HISTORY OF LAND USE, THE ECOLOGICAL SITUATION,

AND FORESTRY PROJECTS IN

XIAKOU VILLAGE, LONGXI TOWNSHIP

PAM LEONARD, CHEN NAXIN, DENG ZHI YUN

HISTORY OF LAND USE

This report will give a brief history and review of the environmental situation and reafforestation efforts focusing on one village and one township ten kilometers from downtown Ya'an. The village is Xiakou and it is located in Longxi township. It is the site that NFTA-HPI workshop participants will use in the agroforestry project design exercise. HPI has been helping farmers in this area to develop dairy goats. Before 1979, this area had no tradition of dairy goats and now there is a large population with most families feeding four or five goats and all the milk produced is sold to one of two milk powder factories in Ya'an.

Within the memory of the older people in the village of Xiakou, Xiakou looked very different. The steep slopes that create the gorge in which the village sits were covered in big trees. Wildlife, including leopards, were very abundant. At that time there were many big trees and strong local traditions that strictly limited tree cutting. Trees were customarily cut for weddings, funerals and special circumstances. Farmers first established new seedlings whenever an older tree was to be cut and then only cut trees that they felt could grow no larger. Houses were built low and small to use less wood. If someone was accused of having stolen a tree from someone else's land, an arbiter would invite the two disputants to the tea house to settle the issue.

The small river that runs through the village was strewn with very large boulders that caused the water to form into pools where fish were an important source of food. In those days villagers grew native corn between Chinese Fir trees, fertilizing the nests with ash from the burning of wild brush, crop residues such as oil cake, and with household manure.

Since the 1950's, as with many areas in China, most of the trees were cut down. 1958 was a key transition and is the time when the largest amount of trees were cut down. Farmers often speak of "before 1959" and "after 1958" when describing the history of their land-use system. Many trees were cut during the cultural revolution when government management was chaotic. Again in 1979 there was a wave of competitive tree cutting amongst farmers. At this time the new land policy was in a phase of transition and timber rights were, as yet, unclear.

In the 60s the people began to use chemical fertilizer and improved seeds to replace their native corn. This has allowed them to plant corn plants closer together and it has also increased yield per plant/cob. Toward the end of the 60s construction began on the first of the two irrigation canals that cuts parallel along the valley half way up the mountains on either side of the valley. The second canal was not completed until well into the seventies. These canals are used to produce electricity and to irrigate areas downriver. Also in the seventies construction began on bridges in the City of Ya'an. These projects required large amounts of stone for construction and it was during this time that local people began the work of cutting stone. For the canals stone was moved from higher up on the mountain sides and has meant that the cropland has, in general, been made more rocky than before. Rock for sale to Ya'an came from the breaking of the large boulders that used to litter the river; now a damn has been built in their place to help control the erosion that came with the removal of the big boulders. A farmer explained to us that the loss of big trees has made for many more loose small stones that have made their way down the slopes to the river. Because the boulders were taken away, these stones rush down the stream during seasonal floods. They pulverize the banks of the river and, more severely than in the past, wash out the roads and even buildings.

With the coming of the responsibility system, less emphasis has been put on grain production and more area is given over to traditional intercropping. Standards of living have raised dramatically since the implementation of the responsibility system and farmers say that now is the best time in their history. Farmers depend on corn and rapeseed; very little rice is grown. In 1979 dairy goat farming began in the area and farmers were able to take advantage of the thick secondary growth of saplings and vines to earn cash income from milk sales. Cash-crop tree planting has been taken up in some areas and one can see scattered plantings of young Chinese Fir and medicinal Huang Bei Trees in the area.

Ecological Situation

What are the ecological and environmental difficulties in this area? Like all areas it suffers from soil erosion, at times severe. While there have always been rock and mud slides in this area throughout history, it is safe to conclude that soil erosion has become more severe since the area was deforested. It is unclear whether or not opening of new lands on high slopes has further aggravated the condition--although this may on occasion be the case, the population today is thought to be roughly equivalent or less than the population of sixty years ago and labor continues to be a constraining factor in the corn/rape seed economy. The construction of the irrigation canals has caused some problems for residents of Xiakou. Water is transported crosswise along the mountainsides and has been known to leak in certain areas. When it leaks, the water may have difficulty finding a natural draw to run down. Several years ago, this seepage resulted in a large hillside collapse and five or six homes had to be moved. Just two weeks ago, a boulder fell down from high on the mountain and it broke the canal before it reached the bottom where the boulder also smashed a house. The water that was released from the canal further aggravated the mud slide, and two more homes were destroyed in the days following.

