24599 Volume 2 Public Disclosure Authorized China Integrated Pastoral Development Project
Social Assessment Report
Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region
Public Disclosure Authorized "DRFT) Public Disclosure Authorized
China Cross-cultural Consulting Center at
Zhongshan University
Guangzhou, Guangdong Public Disclosure Authorized People's Republic of China
April 2002
CONTENTS
Introduction: The Project and the Project Goals Chapter 1 The Social Assessment Work Selection of the Project SA Counties The SA Methodologies Chapter 2 Analysis of the SA Results The Basic conditions of The Project Area Demographic Data and Economy Data of the Project SA Counties Animal Husbandry of the Project SA Counties Pattems of Animal Husbandry in Xinjiang The Use of Land Other Natural Resources The Markets of Animal Husbandry Products The Labor Forces and Labor Division The Income Distribution Income and Taxation and Other Fees of the Households of the Project SA Counties The Production Organizations and Social Organizations of the Project SA Counties The Social Status and Labor Division of Women The Impact of the Local Customs on the Improvement of Animal Quality The Education and Information Transmission Chapter 3 The Environment and the Eco-environmental Restrains on The Project Chapter 4 The Demands of the Farmers and Herders in Project SA counties for the Project Loans and The Possibility of Loan Return Chapter 5 SA Team's Suggestions on the Project Appendix: Acknowledgment:
Introduction: The Project and The Project Objectives
China Xinjiang-Integrated Pastoral Development Project (CXISPP) Designed and implemented by the World Bank aims at, while maintaining and promoting the sustainable utility of the natural resources, enhancing the competitive ability of the animal husbandry products (wool and meat products) in the markets, improving the production and management system of animal production and raising the life level of those farmers and herders of the Xinjiang Project Areas. In the long past, there have been existing many problems in the agricultural and pastoral areas of Xinjiang, such as poverty with different degrees, degradation and scarce of pastures, the increasing contradictions between the production methods and the demands of the markets, the visible shortcomings of non-sustainable development, lack of production and selling systems that suit the developing marketing and the low participation of the farmers and herders in social development at the grass-root levels. In order to help to solve all these, the CXIDPP is planned to start an experimental strategy to develop the animal husbandry production of the area and it is expected that the strategy will help to local animal husbandry production to be developed in a sustainable way by improving the eco-conditions, animal species breeding, management and enhancing the integrated capacity for animal husbandry production, and finally, helping the local people to improve their living conditions. With the clearly-defined nature of the Project, the Bank has also defined its goals and specific targets for each of the project stages: I) to design the activities in areas close to each other in a Project County; 2) to integrate the activities of the pasture management, animal species improvement, marketing, so that they can meet the needs of sustainable development of the target area and population. 3) To integrate the activities of animal production as well as the markets in a horizontal level. 4) to enhance the work of improving grassland eco-environment. 5)to raise the ability of the target population for use and management of grassland resources and animal production. and of active participation in the Project.. Meanwhile, the Bank has made it clear that the Project is to ensure the increase of average income of farmers and herders of the target area; the reduction of the pressures of herding on the eco-environment of grassland; the visible increase of fodder and hay based on the improvement of pastures (natural and artificial); and the improvement of fine-wool sheep and sheep meat. In order to realize all the above, the Bank organized the researches on the feasibility of the Project and the local experts undertook the feasible surveys and studies for the project, of which the Social Assessment is an important part.
4 Chapter 1 The Social Assessment Work
The overall purpose of the SA is to assist the Borrower in designing and implementing the Project with the support and active involvement of individuals and groups that will potentially be the most directly affected by project activities. And the SA should be seen as integrated methods of the Project process to include participation and social analysis in the Project design and preparation work to ensure that the Project objectives are well set and that the proposed means to achieve them are appropriate. The SA process should help properly select Project areas and to appropriately identify the Project primary beneficiaries and their needs. The SA is also necessary in order to ensure that the Project is designed to avoid or minimize any adverse impacts and social costs that the Project could cause to local society. It is the World Bank policy that the SA should be viewed as an iterative process of consultation to take place throughout the Project's life cycle. Therefore, the SA is not a report to prepare for Project implementation. Social investigation and analysis need to be continuously and systematically carried out along with Project implementation.
The present SA whose results are being reported here has been conducted by following the objectives and requirements that the Project made, and it has been done by the field surveys and PRA work in the selected counties which are believed to be representative in the implementation of the Project. The results are obviously important for the Project, for the data, including that of the social, economic and cultural factors that may influence the implementation of the Project are collected and analyzed. A the same time, the SA work investigated the basic situations of the counties. Xiang and villages, where the SA Team also collected the demands of and suggestions on how to implement the Project from the local farmers and herders. It also found out some problems and their causes that the 2000-year investigation had not found.
5 The 2000-year surveys and the findings
Before the 2001-year SA, the Team studied the 2000-Year Survey Report organized by the World Bank and at the same time, investigation were done about the background of the survey and careful studies were made on the results of that survey. It is believed that the 2000-year survey is important for the 2001 -year SA work, for, the survey reported the findings made in the 4 sites of South Xinjiang and North Xinjiang, and these findings were of great help for the SA work in 2001. Here are the main findings from the 2001 survey: 1) The attitudes of the farmers and herders towards to fine-wool sheep in the survey-area varied. Some of them, mainly famners, like raising fine-wool sheep as they believed that raising them was profitable, while others, especially those in traditional pastoral areas did not like raising the sheep as they thought it needed much more labor and facilities for raising fine-wool sheep and this type of sheep were weak against the environment of Xinjiang grassland, and the deep reason was that the price of fine-wool sheep is much lower than that of the local sheep, and herders would not like to keep the former. Both of farmers and herders were not satisfied with technical aids provided by local administrations of animal husbandry. 2) Some farmers and herders hesitated to accept the methods of artificial insemination to improve the quality of fine-wool sheep as they found those sheep bom with the technology were not easy to adapt themselves to the environment. In addition, the religious fact was in part responsible for the hesitation.
3) Farmers and herders were worried about the ups and downs of markets of fine wool, and they were afraid that there were not very good channels through which they sold the wool and the price was not stable, which would inevitably influence their profit. 4) In general, most of the loans made by the farmers and herders were short-tern
ones, but it was difficult for farmers and herders to obtain loans from the local banks. The reasons were complex. some of them said that the borrowing
6 procedure was too complex, the others said that the local banks (branches) could not lend them as much as they needed, and still others said that as some of the borrowers failed to repay the loans on time, the banks (branches) would not trust most borrowers so that they would not like to lend money to them. 5) Almost all the farmers and herders welcomed the World Bank Project as they believed that the loans the Bank was going to lend would promote the local sheep production as they saw that in recent years there was a slow rise of the wool price. Meanwhile they were very much interested in the repayment - period suggested by the Bank and they believed that this policy would help them in developing fine-wool sheep. And most of the farmers and herders interviewed hoped each household could obtain a loan more than 10000 yuan (RMB). The 2000-year Survey Team thus came to the following conclusion: I) It was believed that there was a very strong foundation for developing fine-wool sheep pr'oduction in Xinjiang as the Region had a more than 60 - year history of raising this type of sheep and there were some very good species bred locally.
2) The proposed World, Bank Project was welcomed not only by the administrations at all the levels, but also was welcomed by farmers and herders who were enthusiastic in participating the Project. . 3) It is in line with the industry policies of the Chinese government to develop fine-wool sheep. And there was a good prospect of markets for fine wool, so farmers and herders believed that it was urgent to take measures to pay attention to and protect the fine-wool sheep production of Xinjiang. Yet the meat sheep production was not able to meet the needs of markets. Therefore, they hoped there to be more investment on it. If the present situation was going on, they were afraid there would be a slump of Chinese fine wool markets in some years. 4) The 2001-year Survey Group suggested that as Xinjiang was rich in natural resources for developing fine-wool sheep production with its vast grassland
7 and long-standing tradition of pastoralism, the natural conditions were very suitable for the industry. 5) There had been strong perceptions for commercialized sheep production and animal husbandry as well among half of the investigated farmers and herders who were capable of making money and repaying the loans. Meanwhile, if the Bank would lend them money for development, their development would certainly set up examples of how to develop in sheep production for the local people.
So the Survey Group suggested that the Project should be implemented as quickly as possible and it also suggested that additional loans of 5 million US dollars should be lent to Xinjiang so that it could help to increase fine-wool sheep production.
Some other suggestions were also made by the Group, of which the improvement of markets and emphasize on the training work were the mostly noted.
The Objectives of 2001 SA Work
The Bank specified the objectives of the 2001-year SA work and the following were specially stressed:
I .The purpose of the second round PRA is to see how we can best shape the project design to
the needs of the farmers/herders. The first round of PRA has already gathered basic livelihood
and cultural background, so that should be reviewed by your team members and not repeated for this social assessment effort.
2. Experience of villagers with local cooperative associations. Since the proiect will
emphasize sening up or supporting sheep raisers associations and pasture users associahions.
we need to know more about how such organizations have worked in the past. So a) please
8 determine what types of local cooperative associations, if any, have been in use in the focal
areas, b) determine the strengths and weaknesses of these previous cooperative associations,
c) ask beneficiaries for suggestions as to how such associations should be established, and d)
make your own suggestions as to how such associations should be established. In sum we
need to know about their formal and informnal arrangements of cooperating to raise animals.
3. Are there certain ethnic groups for whom there is a strong cultural reason or reasons to maintain large herd sizes? How widespread is such customs or beliefs? How do the local people or local cadre or your research team members suggest we deal with such a cultural practice when there is also an environmental need to not add to or even to decrease herd sizes?
4. Experience of villagers with informal systems of marketing, and their current practice.
5. Revisit the farmers/herders preference regarding meat vs. wool sheep, and sheep vs. other livestock.
6. Ethnic relations between both Han and minority ethnic groups and among different minority groups.
7. The Chinese Consultant and the PRA Team would need to make a specific, formal, recommendation as to whether or not an.Ethnic Minorities Development Plan is needed. At this time, we fully expect such a plan to be needed, but its recommendation must be derived from the actual findings of your social assessment.
Aiain, the Bank reemphasizes the following:
Obiective of the Social Assessment. The SA will focus on issues that directly and
indirectly impact the key stakeholders in the proposed project. The range of issues that
will be addressed by the SA include. but are not limited to: (a) affordabilitv concerns: Can
9 the proposed project households afford the anticipated financing terms and other
expenses, such user fees; (b) land security: Are the leasing arrangements fair and provide
farmer households with tenure security? Are leased lands and forests properly maintained
from the viewpoint of fanner households? (c) inclusion: Are there any groups residing
inside the proposed area whose needs are not being addressed by the project or who stand
to lose from one or more of the proposed project activities? How does the proposed
project impact the poor, the elderly, and women? How are these groups involved in the
project's decision-making? (d) access to employment, credit, irrigated water, land: Do
certain groups of the population have lower access to employmnent, credit, irrigated water
or land than other groups? What is the reason for this differential access? Will these groups participate in the proposed project and if so, how is their access improved as a
result of the project? and (e) social cohesion, conmmunity decision-making: How are
decisions made in the village? Do all residents of the village have an equal say in the matters that affect them? How are resources allocated within the village?
Are there any community development projects in the village in which farm households contribute labor?
Besides all the above, the Bank suggested other issues concerning the implementation of the
SA work, and it is believed that they are less directly related to the true situation in the project areas of Xinjiang.
The second round PRA Team for the Project carefully studied the PRA Terms and the first Round-survey report and then in the PRA work they did their best to obtain the data for the above questions and in the second stage for analysis of the data, a number of seminars were organized to discuss the agendas.
Selection of the Project SA Counties
In selecting the potential Project counties for the second round PRA work. the
Team made a careful reference to those sites in which the first-round survey was done so as to maintain a continuity of the PRA between the two survevs. however. the
Team. working together with the PMO( the Project Management Office of Xinjian-
I0 Administration of Animal Husbandry ), considered the modification of the Project objectives, which could be seen, in comparison with fine-wool sheep designed for the year of 2000, meat sheep were added to the Project scope and the Bank expected more detailed data from the field, so the following were the important factors in selecting the second -round PRA counties: In the rural Xinjiang, there are two patterns of animal husbandry production, one is that of the oasis farming area and the other is that of the migration pastoral area. And the these two in many ways make differences in keeping animals, use vegetation resource and subsistence of the population. There are different forms of animal husbandry production; The areas of the Project are multi-ethnic and multi-cultural; There are enormous differences in the eco-environment of the areas with different patterns of animal husbandry production, from which farmers and herders obtain the resources for keeping animals, this is especially obvious in South and North Xinjiang. There are imbalanrces ini the development-level of Xinjiang rural areas. And the Bank has it general and special requirements for the second PRA work. Based on all the above, the Team, after the discussions with Xinjiang PMO, selected two counties in South Xinjiang and four in the North as the PRA work areas.
Table I - 1: The Second PRA Work Counties
FORMS Ol: ANIMAL PRA C. PREFECTURE PRA XIANG ETHNIC COMPOSInION HUSBANDRY PRODUCTION
ANGHE TEREK FARMIN(; ARE.AWIDI.N)I\I; SilElEP ANI) UAI(;TI KASIIGAR UYGUR KEZILEAWAT 11\1RII1\C AIw I'.lST)RE.
I NAF)MI Ai A 1111- l))\l S1ilT:l IIAICIIIAG AKSL MIJIK &KANGQI UYG;UR.KIRKIZ IIAN AM) IIERIII\(;
CUIA\(;I YUSHUGOU TOWN FARUII; AARIH 11iM)M\: S1ill.' AM CIIANCI I AlTO(IMI)LS KAZAK,IIUI , IIAN TWO VILLAGES Ul(;RAl (1\ lll:; I'RI.IlCTLRI.
YILI GUOZIGOU FARM/ KAZ.AK.LYCUR, IIA\, IIL I AKI) MICRAT I \ ll-RIII \I; A\lI EARUIIN; IIIL( x1iE\; AUTONOMOUS QINGSHUIHE TOWN SALA ARI.A 1:A1.01\C;YlITI1 PREFECTURE (VILLAGE)
I KAZAK, lY(GR. IILI. IA\ AV) ?ICRAlI\. I;FA\. AIi. \1 IAR It ; 1AIlli; TACHENG BOZDAKFARM ARXIR WII U \1. s 1!i MIGRATING HERDING AND SELED FIHAI ALETAI JMTHARELE / KUOKE KAZAK HERDING
The SA Methodologies The second SA was carried out by use of literature survey (including statistic analysis), questionnaires and deep interviews among farmers and herders, of which PRA was used together with other methods. The Team believes that that use of multi-methods are of significance in understanding the complex situations of the Project areas.
