markets, and natural environments, the herders and their grass-animal balance decision behavior, such as lambing, the lease of grassland, selling livestock and buying forage, were characterized by significant bounded rationality. And risk aversion was the most basic feature of herders decision behavior, while the herders would still exhibit risk preference under extreme risk; Herders showed significant endowment effect and loss aversion dealing with the problems regarding rangelands and livestock; and they were more likely to be impacted by neighbors and surrounding friends and showed a significant framing effect.(3) Mental stocking rate as the key factor affecting herders’grass-animal balance decision behaviorThe mental stocking rate refers to the number of animals that the herders think they can graze on a piece of rangeland over a specified period of time. According to the survey, in Xinbaerhu, Xilinhot and Sunite,65.22%,60.71%and49.12%of respondents admitted that they bred more livestock now than2002, when the "balancing animals and grass" policy was implemented in these three counties. While74.42%,78.57%and68.42%of herders interviewed hold that there was no overstocking on their grasslands, and51.16%,57.14%and63.16%even believed that their rangelands could still graze more livestock. Surprisingly,80.43%,87.50%and75.86%respondents still insisted that they always took into consideration the carrying capacity of grassland when deciding whether to breed more livestock. Interestingly, in the three regions, herders insisted that the necessary and reasonable stocking rates were0.75-1.50sheep unit/ha,0.60-1.50sheep unit/ha, and0.50-0.75sheep unit/ha, respectively. It was obvious that from meadow steppe, the typical steppe to desert steppe, the herders’mental stocking rates showed a gradually declining trend, affected by precipitation and grassland productivity.(4) Natural and social factors affecting herders’grass-animal balance decision behaviorFirstly, the survey data showed that herders of Xinbaerhu and Xilinhot considered the warming sheds as the first and important factor affecting their decisions about winter or spring lambing, followed by the climate; In Sunite,26%of herders interviewed thought that the meadows and economic levels were the main two factors associated with the decision regarding lambing; In Xinbaerhu, Xilinhot and Sunite,25%,32%and23%of the herders hold that forage was also one important factor affecting their lambing behavioral decision, respectively; Multivariate analysis showed that grassland type, access to policy and market information, and the neighbors’lambing decision had significant impacts on the herders’decion behavior about lambing time at different degrees.Secondly, in Xinbaerhu, Xilinhot and Sunite, livestock, pastures and climate were considered as the first three primary factors associated with herders’decisions about the lease of grassland; Multivariate analysis revealed that in three counties, the household’s economic income was significantly and positively related to the lease of grassland; The transportation also significantly affected the herder’s pasture transfer behavior; The ethnical background had a significantly negative impact on the herder’s decision-making behavior regarding leasing grassland; and in the grassland regions of Inner Mongolia, the grassland type, transportation and respondent’s ethnical background significantly affected the herder’s decision-making behavior about the lease of grassland.Thirdly, in Xinbaerhu, Xilinhot and Sunite, more than70%of the herders interviewed thought that that livestock was the most important factor that affected their decision behavior with regard to selling livestock;40%,17%and23%of the respondents also said that the prices of animal products were also important factors associated with to the sales of livestock, respectively; and multivariate analysis showed that the transportation, access to policy and market information, the herder’s education, the livestock number and the areas of grassland in transfer and the grazing land of household significantly affected the herder’s selling livestock.Lastly, in Xinbaerhu, Xilinhot and Sunite, the livestock, pastures and climate were deemed as the key factors affecting herder’s decision behavior with regard to buying forage, and the order was livestock>pasture>climate; multivariate analysis revealed that the grassland type and meadow area for hay-cutting were significantly and positively related to the herder’s buying forage; In Xilinhot, Sunite and the pastoral regions of Inner Mongolia, the livestock number significantly positively affected herder’s decision behavior with respect to buying forage; in the pastoral regions of Inner Mongolia, the gender of herder was significantly and negatively correlated with their buying forage. Compared with men, women showed more risk aversion in their behavior, and were more likely to reserve more fodder.