When farmers are asked about soil erosion, they mostly talk about "kua fang" or the collapse of hillsides--the large and sudden movements of mud and rock that leave deep gashes in the hillsides and riverbanks. This is clearly the most important and most dramatic form of soil erosion in this area. The propagation of deep rooting trees would be a great help toward reducing kua fang. An NFT project could take advantage of the severity of recent collapses to make a timely introduction of a tree-planting project to farmers. Farmers also readily talk about mud flows (liu shi) although they certainly worry less about this. Rarely do they talk of slow or invisible soil loss. This might be because they rely heavily on the short term applications of chemical fertilizers and this perspective of farmers is a point to consider when educating farmers to the advantages of NFTs.

Chemical fertilizers have been used here since the early 60s. Farmers have said they felt it has made the soil more compacted. They say it is like opium; the more it is used, the more one has to use. It is a major expense in their budgets and some young people feel it is not worth it to plant corn anymore, and prefer to go outside to look for work. This year farmers have said that it has been particularly difficult to afford fertilizer to keep their corn green. They say that this year they have used more household manure to make up the difference, but the effect of the organic fertilizer is slow. One farmer even said that the more one uses the chemical fertilizers the less effective the household fertilizer is. Many families in Xiakou give away or throw away their goat manure, or some portion of it, because they feel it is not worth it to them to carry it to their fields. On the other hand, most farmers praise the higher production now achieved with fertilizers and improved seed. There is no question that it has raised absolute yields.

In 1979, when goat husbandry began in this area, the upland fields were covered in vines and saplings. One could collect a basket of grass very quickly and each handful was said to contain many varieties of nutritious plants. Vines were particularly plentiful. It was felt very easy to keep goats well fed and healthy. Now collecting grass for a heard of four or five goats takes three to four hours a day and in addition the farmers have begun to put their goats out to graze during the day. Both human afforestation efforts and natural regeneration of saplings have been negatively affected and it is easy to see that the area is intensively cut. Some cropping for goats takes place, but relatively little.

In general, one can say that there is evidence of climatic changes taking place, but such things are truly impossible to assess--what are short climatic blips and what constitutes more long-term trends it is not even possible for the experts to say clearly. It is known that forests affect rainfall, and locals here will tell you that the weather has been more prone to dry spells and wells have more often gone dry since the mountains were deforested. Some of the climatic variation, however, may also reflect global trends.

Reafforestation Efforts

In this area one can see fruit and nut trees as well as groves of firewood and even Chinese Fir all successfully established during production team times. Afforestation efforts have faced a new challenge with the coming of goat husbandry and expanded market opportunities for timber.

The forestry bureau has, at different times, cooperated with the local medical company, the hydro-electric bureau and the new paper pulp factory to establish nurseries to start seedlings and then distribute them cheaply or even freely to farmers. There seems to be a good system of farmer run nurseries in the townships for which the township forestry officer acts as a liaison between the County bureau and the farmers. For example, in Longxi there is a farmer who was given bluish dogbane seed and plastic bags of starter soil by the forestry bureau on behalf of the pulp factory. This farmer rented .3 mu of paddy and worked with another woman to cultivate these seedlings as the forestry experts had instructed. The land was rented for the cash equivalent of its potential production (200 jin of rice). Now they have begun to distribute the seedlings. The price of the seedlings will be determined by the forestry bureau (between .15 and .2 Yuan) and the two people who run the nursery will be paid based on the amount of seedlings they distribute. In another case at a City Sponsored forestry district, a farmer is sold seeds by the forestry bureau who then later buys back the seedlings from the farmer and pays workers to plant them on fallow land in the district. In other cases, individual farmers must buy the seedlings they would plant.

In 1987 there was a forestry plan in which Longxi township government cooperated with the Hydro-electric Bureau, the Forestry Bureau and a local Medical Company to spend 20,000 Yuan on the distribution of saplings in the township, particularly to plant along the banks of the irrigation canal. The seedlings were distributed and planted by farmers, but almost all of them were lost. The problem was that goats put out to graze ate them or people cutting grass, including farmers from neighboring villages, cut them down to feed to their animals.

