Study On Models Of Poverty Alleviation Through Regional Development In Southern Impoverished Mountain Area

Qinglong County, Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou Province is a mountainous, impoverished agricultural region with severe rock desertification. With the support of funds from poverty alleviation, the impoverished peasant households grow forages and raise livestock, which combines poverty alleviation development with ecological restoration, realize a win-win of peasants to become rich and ecological restoration. Through a long-term field survey and data analysis, Using Qinglong County as a case study, this paper describes the social, biological and ecological factors contributing to poverty alleviation and the contiguous development of the neighboring Karst area. The research ascertained the structural changes in agricultural systems during the development of the Qinglong 'mode'of farming, as well as the operational mechanisms and structural features of poverty alleviation. It also quantitatively analyzed the mechanism of this'mode', and thought this mode had promoted the distribution of the local rural labor force, production and operation of peasants households, structural adjustment of food sources, structural changes to agricultural systems and the integration of poverty alleviation projects and financial funds. The adaptive change of this model during the extension process in the Karst area and southern impoverished mountain area is also discussed. The primary findings are as follows:1. Grassland animal husbandry produced an increase in agricultural labor force by freeing farmers from the traditional agriculture of the area, which has consequently altered the rural employment dynamic in Qinglong County. Data showed that the agricultural labor force engaged in traditional grain production was reduced from 50.47% to 25.23%, where as crops (mainly forage crops) and livestock integrated production workforce increased from 5.3% to 27.73%. Additionally, it was found to have encouraged migrant workers to return home and actively participate in new rural construction. Data showed that the proportion of migrant farmers decreased by 10%。Thirdly, it was found that grassland animal husbandry increased the potential of women and the elderly to obtain wealth.2. The impacts of grassland animal husbandry performance on production and living for peasants household were as follows:Firstly, it increased the cash income of farmers, as the economic benefits of rearing herbivores were found to be 6 times greater than that of grain fed swine. Secondly, it demonstrated that the changes to agricultural production method improved the living standards of peasant households. Peasant household production mode changed from traditional grain fed pig production to grass-livestock. Thirdly, it changed the attitudes and preconceptions of peasants who raised livestock from passive to active, as 82.4% of peasants said that the grassland animal husbandry increased their desire to learn science and technology. Finally, it improved the living conditions of rural households:66.3% of peasant households thought that grassland animal husbandry had promoted the improvement of local environmental conditions.3. Grassland animal husbandry promoted land use alteration of sloping farmland to cultivated grassland. It also was found to promote the effective circulation and concentration of land, expand the scale of livestock enterprises, and improve the efficiency of land use. Circulation grassland accounted for 27.6% of the total circulation land area.4. Grassland animal husbandry effectively promoted the adjustment of the structure of the local agricultural industry:The area ratio of grain crops, cash crops and forage crops changed from 166:29:1 in 2000 to 3.6:1:1.2 in 2008. Animal feeding systems were found to have moved from consumption of grain-based feedstuffs to grain-saving. Grass-livestock farmers reared only one pig each household where as single crop households reared average 4.32 pigs in each household. The average annual growth rate of sheep was 3.38 times greater than pigs. The cultivated grassland increased from 0.5 thousand ha in 2001 to 14.7 thousand ha in 2009 and improved grassland from zero to 10 thousand ha. Changes to the output value of farming, forestry and animal husbandry were observed. Livestock production accounted for 43.53% of agricultural GDP, which increased by 12.5 percentage points since 2000.After establishing a rural system of subsistence allowances, development of poverty alleviation will shift its emphasis onto the building of impoverished peasant households'development capability, progressively narrowing urban-rural disparity and regional disparity, progressively solving the problem of regional poverty in rural areas. However, this needs to classify impoverished regions, and according to which arrange poverty alleviation development by linking up many areas together. There is 68 million ha of grassland in southern China, of which about 47 million ha is available to use. The grassland area is 1.8 times larger than cropland area in southern China, and has great development potential. Exploiting southern mountain grassland and developing southern grassland livestock husbandry has the potential to relieve the pressure on grain supplies, broaden sources of food and increase the supply of animal products whilst increasing the income of peasant households. This has the eventual outcome of reducing socio-economic disparities and protecting national economic and ecological security. The grassland animal husbandry of technology-based poverty alleviation comprehensive pilot project in Qinglong County and poverty alleviation through regional development in Guizhou province have important references to settle southern regional poverty.