****When interviewing the farmers and herders, the Team Members excluded those local officials who seemed to be interested in what we were doing. And as the interviews were done in a society in which men ere dominant, the Team Members tried to talk with women and special discussions were organized with women participation.
In sum, about 246 questionnaire forms were collected, for each of which the time used varied, 1 hour to 4 hours. About 242 persons were interviewed, of whom 215 were farmers and herders. For the PRA work, three types of surveys were carried out: First, small discussions for various purposes with the participating different types of persons, such as farmers and herders, women, local grass-root official, local well-known persons.
Second, about 76 pictures were collected, covering the resources of the villages, communities
(including residential pattern, family structure kinship and degree of poverty and wealth), labor productivity, problems in the local development, seasonal activities and daily activities. Third, deep interviews among the local people.
It is assumed that only all these methods were used could the Team have a better under standing of local the societies, and that combination of the three proved useful in achievino what were required by the Bank for the PRA.
12 Table 1-2: Team Activities for SA
DEEP
COUNTY SMALL DISCUSSION PRA PICTURES) INMRVIEWS QUESTIONNAItES PEOPLE INVOLVED (PERSON)
MAIGETI 4 24 37 43 185
BAICHENG 3 1 39 40 137
TACHENG 3 8 39 38 103
FUHAI 4 9 35 40 118
CHANGJI 7 10 20 40 126
HUOCHENG 9 15 39 39 172
Based on the dada obtained from the field surveys, the Team organized several small seminars to discuss the issues relating to the Project and the members analyzed the data from the 12 village-level sites. The discussions and analysis were necessary for the Team to formulate its understandings about the findings which were diverse due to the three patterns of animal husbandry production and the general and special needs of farmers and herders in the investigated area and for the members to exchange their ideas about what should be suggested for the implementation of the Project. In addition, in order to obtain the local knowledge which is believed as important as the data that the Team obtained so as to provide extensive information about Xinjiang animal husbandry and grassland environment for the Project, the Team Leader visited several experts specialized in the field who have both theoretical understanding and practical experience of the pastoral areas of the region. Some of the experts have studied the animal husbandry economy of the region for more than 40 years and the others used to work at grass-root pastoral societies for quite a long tine. Their knowledge about the history of the regional animal husbandry and causes of the present problems in the development are especially valuable as they offered historical
13 perspectives for the Project and the Team leamed much from them about how to avoid fruitless results in implementing projects in the pastoral areas of Xinjiang. The four methods used in the second-round SA, which are believed to enable the Team to have better understanding of the joint-points and discrepancies between the reality of the Project -reas and the requirements of the Project design from the local decision making to the practice of sheep raising in the region. And it is also believed that the methods help the Team to see the importance of the Project in terms of Xinjiang animal husbandry and for the development.
The SA Team and Activities The Three Stages of the SA: I Training and preparation for the fieldwork. This was carried out from July 6- July 16, 2001. And Professor Zhou Damming and his group came to Urumqi to dffer training programs for the members. 2 The Field Survey and PRA work. This was done from July 18 - September 2, during which the members went to the six counties to do PRA work and surveys (the time used by each group was different because of the local conditions). The Seminars and Analysis. From September 2 - October 18, the members had several seminars and the data were exchanged and analyzed. Then each group began to work on the drafts of the Report and the Multi-ethnic Group Development Plan and the Beneficiary Participation Project(BPP). From September 10 to September 19. three members joined the Bank Survey Group in their SA investigation activities in Altai and Yili areas.
During the SA work, the Team kept contacts with Xinjiang PMO and Environment Assessment Team and had exchanges and co-operations with the World Bank Working Groups that came to Xinjiang to investigation the possibility and feasibility of the Project. And we believe that the exchanges with the Environment Assessment Team was particularly important as thev resulted in man\ comlmiiion
14 conclusions on the environment in which the Project is to complement and they are important also for the suggestions related to the implementation. By the PRA work in the sites, the Team members met with about one thousand people, including local officials, Project Officers, professionals and farmers and herders. In this way, the PRA work was a kind of training process in which more and more local people under came to understand the Project itself as the members talked with them about the nature, objectives and requirements to the local governments and the people who were to be involved. At the same time, the members introduced the procedures and ways of implementing the Project and its potential and possible benefits to the local farmers and herders. In the talks, we passed on the concept to them that the various local associations should be organized by the villagers so that the Project could help them in their endeavors to develop the livestock production. Since the completion of the draft of the Report, the Team has had many talks about the contents of the Report in general, the specific suggestions on the implementation strategies 6f the project in particular with the experts from the World Bank, the Xinjiang PMO officials and some of the herders, village leaders of certain SA sites, and Great efforts have been made on the improvement of the suggestions.
15
Chapter II Analysis of the SAData
An Introduction to the SA Counties Xinjiang is one of the important areas suitable for developing livestock production in China. which has the grassland of 57258800 hect. in area, of which about 48006800 hect. are in use. The grassland resources take a significant portion of all the natural resources of the region and the grassland eco-system is the most important part in stabilizing the eco-environment of Xinjiang. The region has a long-standing history of livestock production with many well-known animal species in Xinjiang, such as Xinjiang fine-wool sheep, Hotian sheep, Altai Sheep, Xinjiang Lamb, Xinjiang Brown Cattle, Yili Horse, Xinjiang Yak, and Xinjiang Camel. And the sheep production, either in agricultural areas or in pastoral areas of Xinjiang,. is the priority of the livestock production. Of the sheep, fine-wool sheep takes a large number. Many ethnic groups of Xinjiang rely livestock for their subsistence, like, Kazaks, Mongolians, Kirkiz, and Tajiks. Other ethnic groups, such as Uygur, Hui, Han, Xibo, Tartar, Uzbeck, also have the tradition of livestock production. The nomadic cultures are of importance in developing the multi-culture structure of the region. Since 1950, though dramatic changes have taken place in the society, economy and culture of Xinjiang, the livestock economy, the pastoral cultures have been maintained and developed. The animal husbandry has been one of the key part in the national economy of the region, and in 1999, the value of it was 8.4% of the total. It is also noted that the livestock production of Xinjiang has seen in a slow and stag native development, and this situation has led to some serious social and economic problems to the region, like the slow increase in the income of those farmers and herders for whom livestock is vitally important for their living. What is more alarming is the degradation of pastures that has been happening in large areas. According to a survey of the grassland condition in 1984. the total area of the
16 degraded pastures reached more than 80% of the total area, and the seriously degraded pasture area took up more than 50% of the total. In some areas, desertification is a prevailing reality. With this background, the World Bank has designed "China Xinjiang Integrated Sheep Development Project that aims at maintaining a sustainable use of natural resources, enhancing the management system of livestock production and improving the competitive power of Xinjiang sheep wool and meat products in the markets, and raising the life standards of farmers and herders of the region. As an important part of the work for implementing the Project, the Social Assessment (SA) is organized by the Ministry of Agriculture of China and the Bank. And we selected six counties as the SA counties. The six SA counties are believed to be typical of the population composition of ethnic groups, environment of the pastoral and farming areas of the region where animal husbandry takes an important part in the economy.. Maigeti County is situated in the southern edge of Tarim Basin with a typical arid oasis ecosystem. The Uygurs are the major ethnic population, about 82.25% of the total. The animal husbandry production consists of folding raising sheep, goats and cattle by household-based farmers and herding animals. Baicheng County, situated at the middle of southern foot of Tianshan Mountain, is typical of the mixture of arid eco-system and steppe eco-system. The major ethnic groups are Uygurs (), Kirkiz and Ha. Its animal husbandry production takes the forms of both household-based folding raising in the farming area and migrating herding animals.
Changji City, situated at the northern foot of Tianshan Mountains and at the southern edge of Zhungar Basin is a multi-ethnic inhabited area with a mixed economy of farnning and herding. In the territory of Changji, there is a lager area of arid and steppe pastures which have been depredated. Huochng County, lving in the area between Yili River valley and the \Western Tianshan Mountains. The river valley and steppe are the most important area lor
17 animal husbandry. And the county area used to be one of the major areas of Xinjiang where pastoralism was practiced. There are many ethnic groups in the county, of which Kazaks, Uygurs, Han, Hui tare the major ones. Animal husbandry occupies an important part in the county's economy. Tacheng City, lying in the north west of Xinjiang, was one of the major pastoralist areas in the region where migrating herding has been practiced. In the past half century, farning has been developing very fast, which has reshaped the economic and ethnic maps here. As a half-pastoral, half-farming area, the ethnic situation is complex, and the major ethnic groups are Kazaks, Han and Mongolians. Fuhai Count, lying in n area between Mount. Altai in the north and Zhungar Basin in the south is one of the key counties in Xinjiang animal husbandry production. Kazaks that practice pastoralism take the important part of the population. And there is tremendous area of steppe and arid grassland.
Table 2-1: The Basic bata of the SA Counties
County Prefecture Population Area Number of Area of (10000) (Square K) D.Animals Natural (10000) Pastures Maigeti Kashgar 195710 15200 52.00 120
Baicheng Aksu 196015 19100 75.80 1035
Tacheng Tacheng 148949 4351 61.67 359
Fuhai Altai 64882 36500 45.20 3535
Changji Changji 352357 7964 50.53 1203
Huochen, Yili 341302 5460 74.26 398
Sources: 2001 Xinjiang Statistics. The Annals of Relevant Counties
18 Table 2-2: The Demographic Composition of the SA County in 2000-year Ethnic Composition ( %) Rural -~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~ ~ a Population Composition
00 0 00~~~~~~~
_- C | B. | cj | ' 83 C r *
Maigcfi 195710 82.25 17.55 0.005 0.12 0 0.008 0.07 102.99 87.20 81.19
Baicheng 196015 86.19 12.91 0.003 0.37 0.9 0.004 0.03 105.90 80.11 81.50
Tacheng 148949 3.31 63.66 14.98 6.90 1.11 1.07 8.97 102.50 0 55.57
Fuhai 64882 1.01 55.90 38.98 3.09 0 0.30 0.72 110.08 77.29 60.90
aChagii 352357 2.81 76.99 4.90 10.75 0.01 0.34 9.10 107.22 0 45.51
Huocheng 341302 20.44 45.85 7.73 20.35 0.11 0.15 5.27 104.41 70.45 78.90
Xiniiang 1 7915459 46.09 39.21 7.13 4.54 0.91 0.88 1.24 105.63 46.68 64.79
Source: 2000-Year Xinjiang Statistics
Table 2-3: Social-economic Data of the SA Counties
Maigeti Baicheng Tacheng Fuhai Changji Huocheg Xinjiang
GDP (billion) 5.92 5.68 11.30 5.01 28.26 11.35 1364.36
First Industry: (%) 66.89 47.64 29.73 41.46 24.78 54.91 21.10
Second Industry (%) 10.13 22.88 23.70 21.70 40.70 17.62 43.00
Services (%) 22.98 29.48 46.57 36.84 34.52 27.47 35.90
Average GDP(Yuan) 3023 2899 7590 5812 8057 3344 7470
Agriculture (Billion Yuan) 4.90 4.37 5.51 2.35 11.41 6.33 487.20
Farming (%) 80.89 69.07 70.87 36.08 64.34 61.72 74.00
Animal Husbandry (%) 17.79 23.59 27.17 55.66 30.97 35.92 23.50
Forestry and Fishing (%) 1.32 7.34 1.96 8.26 4.69 2.36 2.50
Total Farm-land (1000 hac) 34.53 48.67 84.12 24.46 46.68 35.24 3416.52
Used Farmland (lOOOOmu) 62.90 66.57 89.39 21.62 63.75 63.21 5083.14
19 Wheat (%) 23.85 37.57 33.80 18.59 18.21 22.58 24.76
Maize t%) 15.91 19.87 5.91 7.77 6.53 14.52 11.29
Cotton t°) 58.36 5.26 0 0 23.56 4.18 29.88
Oil (%) 0.08 16.07 27.86 13.32 6.82 19.02 9.15
Falafal (%) 0.22 1.02 7.34 44.13 1.87 0.79 3.56
Total Anim. Number (10000) 52.00 75.80 61.67 45.20 50.53 74.26 4524.67
Cattle (Y) 9.75 7.43 8.25 9.20 8.51 12.33 8.51
Horse (%) 0.65 1.81 2.38 2.72 1.09 3.04 2.27
Goats (%) 11.96 22.97 9.13 18.01 13.34 3.14 12.97
Sheep( %) 73.71 61.75 64.58 65.02 65.92 75.06 68.59
AveragePer.plncome (Yuan ) * 1381 1786 2611 2345 3795 1878
P. Schooling rate(100%) 99.9 99.2
S.Schooling Rate(100%/6) 96.5 78
Birth Rate%o 14.7 13.91 11.95
P. Growth Rate %9 9.8 7.91 8.12 6.91
Broadcasting coverage % 90 100 85 TV Coverage% 84
Sources: 2001-YEAR Xinjiang Statistics, Statistic Reports of National Economy, Social development of Maigeti, Baicheng, and Changji.,
* The figures of the income of farmers and herders of Baicheng and Tacheng were that of 1999.
And the figures of population growth, broadcasting and TV coverage of Fuhai were that of 1999.
The Animal Husbandry Production in the Six Counties
The animal husbandry production of the six SA counties reflects tile
characteristics of that of Xinjiang. Seeing from the patterns of animal husbandry
production, of the six, there are counties in which half-pastoralism and half
-farming are practiced (Huocheng, Tacheng and Baicheng). a county in which the
2( folding-raising( under pens and not moving) animals in the farming area is the major practice and a county in which pastoralism is still practiced, though in recent years the pace of herders-settlement has quickened. Ecologically, the six counties have almost all types of eco-systems of the areas of Xinjiang, such as arid-oasis eco-system, river-valley ecosystem, and steppe eco-system. Of the ethnic population, there are ethnic groups whose subsistence system is farming and folding-raising animals, such as Uygur, Han and Hui, and ethnic groups that traditionally practiced pastoralism which is typical of seasonal migrating-herding by moving animals to look for pastures and water, such as Kazaks and Mongolians that are major pastoralist in Xinjiang. In recent years, it is evident that the six counties have encountered many difficulties in their animal husbandry production. The PRA and the fieldwork reveal that most local people believe that the major difficulties are those of the degradation of pastures and animal species, backwardness of production and low productivity. And it is even more evident that the family income of the rural population rural has been slow to increase, even stagnated in recent year. In each of the SA counties, the Team selected two sites (Xiang or village) for the fieldwork, and differences in animal husbandry production were noted in the selecting.