In 1990 the Ya'an City Bureau of Animal Husbandry bought Robinea pseudoacacia and Amorpha fruiticosa seeds from Jiangxi and distributed them to several townships in the area. Farmers were not given instructions on how to sow the seeds and many were not clear on what the seedlings would look like when they emerged--many did not know it was the same Chi Huai that they were familiar with. Because of these problems and the other problems reviewed above, few of these seedlings now remain although we have recently spoken to some farmers who do still have some and they feel it is good fodder. The technicians involved now realize it would have been better to give the farmers seedlings started in nurseries and to have had a more thorough follow-up system with the distribution of seedlings.

Townships near Ya'an have had success with plantings of medicinal trees and Chinese Fir using the responsibility system and a policy of "joining hands to produce and shoulder the responsibility"--a system that gets farmers to cooperate in tree production. The fallow land of several farmers are combined to make one sizeable plot and one farmer in particular takes on responsibility for planting and maintaining seedlings. This farmer gives a guarantee that he will be responsible for the cultivation of the tree crop. The profits are divided among the farmers who have contributed land with the largest share (maybe 70%) going to the farmer who did the cultivation. This is a good system for cash crop trees but may need modification if the aim of a tree planting project is to provide fodder for the livestock of a group families. Also, these programs have tended to create square plots of seedlings for easy management rather than a straight cash crop, but we should consider whether or not lines of trees or scattered plantings would be more appropriate for achieving soil conservation objectives.

Wu Yanqi, of Sichuan Nongye Daxue, has told me of a project he managed in another area of Sichuan, planting bushes for fodder. There were problems with farmers haphazardly destroying the young plants before they could grow until he and others initiated an intensive program to educate farmers and tighten management.

Xiakou is an area where competition over grass resources are particularly fierce. Members of teams 3 and 4 compete over grasses on the high slopes as well as firewood on the mountaintop. People from down in the valley, from other villages in Lonxi township, come up the valley to cut grass for their goats. Villages down the valley plant more rice, while farmers in Xiakou plant more corn. When Xiakou residents are busy weeding corn the outside people have free time and they come to cut the highland grass to make hay before the residents of Xiakou have a chance to cut it themselves. In areas where resources are less stressed, it might be easier to be successful in tree planting, but in Xiakou the need is more urgent.

Villagers feel they cannot solve the problem of competition themselves, but many do feel that the active involvement of the township government could make a tree-fodder project successful. Past memories have made them and some township officials reluctant. Technical knowledge was poor. Seed quality was uneven. And largest of all problems is the knowledge that trees planted have been frequently cut to the ground to feed the goats of other farmers.

Forestry can work in this area if projects are carefully designed and managed. The major obstacles are inadequate technical knowledge and the negative experiences of past projects which farmers and local leaders have not forgotten; particularly the problems of the cutting and stealing of seedlings and trees. In Xiakou the many people who come from neighboring villages and communities to village lands to cut grass and then destroy seedlings present a particular problem. Farmers in Longxi and other local townships have also had the experience of having even relatively mature Chinese Fir trees stolen from their plots for use or sale by others. While these experiences have made farmers reluctant and skeptical about the possibilities for tree planting, they have at the same time educated farmers and leaders to what factors can be adjusted to create successful projects. Many farmers and leaders feel it is possible to achieve success through cooperation and careful management.

In thinking about the design of a project for Xiakou here are some preliminary ideas we came up with:

-The township government officials would meet with all the village people who cut grass in the area around Xiakou, including the villages outside Xiakou. They would educate the farmers about the project and its benefits and emphasize that the township will pay serious attention to farmers who illegally cut the trees of others in the project areas.

- trees planted along the canal on the sunny side should be a variety likely to be successful and one that can help hold the soil and absorb water. Robinea pseudoacacia is appropriate and known to provide good fodder. The wood could be used for fuelwood. Also because it is resistant to rot could be used to build goat pens. These trees could be interplanted with an expensive wood tree like Dulbergia to make the project more exciting to farmers who already like to plant Chinese Fir as a cash crop. The exotic species might also help make the row more easily identified.

-Responsability for the strip planting could be divided evenly among any families of the village who wanted to participate so many families could have access to the high quality fodder leaves.

-additional experimental terracing with bushy NFTs could be done in the team 2 vegetable gardens along existing stone and mud terraces. Trees should be planted below the stones. This would be a more appropriate area for experimenting with new varieties of NFTs. The first year farmers would not plant corn in these plots and would have to be compensated for that. These same plots would be targeted for application of goat manure.

-in both areas farmers would be paid an incentive if their trees were healthy after one year and again after two years. As part of this arrangement farmers could guarantee the trees.

-the small farmer-run tree nurseries are successful and inexpensive and should be used to start the Robinea seed. The experimental fodder trees could be choosen and started by the University.