Impacts Of The Grassland Ecological Compensation Policy On Household Livestock Production And Grassland Condition

Grassland is one of the important resources for human survival and pastoral livestock production;it is also an important guarantee for national ecological security and food security.In recent years,the development of pastoral husbandry in China has faced the contradiction between rapid growth in demand for livestock products and the shrinking of available grassland resources.Under the circumstance of severe deterioration of the grassland ecosystem,it is critical to deal with the livelihood needs of millions of herders and the growing demand for livestock products of urban and rural residents effectively.The central government has implemented a large-scale program since 2011,the Grassland Ecological Compensation Policy(GECP),which covered the main pastoral provinces in China and aimed at alleviating grassland degradation and increasing herders' income.The GECP has been an important guarantee for national ecological security,livestock production efficiency and herders' income increasing since the 12 th Five-Year Plan.Since the launch of the GECP,the grassland condition has improved in some areas,but the situation of “whole worsen” is still severe.Whether the GECP can effectively motivate herders to reduce grazing intensity determines if it can achieve the expected goals and control grassland degradation.At present,scholars have carried out a series of studies on the impacts of the GECP.Most of these studies are qualitative analyses and mainly focused on the policy's ecological benefits,livelihood impacts,implementation methods and the willingness of herders to accept.There is little literature that try to estimate the impacts of the GECP on pastoralist livestock production and grassland condition by using herders' field survey data.However,such researches is needed to assess whether the GECP has achieved its expected goals and put forward useful suggestions for improvement.As the main body of pastoral livestock production and the target group of the GECP,herders' responses to the policy directly determines its implementation effect.Therefore,evaluating the impacts of the GECP on herders' livestock raising decision and grassland condition is the key to assess the effectiveness of this policy,and is significant for improving the GECP.In order to make up for the gaps in the existing research and evaluate the impact of the GECP scientifically and quantitatively,this study selected Inner Mongolia as our study area and discussed the following issues: 1)What impact does GECP have on livestock numbers raised by herders? Could it be effective on controlling overgrazing in pastoral areas? 2)What impact does GECP have on grassland condition,and could it improve grassland condition?This study examines policy impacts on livestock production,grazing intensity,livestock structure and grassland condition by using panel data from a herders' field survey of 176 pastoral households.This well-designed survey was conducted by the China Center for Agricultural Policy,Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University(CCAP,CAS & PKU)in 2015.A stratified random sampling strategy was used to select the sample.The descriptive analysis and econometric model were also used to analyze the impacts of the GECP,and then several policy implications were discussed in this paper.The major conclusions of this study are as follows: 1)The average number of livestock,grazing intensity and amount of supplementary feedings per household were increasing during 2005–2015.2)Herders' subjective judgment of grassland condition showed that grassland quality in most regions of the study area has declined in the past 11 years.3)Neither the grazing ban nor the forage-livestock balance had achieved its expected goal of reducing overgrazing,since the compensation is too low and the enforcement is weak.4)The forage-livestock balance policy had incentivized large farms to reduce their sheep numbers by a small amount,namely if grassland size is increased by 1%,another 0.169% of sheep is reduced by the forage-livestock balance given other factors.5)The forage-livestock balance policy had a positive effect on improving the use of supplementary feedings,and it could increase the average amount of supplementary feedings used by herders by 15.6 kg/sheep unit.6)Based on the herders' perception of vegetation changes,it was found that both the permanent grazing ban and the forage-livestock balance had no significant impacts on grassland condition in Inner Mongolia.7)Herders made their livestock production and grazing decisions primarily in response to the market prices of livestock products,and households with more off-farm labor units raised fewer livestock and grazed lighter.8)The large farms graze lighter,the estimation result showed that one percentage increase in farm size leads to a decrease in stocking rate by 0.533%.9)Overgrazing is the main cause of grassland degradation in Inner Mongolia.10)Whether the grassland condition in arid and semi-arid areas can be improved depends mainly on the rainfall in that year.Based on the above conclusions,several policy implications are discussed in this paper: 1)To improve the effectiveness of the GECP,the enforcement should be enhanced,and then the standard of compensation should be improved properly.2)Facilitating grassland transfer could help herders increase farm size,thus alleviating overgrazing and improving the effectiveness of the forage livestock balance policy on reducing livestock numbers.3)Encourage herbage planting in non-pastoral areas with better irrigation conditions,increase the yield of artificial grassland,and increase the import of herbage appropriately,thus relieve the grazing pressure on natural grasslands by increasing the herbage and forage supply from non-pastoral areas to pastoral areas(especially the grazing ban zone).4)Gradually improve the labor market in towns around,accelerate the urbanization of pastoral areas,and create more off-farm employment opportunities for herders should help to reduce over-grazing.5)Appropriately increase the import of beef and mutton,and develop grasslands and animal husbandry industry in agricultural area at the same time,so that to increase the supply of domestic beef and mutton,and then curb the overgrazing situation caused by the continued increase in livestock prices.