Table 24: Number of Animals of the SA Counties
Maigeti Baicheng Tacheng Fuhai Changji Huochen Xinjiang
Animal N. at the end of 2000 52.00 75.80 61.67 45.20 50.53 74.26 4524.67
Canle (I0000) 5.07 5.63 5.09 4.16 4.3 9.16 384.98
Horse(10000) 0.34 1.37 1.47 1.23 0.55 2.26 102.57
Donkey 1.52 2.66 0.12 0.59 0.61 125.94 (10000)
Goat (I0000) 6.22 17.41 5.63 8.14 6.74 2.26 586.70
Sheep(10000) 38.33 46.81 45.89 29.39 33.3 1 41.25 3103.51
21 Pig (10000) 0.51 1.77 3.34 1.56 4.89 4.02 201.53
Meat Output (ton) 8002 9200 75366 9022 23098 17005 900000
Beef (ton) 1755 3312 16903 2524 5601 5510 222428
Horse meat(ton) 36 290 5648 329 168 735 35719
Goat Meat (ton) 570 896 4871 705 780 267 45609
Sheep(ton) 5250 3402 25860 3848 5780 5268 329357
Sheep wool(ton) 383 1020 546 850 1806 66700
Cashmere (ton) 20.6 11.8 893
Milk (ton) 2088 10736 3419 27428 25450 725400
Sold number of animals (10000) 2.60 18.19 13.74 20.47 45.59 27.92 2140.58
Animal N consumed by family 27.91 10.58 5.87 7.17 5.11 13.77 697 (10000)
Livestock out of hand rate(%) 57.43 39.5 47.71
Livestock commercialized(%) 84.29 63 35.06
Sources: 2001-year Xinjiang Statistics; Statistics of NationalEconomy and SocialDevelopment of relevant counties.
* the figure of the year of 1999
Graph 2-1: Livestock Number of the SA Counties at the end of 2000
80 60;
40
20
DAt+ E?19 0' D t Ofl,2
22 Table 2-5: Population and Ethnic Composition of the SA Sites
Family- Village/Farm POPUL. _ income Averag o. Uygur Han Kazak Hui per.p income per..p
Kashboyi(V) 178 832 832 4.67 1360
Tarlek(V) 330 1620 1620 4.91 1777
Soksoklek(V) 146 720 127(H) 19(H) 4.93 2135
Qiaogetale.(F) 99 484 479 98(H) = (H) 4.89
Bozdakh.(F) 134 4860 6 67(H) 28(H) 21 (H) 6(H) 7(H) 3.63 1700
Karadal(V) 28 101 3 6 7 6 2 4, 2848
Jet'arele(X) 11482 6085 2437
Zhorga(V)
Dongsiqi(V) 108 404 338 6 60 3.74 4153
Huangbanqu(V) 95 428 93(H) 2(H) 4.5 3160
No.12 Farm((F) 183 826 814 12 2166'
No,4 Village(V) 273 1119 318 398 9 58 94 1693"
'The figure of Guozigou Farrn
"the figure of the year of 1999
V: viullage F: state farm: Xiang :township
Table 2-6: Land Resource of the SA Counties Unit:MMu
Total Farmniand Village/ Farm Hay Land Pasture Forestrv total Average p.p
Kashbov 2769 3.3 180 0 100
Tarlek 7838 4.8 450 0 171!
Soksoklik 4491 6.2 600 4491
Qiao-tzal' 623 1.3 80 59739
23 Bozdak 7360 1.5 13000 40000 7830
Karadak 7636.5 7.56 4920 17561 690
Jiet'arele 14000 54000 4200
Zhorga
Dongsiqi 5200 12.9 300
Huangbanqu 2568 6.0 270000
NO. 2 Farn 1200 1200 38700
No.4 Village of 2800 2.5 12300 25600 Qingshuihe Town
* the economic forestry
Table 2-7: Number of Animals of the SA Sites
Village / FarTn Total Horse Cattle Donkey. Camel Sheep Goat Per person ______M ule
Kashboy 2090 11 510 170 1330 70 2.5
Tarlek 2925 52 350 50 2073 400 1.8
Soksoklik 7408 98 4040 1200 10.3
Qiaogtale 15716 112 110 80 8 12082 3304 32.5
Bozdak 49520 174 2357 68 44902 1574 10.2
Karadala 42946 255 2012 39309 1076
Jiet'arela 122499
Zhorga
Dongsiqi 2200 1 50 2129 20 5.4
Hunagbanqu 13586 230 628 161 9450 3117 31.7 NO.2 Brigade of C, 9980 250 300 30 8500 900 12.05 Guozigou Farm No,4 Village of Qingshuihe 7250 400 50 6500 300 6.4 Township I_ Source: obtained locally by the Team
24 The Livestock Production Patterns of the SA Counties According to the natural resources, tradition of livestock production and forms, the livestock production the SA counties take different pattems which can be categorized by the following:
The Farming Area Livestock Production
The raising animals by farmers in pens, mainly the sheep and goats, is the major pattem. This is due to the scarce of natural pastures or the poor-quality natural pastures of low grass output. So the grass needed by animals is mainly obtained from the wild grass in the farmland or the stems and leaves of crops or fodder. Of the six counties, Maigeti County is an example of this type, in whose rural economic structure, farming takes about more than 85.5% while livestock 13.5%. The pastures of the county are of the arid area with few grass species. However, the well-developed farming provides good conditions for the farmers to raise their animals in folding way. The local Uygur farmers use cottonseed cakes, cottonseed shells, cotton stems, wheat, maize, maize stems and other crop stems to feed their sheep, goats. The case of Yushugou Town offers another way to use crop leaves and stems to feed animals, and the local farmers there apply the technologies of ensilaging fodder, building folds, improving animal species to deal with the shortage of fodder and hay. At the same time, they combine the farming and livestock production with the former to provide the latter with fodder. In tum, the development of livestock production promotes the crop production, all this proving successful. By the end of 1998, the total number of animals reached 49861 and the meat output was 2511 tons and milk 2270 tons.
The Semi Livestock Production and Semi Crop Production
It is found out this pattern is the most popular one in the rural and pastoral areas of the six counties. It is characterized by the factors in the development that the local governments attach the importance to both crop production and livestock production
25 though in the past 50 years agriculture has been enhanced in the area.. The advantages of the pattern are that the local people make full use of their natural resources, namely, farmers use the grass in and around their cropland to feed their livestock, herders are still practicing moving herding, though the governments encourage the settlement of nomadic people. In recent years, with the quickening of settlement of nomadic people, their patter has been enhanced by the local policies. For example, in both Tacheng and Changji , the number of livestock raised by the farmers has surpassed that of the livestock raised by herders. In Changji. It is the farmers that produce most of milk ands mutton of the city. This is the same case with Qingshuihe Town of Huocheng County, where there are more and more farmer families specialized in raising cattle and sheep with the crop stems and leaves. Thus there have developed "specialize families for raising cattle while herders that have settled down are beginning to take the same way even they do not give up migrating herding.
The Migrating Herding in the Traditional Pastoral Areas
Xinjiang has a long -standing tradition of pastoralism in history and in the area of Tianshan Mountains, Altai Mountains, and region along Zhungar Basin, nomadic peoples moved about and obtained resources for their subsistence. It is even now that herders move their livestock wherever there are pastures and water according changes of seasons. Usually, they start to moving from their winter camps( mainly river valleys and basins) in the mid March (there is a slight but visible difference in terms of local weather), then stop and stay in the spring pastures( low hills and slopes of the mountains) where they deliver lambs and other baby animals. In the mid June. they start to move again up to the steppes where they fatten their animals as the grass is good in quantity and quality. When it is in the mid September, herders begin to move down from high mountains following the routes they took for moving up to the mountains and in the later November they return to their winter camps. This nomadic practice has existed for thousands of vears. In the six counties. Kazak. Mongolian.
26 Kirkiz herders, and some Uygurs have the tradition of pastoralism. The biggest differences between the pastoral livestock production and the farming-area livestock production lie in the limitation in the use of natural resources and the ways of use them., and the eco-environmental concept and behavior, special subsistence systems and the nomadic or pastoralist cultures which were developed . In the 12 SA sites, this pattern is still seen in Qiaogele Farm of Baicheng, Bozdakh Farm of Tacheng, Jiet'arele Xiang of Fuhai, Guozigou Farm and Huangbanqu Village of Changji. The number of the days for herders stay at certain pasture vary due to the distance in which they move and size of their pastures. The SA data obtained from the above sites suggest that this pattern has been challenged and the reasons mainly are the shortage of pastures and the quality of them has been going down. And the policies of Xinjiang Government that aim at persuading herders to quit pastoralism and adopting themselves to settling down so as to change their subsistence have been practiced for many years. It is argued that, being an eco-environmentally sustainable pattern that has been practice for long time in the region, it is difficult to say whether settlement is the only and best choice.
Case 2- 1:
The herders of Qiaogetale Farm herd their animals in the winter and spring pastures from the December to the May of next year. And in mid June, they move to the summer pasture in the high mountain. And in September, they move down from the summer pastures to the spring pasture where they sell their livestock. The distance between their winter pasture to the summer pasture varies for families, for some families. moving takes 3-5 days, but for others. it takes about only 2 hours. Many herders say that the biggest problem they have for moving is the worsening of the pastures and shortage of grass in winter and spring pastures. They say that if the situation goes on, they have to quit moving-herding. In fact, more and more herders have settle down on the farm since 1970s'.. Case 2-2:
27 Similarly, the herders of Huangbanqu Village of Changji went through changes from Moving to half moving. Before 1994, they practiced pastoralism and moved their animals to high mountains. Since 1994, most of the Kazak families have settled down and now every year, only one or two families keep on moving their animals to high mountains. They haven't given up moving because of large size of livestock and without enough resources around the village. So they lent their farmland to others and obtain hay and grain from those who use their farmland. However, it is noticed that, in the village, another pastoralist pattern has begun to use. Several families, though being settled, take a kind ofjoining in moving herding practice, and each family sends a yang person, boy or girl, to join the young persons from other families and thus they form groups to move their animals up to the mountain pastures. About 30 flocks of sheep, nearly 7 thousand in number, move out and move back every year.
The three pattem's of livestock production that exist in Xinjiang are important for implementation of the project, which require different methods for them to use the loans to improve their production and to improve their pastures or folding-raising facilities.
The Livestock Markets As the livestock patterns vary, so does the livestock markets in different counties. For farmers of agricultural areas, the major markets where they sell sheep, goats and cattle are the bazaars in the county proper or near their villages. In the bazaar of every county or Xiang, there is livestock bazaar in which merchants and farmers do their business of buying and selling animals. The livestock bazaars vary in size, but every week. there is an "animal bazaar day" in each when farmers around would move or carry their sheep by various vehicles to the bazaar. to sell.
Case 2-3:
There are seven livestock bazaars in Maigeti County and the Livestock Bazaar in
28 the Maigaiti
County proper is the larges and one of the largest in South Xinjiang. Every Sunday, thousands of farmers coming from villages of the county and merchants not only from the county itself but also from other counties do their business here. The Livestock Bazaar of Keziawat Xiang is on Tuesday every week. The Administration Station of Industry and Commerce, a government office, manages the bazaar and farmers pay the fees of livestock to this office. The fees vary. At the County Bazaar, farmers have to pay I yuan for one sheep and at the Xiang Bazaar I yuan.
Case 2-4:
Semaiti * Yusupu, a farmer at the age 32 of Kashboyi Village said "the price of sheep selling at home is 50-150 Yuan lower than that of the sheep selling at the bazaar." So he sells I his sheep and cattle mainly at the bazaars. Some farmers believe there is no difference in selling sheep and cattle at the bazaar or at home Aimaiti * Kebor, a farmer of Kashboyi Village, said that he did business with livestock merchants at home rather than at bazzar. Maimaiti * Yimin. A farmer of Kashboyi Village told us that h had sold his animals to merchants at home or on the village road, but later he found he had been "cheated" many times, then each time he was going to sell them he would go to the bazaar to learn the prices there and decide his price. Many villagers at two site of Maigeti County said bazaar were the best place for them to learn the livestock prices.
Table 2-8: Channels by Which Maigeti Farmers Learn Livestock Prices
At bazaar From neighbors Through TV Not kno%ing iol ADS Number of 33 li 42 Villagers RS .
