The ‘New Agricultural Land Reclamation’ Current Situation and Topic Regarding Inner Mongolia Semi-Farming Semi-Animal Husbandry

<p>Recently, rapid land desertification has been disturbing the steppe grassland of Inner Mongolia. A lot of researches reported that excessive farm land development is a major cause of desertification. However, the study areas of most previous studies on farm land development in Inner Mongolia were in larger area such as the whole area of Inner Mongolia or Horqin region. In these studies, when, where and how did the farmland develop were not specifically indicated. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to clarify the 120 years history and characteristics of the agricultural land development in one selected village located at Inner Mongolia’s semi-farming semi-animal husbandry region and is the smallest administrative district. For the study method, we interviewed for the history of the farmland development, estimated the degree of soil erosion, collected information data (i.e. the records by the village council’s person in charge, the records of household account and history data) and combined with the analyzed the satellite images. The findings are as the following: 1) With the self-sufficiency policy of food in 1960 which prohibited the exchange and trade of agricultural products, cultivating area was expanding from the fertile land around the lake to the hilly area though not suitable for cultivation. The village area expanded about 4.1 percent; 2) In 1980s, under the guidance of local government, the villagers made artificial pasture and fences for personal used to increase the productivity of grazing. As a result, the village area was further expanded for another 21.2 percent. 3) In 2000s, because of the modernization of agricultural technology, such as irrigation equipment and agricultural machines, and support from the country, such as subsidies for agricultural machines and arable land, farmland development was proceeded inside the windbreak forest, economical forest and ecological restoration project site, which further expanded 43.4 percent of the village area. 4) The types of crop were changed from drought-resistant crops such as foxtail millet, proso millet and sorghum to corn, watermelon and sunflower which require a large amount of water. In another words, the agriculture has changed from rain-fed agriculture to irrigated agriculture. These large-scale farm land development causes various impacts: 1) The impacts on the environment were soil erosion, depletion of groundwater, and salts accumulation of land. 2) The impact on the livelihood of the villagers were the disappearance of the traditional nomadic culture and a reduction in income among the inhabitants who lost their land. Therefore, the government of China suggested that other than strengthening the protection of the grassland and to ensure a sustainable farmland, it is urgently required to improve the optimization of farmland development. With present situation of excessive farm land development, adjusting the functional system to optimize the cultivation area per household or per capita in “Semi-farming semi-animal husbandry” region is necessary.</p>