Percentage ( t) 78.6 26.2 2.4 2.4
Table 2-9: Channels from Which Baicheng County Farmers and Herders Learn the Prices of Livestock Products
29 AT MARKUE FROM By TV ADS FROM FROM TOTAL NEIGHBORS NEWSPAPER OTER CHANNELS Number of 26 8 3 1 1 32 persons Percentage 81. 3 25 9. 4 3. 1 3. 1 (%) :
Table 2-10: Channels from which herders leam the Price of Livestock Products
At Market From Neighbors By TV ADS From Told by Total Newspaper Merchants Number of 8 9 4 0 21 42 Persons Percentage 19.04 21.42 9. 5 0 50
There are differences in obtaining market information by farmers and herders and these differences result'from the livestock production pattern and where they live. The Data we obtained suggested that, in general, farmers learn more information than herders, of herders, those who are settled down learn more than those who still migrate in herding. And those farmers in Maygeti County, Baicheng County, Changji City, and Huocheng County learn more than those in Fuhai County and Tacheng City. This deserts visible influences on who have much to say on price, between merchant and herders and farmers. It is also noticed that the traditional culture of different ethnic groups about business has something to do with the information channels and livestock price. For instance, Kazak and Mongolian herders have fewer channels less knowledge about the price than Uygurs and Hui people, which may be due to the facts that the latter have long history of business. There are two ways for the farmers and herders of a semi-pastoralism and semi-farming area to sell their animals. In Huocheng County, there are altogether 14 livestock markets where about 470000 livestock are sold and bought, the volume of trade amounts to more than 1.5 hundred million yuan a year. Usually Saturday and Sunday are the market davs. For the farmers of Qingshuihe Town. there are two
30 markets for them to sell their livestock; one of the them is at the Township, which is run by a private businessman. For one cattle or horse, farmers have to pay 2 yuan as the "managing fee", I Yuan for a sheep or a goat. Besides they have to pay the animal tax, 30 Yuan for cattle or horse, 10 yuan for a sheep or goat. The herders of Guozigou Farm of Huocheng sometimes go to the Qingshuihe Township market to sell their animals in winter, as it is not far from where they live(about 15-30 kilometres in distance) In summer, as all the animals are grazing in the summer pastures in the high mountains, it is the merchants and peddlers that visit the herders and the herders sell their animals to the merchants or peddlers. The herders' attitudes towards the merchants or peddlers are a paradox. On the one hand, they have to rely on them because it is the merchants or peddlers that go to their summer pastures to buy their animals, otherwise it is hard for them sell them. On the other hand, it is the merchants and peddlers that decide the prices, and though bargaining exists to some extent, herders, who do not know much about the marketing and are often cheated by, are the weak in deciding the price. They call merchants and peddlers "erdaofanzi"(a person who buys and sells at an inflated price). In North Xinjiang, most of the livestock merchants and peddlers are Uygurs and they dominate livestock markets in terms of prices and wholesale and transportation network. They buy animals in pastoral areas and transport them to cities and big towns to sell them to meat peddlers. What we found at Poaching Livestock Market of Urumqi is that about 95.2 % of animals here are offered by livestock merchants and peddlers and the rest are offered by the producers nearby. They buy animals mainly from herders who herd their animals in mountains. As herders sell their animals usually in autumn and early winter (August to November)) when they need cash to buy clothes or to prepare for weddings. So the merchants have much to say about the price. There is verv Hig difference between the price they pay for a sheep and the price they sell it at Urumqi market For instance, they pay about 180 to 250 yuan for a sheep but they sell it for 350 - 450 in Urumqi. There two channels for farmers and herders to sell their sheep wool. First. it is the Sheep Wool Association controlled by the government that buy the wool. which is
31 operated by the branches of the Association in county level and what they buy is mainly fine-sheep wool. Farmers and herders complain that the difference between the buying price and selling price is too great. For example, the Association pays about 10-12 yuan for one kilogram of wool in Huocheng County, but they sell it for 20 -25 yuan in Naming Wool Market. And farmers and herder s have to pay extra fees and tax to the local Industry and Commerce Stations. Another channel is through merchants who offer similar price but pay cash. Farmers and herders complain that it is difficult for them to learn about the changes in price and wool quality required by the market, which has some impact on whether they are willing to raise fine wool sheep.
Farmers tend to believe that according to the present marketing situation, they can have better income from selling fine-wool sheep, fine sheep wool. But herders tend to believe that they can have a better income from selling cashmere, as raising goats need less fodder and marketing prospect is good. This can be seen from a survey at two site of Baicheng County.
Table 2-1 1: What Products Get Better Income
Fine-wool Cashmere Meat Fine Wool Cashmere Mutton Total Sheep Goat Sheep Villagers of 13 2 3 2 2 Soksokhklik Village Herders oi l 2 1 5 12 2 Kangqi Farm Total 14 4 4 7 14 2
Case 2-6:
In 1999, the price of wool per kilo varied between 6 yuan to 10 yuan at Soksokhklik And villagers tended to believe the state-owned company as they thought that even if the price offered by the company was lower than that of
32 merchants (0.1-0.2 yuan for a kilo), they preferred selling their wool to the former. But if the price offered by merchants were 0.4-0.5 yuan higher than that of the company, they would sell it to the merchants.
Case 2-7:
In Guozigou Farm, herders are asked to carry their fine wool to the farn-headquaters, and the wool are checked and packaged before selling to Regional Fine Wool Association. But herders sell less than half of their fine wool to the Association, rather, they would sell their fine wool to merchants. The reason is that the Farm would keep some of the money as in the forms of fees and tax and debt that herders should have to pay or repay. As herders need cash, they sell their fine wool to merchants.
Case 2-8
In Fuhai County the state-owned company failed to pay the cash on time to herders who sold fine wool to it. So herders would not like to sell fine wool to the company but sell it to merchants. But they complain that they are often cheated by merchants in price and that the price that merchants offer is too low.
Case 2-9:
Turek - Maimaiti is a herder of Kangqi Qiaogetale Farm of Baicheng. He has 40 fine wool sheep, 160 goat and 2 cattle. And he herds 289 female sheep of the Farm by contract. He said, as the price of cashmere was much higher than that of wool and the price of baby goat was even much higher than a sheep, he planned to raise more goats (expected 300) and increase his sheep number (expected 100). In the year of 2000. he sold some animal products and got satisfactory income: 20000 yuan by selling 50 sheep (400 vuan for a sheep), 1200 yuan by selling 120 kilo wool (10 yuan per kilo), 7000 vuan by selling cashmere (17 kilo, 340 yuan per kilo), 750 yuan from selling sheep or goat skins. Meanwhile he obtained 10175 yuan from the Farm. It is seen that there are many channels by which farmers and herders sell their livestock and animal products, but it is also clear that the marketing situation in the six counties is not very stable, thus the prices vary even for the sheep of the same quality. Therefore, the Team believes that this may be one of the key factors that the may influence the implementation of Project. And if the marketing and prices of livestock products are poorly managed and the interests of producers cannot be well protected, then they will be less enthusiastic in production and developing a sustainable strategy for production of livestock. So it is vitally important to develop a powerful network of selling and buying animals.
The labor Force and Labor Division There exist visible differences in labor force and labor division due to the livestock production pattems in six counties. Most of labor forces of Maigeti County, Soksokhklik Farm of Baicheng County, Dongsiqi Village, Qingshuihe Town of Huocheng are engaged in farming while raising animals are regarded as a kind of "sideline production". And it leads to a finer division of labor force on the family base. In contrast, in the traditional pastoral areas, such as Fuhai County, two farms of Tacheng City, Baicheng County and a Village of Changji City, the labor division seems not as clear as in farming areas. For those farmers and settled herders, their daily work is decided by seasonal farming tasks which require all the adult, even elderly children to participate in certain work at the same time. But in the semi-pastoral and semi-farming areas, there is comparatively clear division in labor according to the sex of family members. Generally, women take up more responsibility and thus do more in raising animals while men take our more in farming. In the pastoral areas, herding is the task for men while women take up more work in managing the home and caring for the children. The difference can be seen from the following graphs
Graph 2-2: Seasonal Activities of Male Farmers of Tarleke Village. Maigeti Count\
34 Labor Intensity
4, 5 10.11 13.15 I I 1.3 6 6.7 8.9 12 12.14 12.13 16 13.15 7 Jan. Feb March April May June July August Sep Oct. Nov. Dec. Tasks: 1. preparing manure 8 helping with cotton seeding. 14. Picking up cotton 2. Leveling farmiand 9. Thinning out Cotton 15. Thinning out Maize 3. Spreading fertilizer IO.Getting in wheat 16. Selling cotton 4. Plowing farmland 11. Leveling wheat land 17 sowing wheat 5. Spreading manure 12. spreading manure in wheat land 18.sowing maize 6. .Picking up cotton stems 13. cotton field management 7 .sowing cotton
Graph 2-6: Milekhan Yeti's (female) seasonal labor activities( Tarlek Village of Maigeti County)
Labor intensity
(6) (I10)
(1) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (2) (5) (7) (9) (10)(10 (10)(14) (14)(10) (2) (2) (2) (3) (4) (6) (8) (10) (13) a5) (16) (R () (-) Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec, (1) PickingCottonboils (2) Feedinganimals (3) Selling cotton (4) Cutting weeds (5) Building field low earth bank (6) Spreading manure and fertilizer (7) Leveling farmland (8) picking up plastic film (9) Thinning out crops (10) weeding in the field (11)summer harvesting (12)Picking off cotton tops (13) Loosening the cotton land soil (14) Pruning cotton plants (i5) Making manure by weeds and animal dunes carrying it to the field
35 0a Picking up cotton 07) Picking up boils
Graph 2-12: Seasonal labor activities of Males in Pastoral area
T L Shearin Prepar
In btpatheading herding hay Herding Folding Feeding animal EL raisin
I 2 3 4_ _ 6 7 9 {lI l
The Labor Division:
In both pastoral areas and fanning areas, labor division happens on the household base as the household is the production unit. And this is also the same case with these households that keep larger flocks of animals.
It is very common that Women participate in production in the pastoral areas or in farming areas and division of labor based on sex tends to be influenced by the division in raising animals or farming. This is also true in the differences resulting from livestock production patterns. If agriculture is the main subsistence of a household, then the males are the main labor force for it while women's task is to managa the home and to look after the animals. If a family has a large flock of animals, then the males take more tasks to managing them In the farming area, the line is clear between men's tasks and women's tasks. But variations are observed that sometimes women have to take more tasks of farming if the males are away.
Case 2- 10:
There are 10 members in Wushor Yiming family, who is 64 year-old and a farmer of Kashboyi Village of Maigeti County. The family has 21 cattle, 71 sheep, 3 goats, 50 chickens and 100 doves. His sheep are all the local Dolang sheep which is believed as the best quality in Maigeti County. And he has 10-mu farmland for cotton. 21 mu for wheat and 20 for maize.
36 Two of his sons were married and the small families live separately, and two of his daughters were married out. In winter, the rest of family members are busy looking after animals. But there is a division of labor in the family. The married son looks after the cattle of the big family from which he gains his income. While in summer, most of the family members turn to farming and the task of looking after animals naturally falls on women. In the pastoral areas, the tasks of labor undertaken by males differ from that of farming area by males, and differences lie in that for herders, the major labor task is herding animals except in the time of delivery and shearing in which they have more to while male labor undertakes at least four tasks every day in August women undertake more labor tasks than males in both pastoral areas and farming areas. This can be seen from Graph 2-7 and 2-8. Besides the regular housework they do, in August, women do the heavy work of picking up cotton. And women of pastoralist families work from very early in the morning to the late evening (we observed in a herder's family, the housewife worked for almost 13 hours a day) and besides the tiring housework, they go out collecting animal dung used as fuel, looking after young animals that graze nearby, fetching water (generally, Kazak and Mongolian males seldom do this!) and looking after children. In general, the labor division based on sex in herders' families is more visible than that in the farmers' families. And it was observed that another difference in labor division between farmers and herders is the so called "voluntary labor", which means every male farmer, even female farmer, in some areas, should participate in work without payment organized by the local governments and village managing committees. And the voluntary labor" is a kind of public labor in the interests of the community, including building village or Xiang roads and irrigation facilities. The surveys suggest that the voluntary labor kinds and required days of a farmer are more and longer than that of herders. For instance, in Fuhai and Huocheng, the voluntary labor days of a vear is about I 5-30 days while in the farming area of Maigeti, Baicheng and Changji. it is about 25-30 days.
37 Case 2-11:
River Yarkend flows through Maigeti County and farmers undertake different kinds of voluntary labor, such as building and enhancing riverbanks, clearing irrigating ditches and channels. Maimaiti-Akhun, a farmer of Tarlek Village, said that the kinds of his voluntary labor vary: the county Voluntary labour, then Xiang voluntary labor and the village voluntary labor. Totally, it is about 100 hundred days a year. When he is too busy to do voluntary labor, he has to hire someone else to help and he pays for it.
The Surplus Labor:
There exists the surplus labor in the 12 villages, and the problem is serious in farming areas than in pastoral areas and it is because of the limitation of land resources and low productivity. In the farming areas, the land area for each family is limited and the use of fanning machinery is not extensive. In the pastoral areas, there are almost no herding machines at all. So farmers and herders have to do quite lots of work with their hands.
In the surveys, many farmers and herders complain that they are short of labor and this is true only in the busy seasons. In other time, it seems that quite a lot of labor is wasted.
It is assumed that the Project may offer many chances for the surplus labor. The question is how to organize them to participate the Project.
The Distribution System
Farmers and herders are obliged to pay taxes, various kind of fees to the state and the
38 Collectives (Xiang and villages), including agriculture tax, livestock tax and the fees paid to the village and Xiang. The agricultural tax is paid on the base of the sowing area of farmland in the year. In Kashboyi Village of Maigeti, farmers paid this tax on the following rates in 2000: 1) 11 yuan for per mu of cotton sown; 2) 7 yuan for per mu of wheat sown; 3) This type of tax is collected by the Xiang Finance Station. In the pastoral area, herders pay livestock tax, the amount of which is based on the number of animals by the end of previous year. And this type of tax is also collected from the farmers in the farming area. Here is how much herders pay for per animal:
1) 2 Yuan for a sheep per year 2) 1.5 yuan for a goat per year 3) 5 yuan for a cattle per year 4) 6 yuan for a horse per year 5) 6 yuan for a camel per year
In addition, farmers and herders are obliged to pay fees for use of natural resources, mainly the farmland and pastures. Another important fees that each family, herder's or farmer's, to pay to the Village or Xiang are in nature for the purpose of the local welfare and the collective accumulation. According to the policies of the Chinese central government the amount of the two kinds of fees is not allowed to be over 5% of the total income of each family. However, it is observed that in some sites, what a family really pays is beyond the limitation. For instance, in Kashboyi Village of Maigeti, the two kinds of fees are collected on the base of number of people of each family, 78 yuan per person. The villagers told us that according to the County policy, the amount should be no more than 64 yuan per person. And farmers and herders were not happy with the "local
39 policy" but they have no way to,change it.
Case 2-12: Semite Magmata is a farner of Tarleke Village of Maigeti County, and he is the head of the No Villager Group. He has 3 children, tow of them are school pupils. In the year of 2000, the income of his family was 16400 yuan. What he paid for all the taxes and fees is illustrated in the following
Table 2-13: The Fees Paid to Xiang and Village byA Farner's Family (6 persons) Items Accumulated Public Managing Education Other Total Funds Welfare Fees Additional Fees Fees Funds Percentage I 0.5 1.5 1.5 0.5 5
Amount 100.14 50.10 150.24 150.24 49.98 500.70 (Yuan) I
The fees Paid for the Released Land
ITEMS Basic Farrnland Woods Opened wasteland Total
Amount (yuan) 703.0 106.59 58.53 868. 12
The Fees Paid for Services and Issuanrance
Items Cooperati Fee for Irrigation Insurmnce of Family Property Tractor Anti-insect Total ve Animal water Cotton Insurance Fees Chemicals Medical Epidemic Protection Fees Prevention Amount 100.8 216.9 1231.95 87.1 9 1186.12 150.52 2982.39 (yuan) _ l
The total payments amount to 4740.21 yuan, of which the non-productive fees take up 1867. 62 yuan, about 39% of the total, which takes up 15%o of the total income of the family.v
The Labor Productivith
40 In order to learn the basic economic condition and demands for development of the fanners and herders, the members of the Team used the PRA methods to obtain the direct data from the surveyed families. Five variables are used and the following are some of the results: the yo of PRA to and
Table 2-19: The Productivity of Dawuti Kuwan of Kashboyi Village, Maigeti County
Raising Sheep Raising Raising Business Growing Cotton Growing Grain Growing Cattle Doves Transportation melons
TimeUsed *** * * ** ***** ** * Labor * * * ***** *** L.Intensity ** * ** ***** ***** Input ****** * *** ** ** * Profit ****** ** *** * * Help needed ***** ***** ** Loans ****** * * *** ** ** Needed Development ******.* <** ** ** **
Case 2-13: Dawuti- Kuwan is the head of a rich family of Kashboyi Village, Maigeti County. He believes that in comparison with growing cotton, raising sheep is worth doing. He said that although he had to invest more money on sheep than on cotton, raising sheep uses less time; less labor and the labor intensity is not as great as that for growing cotton. He said that raising cattle is the most worth doing as it costs less labor. time and money. But after compared the three, finally he said raising sheep is the best way for his family to develop economy. In the farming area, there are different attitudes of farmers to whether it is more profitable to raise sheep than to raise cattle, or vice versa. Maimaiti *Yiming, a Uygur farmer of Tarlek Village believes that it is more profitable to raise cattle than to raise sheep. He earned 2000 vuan from selling a fattened cow but a fattened sheep can only bring him 30 yuan as profit. He said he was thinking to raise sheep. the local species "Dolang
4i Sheep", but this difficulty is short of money.
Table 2-20: The Productivity of Abudureyimu Urayin of Tarlek Village of Maigeti County | Farning Animal Husbandry Farming Machine Service TimeUsed ***** 1* Labor **
L.ntensity ***** **
Input * ** Profit ***** ** Need for *****
Development
For the herders of the pastoral area, they have their own concept on the productivity in raising different kind of animals. The following two give the details about it.
Table 2-21: The Productivity of Herders of Guozigou Farm of Huocheng County
Time Used Labor Money Input L.lntensity Profit
Kazak Sheep *
Fine-wool Sheep * . . *8...
Goats . . *.. *.. *
Ewe ...... cow ...... *1* 8*... *
Table 2-22: The Livestock Productivity of Jietharele Xiang, Fuhai County
Camels Cattle Sheep Growitg All'alla
Timc Used .. 8*8* ...
F'rol'it -- *8* -- T
42 Labor Input ..
Money Input
labor Intensity
The Sources of the Family Income of the SA Families:
The results from the surveys of the six counties show that there are considerable differences in the income of families due to the environment and ways for the production. The following tables illustrate the analysis of the data obtained by questionnaires
Table 2-23: The most important Sources of the Family Income Livestock Crops Bonus Small Private Working in The other Total Business Business Towns Number of 121 89 3 3 1 4 14 235 families Percentage% 51.5 37.8 1.3 1.3 0.4 1.7 6.0 100
Table 2-24: The Second Importance Source of Family Income
Livestoc Growing Allowances Small Private Working in Other Total k Crops Business Enterprises Towns sources Numb. Of 73 94 15 11 1 3 10 207 families % 35.3 45.4 7.2 5.3 0.5 1.4 4.9 100
These figures clearly show that for most of the families of both farming areas and pastoral areas, livestock is the most important source of the family income and even in the farming area, what a family earns from the crops they grow is obviously low in the income. For those herders whose families have been settled down. livestock remains the most important source of their income. The Production Organizations and Social Organizations in the SA Countics
It is important for the Project to understand how farmers and herders arc
43 organized in production and what the local social organizations there are in the Project area that might have impacts on the Projects. The county govemment and Xiang govemment are the most important administrative bodies as well as the most important organizations for the local production. They have the following responsibilities and powers in terms of organizing the agricultural and live stock production: - Designing the development programs and the annual plans for the specific growth objectives - Managing and using the local natural resources - Making the local policies for agriculture and livestock development - Managing the local communities - Deciding the objectives for local development and specific measures to realize them.
So far as the Village, ihough it is not an administrative organization in its sense as it is an autonomous organization for villagers to manage their own affairs within a village, it doe perfonn some functions in organizing production at village level. In the interviews of the village leaders, we were impressed by their strong sense of how to "lead villagers to get rich and how to promote the local production". Therefore, in a sense, the village and its committee functions as an important organizer of the village production Generally speaking, there are three kinds of Xiang government offices that have direct relations with the Project: Grassland Station, Veterinary Station and Animal Husbandry Station And there are some offices under the Xiang government that may have indirect relations with the Project Agricultural Economy Station, Statistics Office, Water Station Finance Station and Station for Technology Promotion, of which, the Agricultural Economy Station has a very strong impact on the livestock production, as it is responsible to decide the fees related to livestock and to collect fees from farmers and herders.
44 The horizontal structure of the county and Xiang governments desert a very efficient control and management over the rural areas. And this control and management are realized by issuing the guideline production plans and even the measures for realizing these plans. What is more, this administrative structure has the power of the managing and distributing natural resources within the county or Xiang.
Case 2-14: The head of No Village of Qingshuihe Town: In order to make clear about how the Project is implemented at the Village level, the Team members visited a few heads of villagers in the sites and the following is what Wang, the Head of No Village of Qingshuihe Town, and Huocheng County, told us about his work: We are very small compared with those big cadres. But we are important in managing the village. I am responsible to carry out the policies and decisions that the govemments made in the village. And I am responsible to organize villagers to develop production. I help the Xiang Offices to collect fees and taxes. And I have the responsibility of protecting the interests of the villagers while I have to deal with all that happens every day. In the committee, there are five persons who manage the different aspects of the village matters. As for the Project, I think I have more to say how to implement it here in our village. Please tell the Wool Bank I will try my best to do well. The SA Team suggests that it is essentially imperative to attach importance to the organizations of managing production in the rural areas where the Project is to be implemented. Maybe it is one of the key factors that decide how well the Project can be implemented.
The Gaps between the Rich and the Poor Since 1980's when the responsibility system began to implement in the rural areas, there have been gradually gaps between the rich and the poor. The followingi is an example of Soksokhklik Village of Baicheng County.
45 In the No. 3 Villagers' Group, there are 57 families of which 9 are the rich, 15.8% of the total, 37 families that are in the middle between rich and the poor, 64.9% of the total, and the number of the poor families is 11, 19.3 % of the total. In the year of 2000, the highest annual family income was about 47000 yuan while the lowest family income no more than 2500. Many villagers said that the reasons of the gap are in the number of animals, area of the farmland and number of the labor. The rich families possess more animals, land and labor while the poor possess much less. The rich said some the families were poor because they were lazy or that were not wise. But the Team found that the number of animals each family possesses is a key factor that decided the economic conditions of families. This gap can be seen almost in all the SA sites. In some of the villages, the poorest families do not have any animals at all and they are depending on the allowance form the government. What impact will this gap have on the Project? The rich villagers said that the Bank should lend loans to them because they are able to develop. Some of the average families thought that the Bank should lent them the loans as they have the potential to change. And the poor families were afraid that if the loans went to the rich, they had no chance to change their present situations and they were both hopeful and frustrated with the possibility to get the loans. And gaps in wealth have been observed in most of the sites. Even within the village where either pastoralism or farming is practiced, the gaps seemed to have been widened in the past years. The conditions of some of poor families are extremely harsh. The local officials believe that if some priority is given to the poor families by the project, for instance, special loans arranged for them together with technolonical training and aids, and with strict supervision, it will greatly helps the poor out of poverty, and to narrow the gaps in wealth.
Case 2-15: Sadik Yilik is 65 years old. and a farmer of Soksokhklik village. He has a bigi family with II people. And the number of sheep in 2000 was 250. In the year the
46 family income was 60000 yuan, which came form livestock and crops.
Sadie Yili told the SA member that his classification of the difficulties for hi fanily in production is as the following: Table 2-25: Sadie's Difficulties in development Fine Seeds Capital Productivity Service Needed
* ** ~~~~~~***
Non-official Associations:
In its strict sense, the non-official associations do not exist in the SA counties and villages. There are two factors that are responsible for the lack of these kinds of organizations. First, as indicated in the above, the horizontal administrative structure at three levels (county, Xiang and village) is strict and effective in control local society. The powerful management gives little way to the appearance of non-official organizations. The rural population believe it is unnecessary to set up any organizations of their own, rather, they hope the government is an efficient, just, powerful and honest and clean one, and hope the government can offer effective services for them. Second, it is noted the farmers and herders lack the consciousness of participation in the management of their affairs. It is also noticed that in recent years the direct election has been introduced into selecting the village committee members, and in many villagers the local people become more mad more active in selecting their village officials, however, the complex social structures within the community, such as kin structures, blood-bound social forms (the "Awule" of Kazaks. and "Ayile" of Mongolians) desert their influence on the election. In many places, kinship relation is always an important factor in the election. Besides. that the governments do not fully understand the special roles that the non-official associations may play in the local development and other social activities is also responsible for lack of this kind of associations in the rural areas... The only exception is that in the Islamic area, the religious organizations with
47 Mosques as the center may be regarded as anon-official organizations, for Mosques have profound influences on the social life and peoples' spiritual life. In some cases, Mosques may play some role in to help the Project implementation among the Muslims. The surveys also found that there are two kinds of associations existing in some of the SA counties and Xiangs, which might perform the functions of non-official bodies. Thru first one is the Wool Association that has its branches in counties even in Xiangs. This Association, promoted by the government, is concemed much with the quality of sheep wool. The attitudes of herders and farmers towards it vary. Another organization existing in the rural areas is the Economic Co- op, which aims at helping the villagers to cooperate in the local development. In some villages, the Co-op is very active in introducing new technologies and fine species. But due to lack of funds and experience in management, they do not function as well as the local people expected. so they are not much trusted.
Case 2-16: In the fieldwork in Huocheng County, herders of Guozigou Farm and Qingshuihe Village talked about their ideas of organizing "Sheep-raising Association", which they believed would be helpful to do a good job in helping the local livestock production. In the two discussions, 39 farmers and herders believed it was necessary to set up this Association. 29 people thought it should be organized by the villagers themselves, and 10 persons said it should be organized by the Villagers' Committee. As to the question of who should manage the association, 17 persons suggested that it should be run by the representatives that the villagers select and the village leaders. And II persons said that it should be run by the local government and the village leaders. About the qualities of the representatives of the villagers for managing the association. many people believed that they should able in management. skilled with technologies of animal husbandry and willing to serve for the members. About the roles of the association. many people suggested that the association to be set up should help the villagers in exchanges of experiences in livestock product'ion.
48 introducing new technologies and information about the livestock markets. They also hoped that the association could play an important role in monitoring the implementation of the Project. The SA Team thinks that it may be helpful to see the importance and necessity for establishing the associations to help and monitor the implementation of the Project if the Bank understands the local culture and psychology of the local people. There has been a very strong dependence of the local people on the governments that they hope the govemment can help them in improving their economic conditions. This, together with the strong control by the government, plays a negative role in the efforts to set up any associations that promote the implementation of the Project. However, the Team also believes that, with the approval and support of the local govemments concerned, associations like "Sheep Raising Association" or in other forms can be established. And the associations to be set up should include not only farmers and herders, but also the local essences and grass root officials. About the establishme'nt of non-official organizations at village level, there are two kinds of opinions from the villagers, village leaders and the county PMO officials. One is that it is necessary to establish some associations if they are organized in a better way so as to give a full play in the implementation; another is that since the local society is very well organized and the govemment has a very effective vertical controlling system, it is not very necessary to establish more than what is there. And the mosques or temples are not required by the local govemments to be involved in the local production, for their duty is to " care for " the spiritual things of the believers. The SA team suggests that since the project needs the participation of as many social organizations as possible, it is generally preferred to establish some of the associations that can do what the formal social organizations can not do for the project. However, it is better to let the local villagers to decide what they need to organize and for what they need to do so.
The Women's Social Status and Participation in the Project
49 The SA Team investigated the women's social status and in particular, their understanding of and hopes for the Project. It is found that in the SA areas, the social status of women is closely related with the ethnic groups to which they belong, the local religious culture and economic development. In the traditional Uygur and Kazak societies and families, the status of women was very low and they were not allowed to take part in social activities, nor were they allowed to be involved in managing the family affairs. In the past decades, the situation has changed greatly. Women's social status, no matter in the Uygur society or in the Kazak society, has been raised considerably. More and more women began to take part in social activities. But, it is not correct to say that women, especially those in the rural areas, have obtained the equal rights and equal status with men. The reality is, the rural society of Xinjiang is still a man dominant one in which women's participation in social affairs is still low. This is seen in the many SA villages where there is only one or two women members in the committee (The Director of Women's Association). Although male villagers think that if a woman is able, she can be elected as the head of the village, in practice, when there is a woman who is able but there is a man counterpart who is as able as the woman, and then most of the male villagers are inclined to vote for him rather than her. This is more popular in the farming areas than in the pastoral areas. There is a difference between the rural Uygur society and the pastoral Kazak society. The surveys found that in the latter, Kazak women have more power in the family decision-making and many Kazak men and women told us that they would work together to diced matters of the families. And Kazak women can inherit a part of the property of their parents though it is a small proportion. In the SA sites of Fuhai County, Tacheng, and other counties, we obtained the data of women s daily activities: The daily activities of a Kazak female herder of Jietharele Xiang: In the spring pasture, early summer 7.00 are: preparing breakfast for the family 7.50 are: collecting dings and tree branches
50 9.00 are: cleaning the yurt and washing the cooking pots and bowls 10.00 are: feeding the young animals 12.00 are: washing clothes at the river 14.00 pm: preparing the milk tea for the visitors, eating nan and drinking milk tea 15.10 p.m: feeding the young animals 16.20p.m: a short rest 17.30p.m: helping the neighbor with making nan( bread) 19.00p.m: beginning to prepare the supper 20.30 checking the sheep coming back from grazing 21.40: supper 22.50: making the bed for the children 23.10: sleeping.
The daily activities of a Daur woman farmer of Asir Xiang, Tacheng: July 27 2001 8.20a.m: cleaning the courtyard and folds 9.1 Oa.m: preparing breakfast 10.20a.m: working in the maize field 13.1 Oa.am: preparing lunch 13.50 short break 14.15p.m: washing dirty pots and bowls 15.30p.m: feeding cattle 16.25p.m: working at the vegetable garden, picking vegetables 17.45p.m sewing 19.20p.m preparing supper 20.30: supper 21.30: watching TV
51 23:00 sleeping
From the above we see that women were occupied by all kinds of work tasks and there is a difference in what a woman farrner does and what a woman herder does.
The Women's Attitudes to the Project What surprised the SA members is that the women who were interviewed seemed to be very enthusiastic in the Project.
Case 2-17: In the women's discussion at Dongsiqi Village, the participants were very much interested in the Project. After a brief introduction about the Project, they immediately began to speak out about what they were interested in the Project. All the women said they were very much willing to participate in the Project. One Hui woman said, as now it was hard to increase the family income by growing crops, raising sheep was a better choice and if her family could obtain the loans, she was prepared to learn new skills and technology for livestock production. Another woman asked whether there were training programs specially to be organized for the Project, she said if there were, she would like to be trained even if it cost her money to do so. When asked what technologies they needed, many women said they needed the technologies for improving the qualities of sheep and cattle. One said that her family had had several cows before, but they had to sell them because they had little knowledge and skills to look after them.
Case 2-18: The Women's ideas about the Project: In the Qingshuihe Town *and Guozigou Farm, two discussions were held respectively specially for women. Women from 5 ethnic groups participated in the discussion. Their motives to participate the Project:
52 Many women said, if their families wearer allowed to participate in the Project, they hoped that it would offer them the loans to develop sheep production, and to make money to improve their life conditions. A Dong Xiang young woman said there was a stagnation of the family income in recent years and it was clear that her family did not develop well only by relying on growing crops, and she hoped to get the loans to enlarge her sheep flock so as to make money for the education of her two children. What they expected from the Project: Two women said they would like to leam new technologies so as to improve the qualities of their animals, especially the fine wool sheep. One old woman said she hoped the Bank could offer loans for the poor families, as they were difficult to get the local bank loans. What they were worried about in terms of the ways to get the loans Quite a few women expressed their worries about the ways by which the loan was offered. One middle-aged woman said that in the past, there were projects aiming at helping the poor out of the poverty, but the loans were not properly offered as the rich families obtained them with the help of the Town leaders. They said there must be some special group with the "good-hearted" and "respected "people as the members to decide who were qualified to get the Bank loans.
The Social and Cultural Conditions for the Implementation of the Project
Xinjiang is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural region in which there are 46 ethnic groups, of which 13 are the main ones. The diversities of the ethnic societies and cultures may have their impacts on the implementation of the Project. In order to understand these impacts, the SA Team members interviewed many people. including religious professionals. Of the population, more than ten million believe in Islam, and mutton is the most important meat for Muslims, which decides that the market of the sheep products have a very big market. In addition, many people of other ethnic groups that are not the believers of Islam. as the results of contacting with Muslims and being influenced by
53 the diet, prefer mutton than pork. Of the Han families in Tacheng, Changji and Huocheng that were visited by us, many said that they never eat pork but mutton is the first choice when they want to eat meat.
The negative impact of the Islamic culture may be from the concept of the life. According Islam, the sperms of any life are the beginning of the life, which should never be exchanged with money. And the nature of the sperms can never changed by whatever ways. This concept influences the attitudes of a few Uygur farmers, Kazak and Kirkiz herders towards some techniques, such as artificial insemination, embryonic implantation. And in Baicheng, a few farmers refused to pay the fees for artificial inseminations.
In Maigeti Count, the local Uygur farmers prefer the local species - the Dolang Sheep, and the natural breeding is the main method. But a few farmners were reluctant to pay the breeding fees, as the old saying goose like this: if anyone received money coming form offering his stud sheep to breed for others' sheep, it might lead to the death and breaking of the family.
None-religious tradition may also have negative impact on the Project. In the pastoral areas of North Xinjiang, quite a few Kazaks and Mongolians do not like fine wool sheep, as they believe that fine wool sheep are not strong against the cold weather and arid environment. So they prefer the local breeds, like Altai Big-tail sheep. And we observed that in comparison with the local sheep breeds, fine wool sheep were weak in cold environment, especially in snowstorms. In the winter of 1999 and early spring of 2000, Altai, Yili and Tacheng were hit by heavy snowstorms, those sheep that died in the snowstorms mainly were fine wool sheep. And a few Kazak herders assumed that fine wool sheep born with techniques of artificial inseminations were naturally weak and inferior to the local sheep species. This preference to the local sheep breeds may result in a refusal of the improved fine wool breeds. The Kazak herders of the No.12 Brigade of Guozigou Farn said. the newly born fine wool sheep have a higher mortality than the young local sheep breeds in spring when the weather changes, and they have many difficulties moving these "nev babies" to pastures far awav.
54 So in North Xinjiang, many Kazak and Mongolian herders have been reluctant to accept the new techniques of artificial insemination, embryonic implantation.
Case 2-19: A mullah's Attitude towards the Project Rehman Kari Aji is a Mullah at Kashboyi Village, Maigeti went to Mecca on pilgrimage in 1992 and he is respected by the local people. He said that he World Bank Project was very good, and it would bring many good things to the villagers and help in improving the living standard of the farners here. If the government asked him to do something for the Project, he was willing to so. He warned that although 80% of the villagers would accept the loans, 30% of them might use the loans for other purposes. As the old saying goes, easy comes, easy goes.
The Ethnic Relations and the Project
As many Project areas are multi-ethnic areas, it is concerned whether the ethnic relations of the areas might have a potential impact on its implementation. In order to learn the true picture of the issue, the Team organized several discussions in different sites and the what we were told about it and what we observed suggest that the ethnic relations do not have visible negative impacts on the Project.
Case 2-20:
In Soksokhklik Village and Kangqi Farm of Baicheng County. the majoritv of the villagers are Uygurs and Kirkiz, and there are about 20 Han families living here, most of them came here in 1060's. The relationship between Uygurs and Han are good. The Uygurs help the Han in livestock production and the Han people help the Uvgurs and Kirkiz in using machines and new farming methods. They borrow tools: seeds trom
55 each other and the Han people respect the ethnic customs of the Uygurs. (From the notes of the village leaders' discussion) Cao Zijun, a Han farner, told us about the ethnic relation of Soksokhklik Village. He said before 1980's the Uygurs and Han villagers lived in the same residential area. After the 1980's, the Han people moved out of the area and established a new village. In this way, they can raise pigs and eat pork. And it also helps to avoid disputes caused by the languages and religions. He said he could speak some Uygur language so he did not have difficulty in communicating with the Uygur farmers. And the relationship is generally good as we live in the same place and work together. He said: "There are many things we share and we often visit them, so do the Uygurs, and seldom do we call each other's name."
Case 2-2 1: The ethnic relation of Jietharele Xiang of Fuhai County The Xiang Leader told us that Kazaks are the majority of the Xiang and the Han population takes 36 %. And the relations between them have been good. As more and more young Kazaks learned the Chinese language, the exchanges and communication between them have increased. In recent years, with more and more Kazaks settling down, the Han farmers helped them to leam farming techniques and the Kazaks help the Han farmers in livestock production. The governments of the county and the Xiang have done a lot to enhance the unity of the different ethnic peoples. But due to the historical reasons, there are some gaps in the development levels of the Kazaks and Han.
In general, the ethnic relations of the Project areas are stable and good. The Stable ethnic relations will certainly benefit the implementation of the Project.
The Education and the Channels of Information
In the Project areas. the basic education system ahs been established w\ith
56 primary schools
set up in the village mad secondary schools set up at the Xiang Center or Township. The nine -year compulsory education system has been made universal in the agricultural and pastoral areas of Xinjiang. In Fuhai County, Kazak children use to study at "Horse-Back" schools as their parents moved all the year. Now the boarding schools enable Kazak children to study regularly at better-equipped classrooms. And the ethnic languages, such as the Uygur, Kazak, Mongolian and Kirkiz, are the teaching languages in the schools while ethnic pupils learn the Chinese language as the second one. However, because of the shortage of qualified teachers, the education in the remote areas is still backward. The major problem in education is that the vocational education, especially the vocational education related to animal husbandry, is at low level. Many young people who received higher education or technical education are not willing to return to their hometowns, which leads to the shortage of professionals specialized in livestock production and pasture management in the Project areas. It is believed ihat this may influence the implementation of the Project. It is suggested that after the Project begin to implement, the technical materials used in training programs need to be printed in Uygur, Kazak and Kirkiz languages, this is because most of the local farmers and herders have difficulty in understanding the written Chinese.
The channels for exchanges and communications between people in the Project areas are limited due to the backwardness in developing. Quite a lot of farmers and herders limit their activities within the county and Xiang. The local bazaars or markets are the major places where farmers and herders communicate and exchange. With the popularization of TV programs, the "magic box" becomes the major channel for farmers and herders to learn about the outside world. Bur in some pastoral areas, herders cannot watch TV programs because of no electricity. Maigeti Countv used to be one of the most closed counties in Xinjiang, now almost all the families have TV sets. The following show the major channels by which the herders and farmers communicated with the outside of the world.
57 Table 2-26: The Channels by Which Villagers of Two Villages of Maigeti Receive lnformation\ Whether frequently Watching Whether listening to Radio Whether Often Reading TV Progruns Broadcasting Newspapers Y N Y N Y Someti N mes Number of 35 5 8 32 10 23 7 People Percentage 87.5 12.5 8.0 92.0 25.0 57.5 17.5
Table 2-27: The Major Channels of Information T'V Wireless Newspa- Meeting Neighbor Friends Other Total Broadcasting pers ing Sources Number of 22 2 3 6 3 1 2 40
People______Percentage 55 7. 5 15 7. 5 2. 5 5
And the Kazak herders and farmers of Guozigou Farm and Qingshuihe Town suggest that the govemment should offer the information about the Project through the following channels.
Table 2-28: Channels by Which the Government Offers Information about the Project
Qingshuihe Town TV Newspaper Broadcasting Meetings Training Class
Numberof People 1 2 2 10 15
Percentage (%) 55 10 I0 50 75
Guozigou Farm 44 7 21 29 47
Numberof People 7 2 7 8 1
Percentagc%) 36.8 52.6 36.8 42.1 5T79
58
Chapter Three
The Eco-environmental Conditions for the Implementation of the Project
The SA Team have been greatly concemed with the eco-environmental problems of the site, as it Is believed that the successful implementation of the Project relies much on the pastures that can provide sufficient natural resources. And it is also noted that one of the purposes of the Project is to improve the pastures. There are two ways by which the Team members to forn their knowledge about the eco-environmental conditions of the SA counties: first, they did extensive surveys over the eco-environment, especially the pasture environment, of the sites, second, collected the local knowledge and observation about the changes that have taken place in the area where the SA was carried out
The Eco-environmental Conditions
By analysis of the data obtained from the above two sources, the Team came to the following conclusions of the eco-environmental situations of the SA area. 1) The environment of the areas, no matter in South Xinjiang (Maigeti and Baicheng) or North Xinjiang (Changji, Huocheng, Fuhai and Tacheng), is in the state of "improving in part deteriorating on the whole" because of various complex social and natural factors. And the degradation of pastures has been serious problem for a long time. 2) The deterioration of the environment degradation of the pastures has been threats to the natural resources of the grassland. In many areas, there has been visible decrease of the amount of the natural resources, such as grass and water. 3 ) Improvement of the environmental elements as well as the whole system. will be the decisive conditions of whether the Project will be successful or not. Of the natural resources, water and grass are the most important. The following are part of the field notes of the SA members. which describe the
59 situation and reasons why the environment changed so much.
Case 3-1 The problems about the deterioration of pastures in Baicheng are serious. And people interviewed in two SA site told us that the pastures were in the long process of degradation, and the areas of the pastures were obviously deceased. Although there are natural reasons for the change, however, the local people believed that man' behaviors had much to do with situation. For instance, for a long time people opened mineral mines, dug medical herbs on the grassland, which were very hard to stop. Besides, many small coalmines and factories that made coke set out large quantity of wastes that polluted air and the pasture. At the same time, the local people told us that it is not the pastures in the traditional pastoral areas than that been damaged and deteriorated, but the mashes in the farming areas had been dried up or had vanished. The reason is that shortsighted leaders of Xiang and village opened the marshes and turned them into farmland and by doing so they wanted to make money for their Xiangs or villages by expanding the crop areas. Soksokhklik Village, the village leaders contracted the mashes of the village to those who came here from other places and these people turned the land into farmland in which they grow melon seeds, open pond for breeding fish. The marshes disappeared the pastures around were deteriorated. And the high mountain pastures also began to degrade, too. Shadik (Farmer of the village): Maybe the villages short of funds so the leaders decided to open the marshes to farmland and contract them to the outsiders On the past the area of the marshes was about 2000 mu, now they shrines to no more than 1000 mu. So the pastures are not enough for the increasing sheep and other animals. But the village asks us to raise more she. In the mountain area, as the pastures are degraded. there are more and more disputes for pastures. I think the reasons why the pastures are pretty tight are: first, the number of animals, sheep in particular. has increased too fast. In the past, the pasture for the animals of one village now have to carry the animals of two villages: second, it has been rather dry and windy these
60 years..
Case 3-2: In recent years, the illegal opening pastures in Huocheng has never been stopped though the governments tried many times. In August, there are many people over the mountains that dig licorice roots and Chinese ephedera, a kind of medical herb. In addition over-carrying and over grazing are very serious, the farmers move their sheep to the pastures of Kazak herders and they overuse the resources. And in the past years, the grassland of Huocheng has been hit by serious drought. All this has led to serious degradation of the pastures. Seyer Haz (a staff of Guozigou Farm) said that farmers from other Xiangs move their animals to the spring and autumn pastures of our Farm and overused the resources there. When herders come back from the high mountain pastures, they are very angry to see the there are no grass there for our animals.
Graph 3-1 Changes of the Environment of XN4 Village, Qingshuihe Town Forest Pastures Farmland Water Wastelan Resources d .~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . 1950's VwVVWWVV YYYYYY TTTTTTT 000000
1060's v V Y YY Y YY TTTTTT 00000
1970's V VV V Y Y Y Y TTTTTT 0000
1980's V WV w V Y Y Y TTTTTT 00
1990's V V Y Y Y TTTTTTT Note: This is drawn by a villager
Case 3-3: Maigeti County is at the edge of Taklamakan Desert and the desert area in the eastern part takes 90% of the total area of the county. So the environment is very weak and unstable. Although the local govemment has tried hard to improve the environment of the county, the whole eco-environment has been in deterioration no\.
61 Kader- Nielsen (the head of the Grassland Management Station) said, in 1986, there was a general survey of the grassland of the county, and it came out that the area of the county was 1.45 million mu. But in 1996, the area dropped to 066 million mu, and about 96% of them were growing reeds. The management of grassland is very poor. In the 1990's many people came here to open fannland and dig locorice roots, which did great damage to the grassland. In the past tem years the grassland has been deteriorated.
There has been shortage of water in the county, and this is especially true in Tarleke Village, which has been a very serious problem here. 30 years ago, there was a plentiful wasteland but now the area of the farmland is getting bigger and bigger, as the population increases.
However, in some areas, the environment has been improved. In Kashboyi Village, many people think the environment, in comparison with that of the past, is better now. They think this is because the village and people planted many trees, which stop the advancing desert.
Graph 3-2: Changes of the Environment of Kashboyi Village In 1950' 19 rTyrr=-************ * -
Village population Trees farrnland ditches and channels pasture In
1970's G -******* __
In 1990s
Case 3-5
The farmers and herders of Fuhai County told us the grassland degradation in their county was serious and the causes were that: I) the number of animals was too large with too fast increase, For instance, in 1958. The number of animals of Jiethalere was 1700. in 2000, it increased to 127000. But at the same time, the area of the pastures. due to the various reasons was reduced dramatically. The long time overgrazing and overcarry of the pastures resulted in the dramatic drop of the
62 productivity of grassland. At the same Xiang, the output of grass per mu dropped f6rm 2-3 square meters to o.5 square meter. It is noticed in some of the sites, there have been cases of raiding other villages' pastureland, or over-use of the pastureland rented from the local villagers by others from outside. Behind most of the cases, there would some "official background" ( the village or Xiang, even County officials are involved in helping to obtain the use-rights.) In the implementation of the projects all this should be prohibited so as to ensure that the participants have a stable use of the pastureland they were distributed by contract. ( In BPP Handbook, specific suggestions are put forward)
Conflicts Caused by the Environmental Problems Not only do the environmental problems result in great negative impacts on livestock production but also cause conflicts in the local community. In some of the sites, the conflicts in use of grassland recourses between farmers and herders, between Villages of different Xiangs and counties have been notete. At Qingshuhe Town of Huocheng County, farmers move their animals to the pastures belong to the herders of Guozigou Farm, every summer and spring. And a local official told us in recent years to solving this problem had been a regular work of his office. In Tacheng, with more and more grassland being opened to farmland, the number of local conflicts over grassland resources has increased year by year. The conflicts take place between herders and herders at the levels of Village and Xiangs, between farmers and herders and also between new immigrant and the locals. Many people from Inland Chine come to Xinjiang to dig roots of medical herbs and cut the herbs, as result, in many areas, the there have been cases of the conflict between them and locals as they do great damage to the grassland.
The Suggestions of Herders and Farmers on Improving the Eco-environment:
Herders and farmers said that they were pleased to know that one of the
63 objectives the Project is to improve the environment of the grassland, and they put forward their suggestions on how to improve the situation: The Project should aims at the improve the quality of animals rather than to increase the quantity of them, as overgrazing and over carrying are two major causes of the environmental problems. - The Project should pay more attention to the improvement of local management of livestock production and at the same time to the improvement of the management of grassland resources. - There should be specific measures to be taken for improving the grassland ecosystem at the village level, and any herder or farmer should be required to take part in not only raising sheep but also to undertake the tasks of protect and improve the grassland eco-system. - In the implementation of the Project, the Bank and the local governments should work together to put more efforts in an integrated method to monitor the 16cal use of resources and protection of the eco-system.
64 Chapter Four
The Attitudes of Farmers and Herders Towards to The Project
Generally, the farmers and herders welcome the project and most of them hope that Project should be implemented as soon as possible. And the local governments of the SA Counties also welcome the Project. They hope that the Project will promote the local development and will contribute to the improvement of life standards of farners and herders.
The attitudes of the SA Farmers and Herders toward the Project:
Most of the local people express that they are willing to join the Project, and only a very tiny number of them are reluctant in their decisions. And it is found out that those who are reluctant believed that they do not have enough resources, such as pastures, water or labor. And those who are willing to participate in the Project hope that programs of training should be provided by the local govemment and the Project so that they can learn new technologies necessary to improve their livestock production.
Graph4- 1: The Attitude of the Invesgated People to the Project.
1:3% O
65 Blue suggests the number of herders and famers who are willing to participate. Red suggests the the number of herders and farmers who are reluctant.
Table 4-1: Difficult Factors for Participation: Funds Techn Marke Inform Labor Taxation Envim Local Other Total ology ting -action nment Custom No of 202 72 38 34 34 30 23 1 5 226
people ______
-Tacen 89.4 31.9 16.8 15 15 13.3 102 0.4 22
-T age I______
Table 4-2: The Help Needed by those who are willing to Participate Technology Pasture Folding Breeding Matching Others No Need Total Facilities Breeding Nurnb 123 97 80 70 69 12 4 229 er of People Percen. 53.7 42.4 34.9 30.6 30.1 5.2 1.7 tage _ _ _ . .
Table 4-3-: Suggestions on the Methods of Technological Aids Training Through Meeting Broadca Newspa Internet Other Total Class TV s sting per Numb IlII 110 58 34 27 1 19 227 er of people % 48.9 48.5 25.6 15 11.9 0.4 8.4
Some of the herders and farmers interviewed said that would like to invest some funds in participating the Project, and the amount of the funds they would like to put vary. from 1000 yuan to 10000 yuan. And many said that the amount of funds they would put depends on the amount of the loans they could obtain.
66 Table 44: The Amount of Funds The Farmers and Herders Are willing to Input Amount 100- 500- 1000- 5000- 10000 k1 No Don't Total 500 1000 5000 10000 1 Know N. of 13 25 60 30 81 15 8 232 People I.I Percenta 5.6 10.8 25.9 12.9 34.9 6.5 3.4 100
As for what they would like to do with the loans, most of the people interviewed said that they would like to obtain fin-species sheep and to get rid of the inferious species sheep.
Case 4-1: Tunishakan Ausman is a woman farmer of Kashboyi Village of Maigeti County. She was very pleased with the news of the Project. She said if she could get the Ban loans, she would like to get rid of the inferior -quality breeds and buy the good quality breeds so as to improve the quality of her sheep.
In the SA work, the Team paid special attention to the needs and difficulties of the "weak Groups" in participating the Project. The "weak groups" including the poor, the sick, and women, the ethnic groups with small population and the families without labor.
The poor hope that they could be included in the Project as they lack funds in the development and are difficult to obtain loans in the local banks. The ethnic groups with small population hope that they are allowed to participate the Project. For in the past, they were neglected by the village leaders as they are small in terms of population and influence. Women said they were very much willing to participate, and they hope that they could be considered as a very hard working and able group, for in the past most of the projects implemented in the villages were "men dominant", what they could do was to assist the men.
67 The Expectations of the Farmers and Herders for the Project
Most of the people interviewed at the villages expect that the Project should be implemented on the base of equality and justice. And in the past, the local leaders feared that the poor were not capable of repaying the loans, so they would not like to guarantee for them. The following are what the local farmers and herders fear in the implementation of the Project
- The local officials will not decide who can get the loans on a just and equal base;
- Even if they get the loans, they do not have enough resources to enlarge their flock of animals; - The loans are only offered to those who are able and who have larger flocks of animals; - The weak groups'do not have chances to the loans.
In Maigeti County, the farmers hope that they can join in the decision-making on who could get the loans for fear that if the village leaders decide the matter; the loans may go through the recantations. So they expect the govemment should help with the establishment of groups with the participation of the representatives of the "ordinarv villagers" that decide who can, who cannot. The farmers of the No. 4 Village of Qingshuihe Town of Huocheng said at the discussion that they fear that if the loans are offered to those who are too poor. they would misuse the loans and the repayment would be difficult. So they suggested that the loans should be offered to 1) those who wish very much to get rich as they' knew how to use the money; 2) the average -income families as they had very strong motives to develop and know how to use the loans, 3) those who are not in debt. But in the interviews with more villagers, some of them said the loans may be offered to the poor on the ground they have a good plan to use them in developing their livestock production.
68 Some fears and herders interviewed also express their fears that if the loans are offered to those who are able and who are rich, the gaps between the poor and the rich would be greater and this is not the policy of the government. So they suggested that this matter should be considered from many angles rather than just one.
Table 4-5: The attitudes of the Farmers and Herders to who should get the Loans Tle The Families The Rich Minority The Women Others Total Poor Specialized in Ethnic Average Raising Sheep Groups Income F.
N. of 9 8 81 21 17 16 5 33 237
People ______Percentage 41.4 34.2 8.9 7.2 6.8 2.1 13.9
The SA Team suggests that the implementation of the Project should be based on the principles of both equality and beneficiary of the Bank and local development. On the one hand, it might be a risk to implement the Project as one for "the poor-aids", which means offering the loans to the poor to help them out of the poverty without considering the interests of the Bank. On the other hand, if the Bank and local governments only consider the economic interests without taking the social quality and into account, it would be bring about some serious social problems due to the complex ethnic and cultural diversities of the Project Counties. Specifically, the SA Team carefully studied the concerns of herders and farmers on all the above, and some suggestions are made in the MEGDP AND The Handbook of BP, by which we hope that they can reduce the worries of the herders and farmer who are not verv much confident in making a good use of the Ban loans.
The Decision Right of the Loans
Almost all the people we interviewed in the sites were concerned very much about the issues of who decide to offer the loans to whom. As the counties of the SA
69 work generally are less developed and short of funds for development is not only the matter for the local governments, but also a matter that concemed by herders and farmers who are eager to have chances to access to the competition for the loans. Three different suggestions are obtained from the locals, herders, farmers and the grass-root officials, about the issue of who decides the to offer the loans to whom. In the sites of two counties in South Xinjiang, most of the villager leaders believe that they have the rights to decide the matter. They said that they knew the local situations and in the past the matter was usually decided through the procedure in which the Village Committee called a meeting and asked the ideas of the CCP Party members and then publicize the matter to the villagers and ask them to apply. Then the Committee called another meeting at which the applications were discussed and finally they selected the suitable families for the loans. The reasons they told why it was better than the other methods were that the Village Committee knew well which families could use the loans properly and could repay them on time. But villagers said this was not the best choice, as they told us that in the past most of the loans from the Sate or Regional Projects had been offered to those who were closely related to the leaders. And this time they hoped there would be a kind of "transparency" in decision-making.
In contrast, the herders and farmers and village leaders of the sites in the counties of North Xinjiang suggested that there might be different ways to make decisions about the matter. Somme said that it was preferred that the matter should be decided by the village larders together with the representatives of farmers and herders. and they said it was "more democratic". As for the question of how to do it. thev said there might be several ways to be selected. 1) Through the Representative Conferences of the Xiang as this is the "local Congresses," which have the legal power to make decisions on the local development; 2) to establish the Project Commission of the Village which is made up of the leaders, representatives of the herders and farmers and the old -knowledged men ("there must be women members in it, ' said a village leader of Yushugou Town.); 3) to establish the Project Groups whose members are mainly from the herders ad farmers and the Group selects the
70 possible candidates for the loans and then they discuss it with the leaders. And most of the village leaders and herders, farmers we interviewed hold that once the list of the candidates was decided, it should be publicized on the Village Affairs Bulletins (a blackboard or a poster), so that the Group could obtain the feedback from all the villagers and herders. From the relevant data we obtained by questionnaires, the following reflect the attitudes of the herders and farmers towards the matter. (See the table below)
Table 4-6: The Attitudes of Farmers and Herders Towards How to Decide Ways Voluntary By all the Villagers By the Others Total l______V.Comnmittee ______N. Of People 113 82 45 7 237 Percentage % 47.7 34.6 19 3 100%
To sum up, it can be seen from all the data about the matter, herders and farmers tend to the way by which the villagers hand they applications for the loans, then it is at the Conferences of the Representatives of herders and farmers that who can be offered the loans is decided and finally the decision of the Conference is conformed by the Village Committee. And people suggested that the County PMOs and the Xiang Governments should work together, with the supervision of the Bank experts, to monitor the process.
The Comment of the SA Team The SA Team believes that, in considering the fact that there exist enormous differences in ethnic composition of the Project areas and in the degree of the development in different counties, it is hard to say which method is better than others. What can be done is perhaps not to make a decision with hope that will suit all the situations of the counties which are to best elected as the Project Counties, on the contrary. the methods of how to distribute the loans should vary according to the local traditions and wishes of the local people respectively. Of the procedure. the family
71 application is a must as it would be impossible to distribute the loans without'the familiar's wish to be involved. And the villagers' meeting in different forms are also important because it can be a process in which villagers share their ideas on the issue and learn from each other about how to use the loans. As for the question of who decide who will be offered the loans, as stated before, the decisions that are to be made are mostly at the village level, what the Bank could do is to ask the local governments to consider in what ways they can and should organize the local people to be involved the decision making process and to what extent the local people can participate the decision-making. In any rate, it is strongly suggested that the social justice and equality in access to the resources are the two important factors that have more impact on the implementation of the Project in the grass-root societies of the both South Xinjiang and North Xinjiang.
Indicators of Beneficiaries Success
With divergent beneficiaries, it is necessary to assume some indicators that can be used to judge how much the beneficiaries have obtained in participating in the project and their success. I) Improvement production ability: whether they have improved their production in terms of quality and quantity of the animals they raise and the market performance of herders and farmers. . 2) Improvement in confidence in further development: whether they have gained more confidence in use of new technologies, in active involvement in the decision of local development plans, in deciding what they should and can do for their own development; 3) Improvement in the local environment: whether the environment in g'eneral and the environment of pastureland in particular. ( This can refer to the relevant sections of the Environment Assessment Report) 4) Improvement in the local infrastructure special to serve the livestock production: whether a basic infrastructure has been established which can offer whatever the
72 local livestock production needs. 5) Improvement in the management of livestock production by both the local governments and participant: whether they have found a suitable way to develop and manage the livestock production in a new way which emphasizes on sustainable development.
73
Chapter 5 Analysis of the Beneficiaries of the Project
The correct recognition and defining of the possible beneficiaries of the Project are vital for the social and economic effects of the implementation of the Project itself. The data obtained from the SA 'work reveal that the following may be closely related to the Project and they may be the possible beneficiaries of the Project.
The Direct Beneficiaries: The direct beneficiaries of the Project are: I) The herder and farmer families that can obtain the loans. 2) The enterprises (businesses) and institutions related with local livestock production, such as the village small enterprises, enterprises run by Xiangs and counties that are involved in the implementation of the project by their services to the Project and farmers, herders, and the local institutions at Xiang and county levels, such as Animal Husbandry Stations, Stations of Veterinary, Stations of Grassland Management, Stations for Agricultural Technology Promotion, as they have the access to various resources and administrative powers, which will play an important role in the Project. 3) Women are believed as beneficiaries of the Project if they are involved in it and offered equal opportunities to participate. As it is known well, because of the local cultural factors, the rural and pastoral women of Xinjiang have been less involved in the local development projects not do they participate theme enough. Therefore, as they are eager to participate the Project, their participation will not only benefit the Project itself. but also themselves. when they are 4) The ethnic groups with small population, such as Dongxiang, Daur, Kirkiz. will be important beneficiaries for they have a long history of raising sheep and other domestic animals but have less access to the projects of the kind.
74 The Indirect Beneficiaries
There are some institutions at different levels of the Project areas that may become indirect beneficiaries of the Project.
1) The County Governments and their subordinates related to the animal husbandry. As the Project will promote the livestock productions in these counties, the GDP of them will grow and as a result, the governments will benefit in their administrative achievements and economic interests from the Project. Of the government department at the county level, the Departments of Animal Husbandry (including the PMOS under them) and the institutions closely related with them will beneficiaries as the Project will bring them the new methods and concept of the management, the technologies and knowledge for improving local grassland and animal breeding as well as the funds for operating the Projects.
2) The Sheep Breeding farms the counties and relevant Xiangs. As the Project will improve their facilities, help them in their management, training their staff. All this may raise their productivity. 3) Children and the elderly. With the implementation of the Project and increase in the income of the families concerned, children and the elderly may be care better than before. . Many families told us that due to the poor economic conditions, they could not afford the education for their children, and they hope that with the implementation of the Project, the situation will improve so that they could have the money to support their children's education.
4) Those farmers and herders who fail to obtain the Bank loans. They could learn the new technologies and management from those who participate the Project; with this they could improve the sheep breeding of their own. 5) The factories run by the Counties and Xiangs, including the transportation enterprises, state-owned or private, will benefit from the Project in offering services as the Project needs large quantity of materials for its implementation. And as the livestock production. as the results of the Project.
75 develops faster and better than before, those factories that produce products by use of sheep meat, wool and skins will have more raw materials.
What should be pointed out here is that the govemment of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous may become the biggest beneficiary of the Project. At the present moment, Xinjiang is facing a lot of difficulties in tuming the traditional livestock production pattern to an integrated development pattem, but the shortage of funds and technologies for this transformation, together with serious degradation of the grassland within the Region, desert a great impact on carrying out the developing plans which the govemment has made. There, the implementation of the Project will improve to a greater extent the livestock production of the region and related industries, wool textile as an example. In tum this will improve the financial situation and employment of the Region. As the income of herder and farmer families increase, there will be an increase of the tax from the livestock products, which in turn will increase the income of the Govemment.
76
Chapter Six The Suggestions on the Implementation of the Project
The SA team, after the SA field survey and analysis of the data obtained from the files other sources, comes to the following conclusions about the implementation of the Project: I The design of the Project, from social perspectives, suits the local conditions of livestock production and the environment in which the Project is implemented. As a large-scale project specially designed for the areas like Xinjiang, it will not only bring substantial returns to the Bank, more important, it will also promote the social and economic development in the Project areas. In particular, as the Project areas are mainly in the minority-ethnic inhabited areas, it will considerable promote the development of these areas and improve the living conditions of the peoples there. 2 As one of the largest provinces with livestock production as its important industry, Xinjiang Needs the Project to improve its animal husbandry industry and grassland environment and to learn how to improve its management of this industry. 3 The Project has a special significance for China and Xinjiang as it will improve and enhance the competitive power of the fine wool and other livestock products in international market. As China was accepted as a member of WTO. this is especially important. The social, economic and natural resources of the counties have the basic conditions and facilities to accept the Project and provide possible means for its implementation. What is more important is the welcome attitudes and enthusiasm of the farmers and herders of the areas for the Project, which is believed ad the solid condition for the implementation of it.
The Team comes to the conclusions that it will take great efforts for the successful implementation of the Project in Xinjiang. And the folloxvins are considered as the most important efforts:
77 1) The design of the integrated sheep development with fine wool sheep as the. key should be enlarged to the development of fine wool sheep, meat sheep and cattle. For in most of the areas, herders keep these three at the same time. At the same time it is suggested that the Project should attach importance to improve the local fine breeds that are suitable to the local natural conditions.It is suggested that the Project should make substantial effort to improve the eco-environment of the Project areas so that this Project will be of sustainable development in terms of its social, ecological and economic benefits to the Project areas. And this is especially urgent now. 2) It is hoped that The World Bank would be concerned more with the improvement of the quality of the human resources in the Project areas, and this work will not be successful without the cooperation with the Xinjiang Govermment. As it is believed that the effects of the Project will not be achieved without the high-quality human resources in the areas and the improvement of it need much to do in organization forms, program designing and ways of realizing the, What is emphasized is the in the training programs, the local culture concerning livestock production, environmental protection and cooperation among the local people should be important elements. It is suggested that media of the counties as well as the Region should participate in the training work and the training materials should be printed or made in multi-language form (Uygur, Kazak, Mongolian). And for the training work, the participation of women should be not only encouraged but also required. As for the training work necessary for the implementation of the proiect. the SA Team suggests that the following should be put into consideration:
The contents of training programs include the knowledge and technologies of modern technology of livestock production and marketing knowledge and techniques. 78 The education level of the farmers and herders of the project areas is generally low and some of them, especially those over 50 years old are, in fact, illiterate and this situation in many ways leads to little access to the modem technology of animal husbandry production. An many of the farmers and herders do not venture to participate in use of new technologies in their livestock production, rather, they would maintain the old ways which they believe stable. What is worse, they lack the knowledge and techniques in marketing, which naturally results in the difficulty in selling their products in the changing markets and separation of their production from the developing markets. All this, it is believed, are an important factors that will influence the projects to obtain the maximum effects. Therefore, the enhancement of training work in the two fields and improvement in the quality of human resources of the project areas will be vital for the success of the project. There are many ways to cany out the training work. Method 1: To Include the training programs of the project in the training programs organized and conducted by the Department of Science and Technology at three levels: region, prefecture and county, and make good use of the resources for technological training work that exist the project areas. Method 2: To organize the technology-aid groups the Project. This is should be implemented by the Regional PMO through inviting specialists in Urumqi to join the groups and give TV lectures to the beneficiaries of the Project and by the county PMO through inviting specialists of the counties to offer in-spot lectures and spread the new technologies suitable for the implementation of the project. And pamphlets, articles about the technologies written and printed in the minority ethnic languages should be spread to the villages and households of the project areas. Step I: The specialists and professionals to be involved in the training work should be trained in the participatory training approaches and surveys must be done to understand the project design and what the beneficiaries need for their livestock production. Then thev select those technologies suitable to the local conditioni and participate in the training work It is important to raise the interests and enthusiasm of the farmers and herders for the training programs and help them to solve the
79 difficulties in their production. And it is necessary to establish an effective feedback system so that the technology-aid groups and other specialists can learn as early as possible about what is needed by the beneficiaries in terms of training contents and methods and offer them what they really need in tome. Step 2: The best time for the project training programs is winter when the farmers and herders are less busy. The beneficiaries who participate in the training work should be informed about the contents and methods of the training program and be informed to prepare what they are going to ask the specialists. Step 3: Different types of the training programs should be designed and conducted. 1) General Training Program: publicizing the basic items of the technologies among all the trainees. 2) Advanced Training Program: aiming at offering the advanced items of the technologies for those who are specialized experienced in raising animals; and seminars should be organized so as to make it possible for the exchanges between them and the specialists. Special attention should be paid to the training programs offered to the weak groups, such as women, the aged, the poor and the households of the minority ethnic groups whose population size is smaller than the others. For these groups are generally in lack of confidence in their ability and are less enthusiastic in the village affairs as well as in participation. The VPIEGs and Village Councils should do a good job in convincing these people to participate in the training programs. Step 4: Different training programs are offered to the beneficiaries according to their different demands and specific needs. And there should be training programs at different levels in term of the contents and approaches, such as the training for general villagers. for the household specialized in raising a certain type of animals, etc..
Method 3: To publicize the technologies through the channels of media The project should offer cheap or free pamphlets (in Uygur, Kazakh. Mongolian and Chinese languages) for the village leaders and herders and farmers and the TV
80 stations of the project counties should broadcast the programs for publicizing the technologies.
Method 4: To select and set model households for the project implementation At each project village, 24 model households that are willing to participate in the project should be selected and set as the examples for implementation of the project. These model households should be experienced in raising animals, willing to help and developing well by hard working. And they can offer good examples for the villagers in participating in the project and developing well by use of the new technologies. They are selected through the organization of the VPIEG and by the recommendation of the Association of Livestock production. The project offers them some necessary help by granting the loans and in building their animal pens. This should be done once every year and assessment should be done their modeling role. Those model households fail to the roles should be replaced by new ones.
The project and the PMO should offer sufficient funds for the technological training.
The SA Team suggests that the implementation of the Project should be based on the principles of both equality and beneficiary of the Bank and local development. On the one hand, it might be a risk to implement the Project as one for "the poor-aids", which means offering the loans to the poor to help them out of the poverty without considering the interests of the Bank. On the other hand, if the Bank and local governments only consider the economic interests without taking the social quality and into account, it would be bring about some serious social problems due to the complex ethnic and cultural diversities of the Project Counties.
Specifically, the SA Team carefully studied the concerns of herders and farmers on all the above, and some suggestions are made in the MEGDP AND The Handbook of BP, by which we hope that they can reduce the worries of the herders and farmer who are not very much confident in making a good use of the Ban loans. 3) It is also suggested that Xinjiang government and the Project-county governments should cooperate with the World Bank to establish some project model zone so as to explore the methods to realize the objectives of the Project in different social, eco-environmental and ethnic conditions. The Team believes that the Project will do whatever to narrow the gaps in development between the poor and the rich, between different groups.
3 It is one of the objectives to improve and regulate the marketing system for livestock products in the Project areas. And it is not wrong to say that the present marketing
system of Xinjiang is not suitable to the Project. Therefore the Team believes that much work should b done in this field by the Xinjiang side and the Bank could contribute a lot to this with its experience and knowledge.
4 Farmers and herders are very much concemed with the services offered to animal
breeding, so it is suggested that both the Project and local governments should pay
more attention to the concern and suitable measures should be taken to offer cheap and high-quality service to them.
5 As there are few "associations" which were organized-by herders or farmers
or organized with their participation in the Project areas, it is urgent to find
ways to solve problem. What is suggested here is that, under the help of the
village Committee or Xiang and the county PMO, let the herders and farmers
to find ways to set up associations for the Project and these associations
should involve the people who can represent the interests of all those that are involved in the Project. for the Project
The following are what the SA Teams suggests for the establishment of the associations at village level:
The Association of Livestock Production is an organization participated voluntarily and managed by the villagers. It is a long-term organization at village
82 level. It can organize its activities at non-fixed period . After the project is over, it can still exist and function as a non-official economic organization. However, it is imperative to avoid institutional conflicts between the Association and the local Xiang government and the Village Council. The main duties of the Association are as the following: 1) To supervise and control the granting and use of loans at village level. And to ensure the realization of the rights of villagers in the participation of the project. 2) To organize and participate in the technology training in animal husbandry production and technology services, such as to invite the model households to train the others villagers, to organize the members to participate in the training programs offered by the govemment offices. In Maigeti County, farmers hope to refine the local sheep species "Daolang Sheep" and raise them to increase their income, so there has been a great need for breeding. However, at the moment the technique of artificial breeding is good enough to do so. So the Association can offer the service by organizing the villagers to use the breeding sheep, or to raise the funds to buy them to offer the service by reasonable charge. This can not only benefit the villagers, but also help with the operation of the Association and continue its function. 3) To offer the service of selling and buying, such as providing the villagers with the marketing information, organizing the selling animal activities. 4) To manage the pasture. In the project villages that possess the natural pastures, the Association helps the Village Council and the Station of Pasture Management supervise and manage the number of livestock number of each household( there is a clear regulation on the capacity of pastures at project counties). For those households whose number of livestock is beyond the capacity, the Association should persuade them to fold them or sell the those beyond. And the Association has the power to supervise the government and the Station in the management and use of the pastures. In case that therc are some problems . the association can choose the proper way to complain to
83 the authorities; and it can join the other organizations in the activities of preventing the outsiders from stealing or damaging the pastures resources; The Departments of Pasture Management at County and Xiang Level should arrange their staff to help the association and offer lectures about the Grassland Law and pasture protection and improvement, and help it to legal access to complaints and to coordinate the relations with Village Councils. 5) To offer advice to the govemment offices on pasture protection, building of hay and fodder bases, market management, prevention and treatment of animal diseases. 6) To recommend or recall the members of the VPIEG If there are 10 Association members jointly propose to recall a certain unqualified VPIEG member, then the Association should organize a meeting with all the members attending and if more than half of the members agree, then recall is go into effect. The Association is organized by following the procedure below: Step 1: The County PMO selects 3 villages with better production condition and the active attitude of its villagers to it to make experiment on establishing the Association. Step 2: At the experimental village, the County Project Working Group calls a meeting with attendance of the Xiang and village leaders and villagers to discuss the necessity for the association, its functions and the possible benefits it brings to the village livestock production. Step 3: After 1-2 weeks, a formal meeting is organized with the attendance of those who will participate in the association to discuss the Regulations of the Association, including the purpose, ways for activities and tasks, the rights and responsibilities of the members, the procedures to the membership and the relation with the Village Council, and to elect the Association leaders. Step 4: The County PMO and representatives from the government offices concerned summarize the experience and shortcomings in the work of the experimental villages and spread them to other project villages. which. in turn. can
84 organize their own associations with the pernission of the govemment office concemed.
6 The Team found out that in some counties there were projects of the similar kind that had been irnplemented, however, they generally became non-sustainable after they are
tested and assessed. One of the reasons is that continuity of monitoring and improvement
was rather weak. So it is not a redundancy to say that the present Project should establish
a system for continuous assessment and improvement of the Project. And the local
experts, with the advantages of understanding the local society and culture, will play
some role in this work.
Special Recommendation:
As the project is implemented in a multi-ethnic region with more than 85% of the participants from minority -ethnic groups, whose cultures and traditions in livestock production, the SA Team believes that there is need to work out a Multi-ethnic Group
Development Plan, which will not only benefit the implementation of the project, but benefit the local development in.future.
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