Yunnan

2003-2005

Project partners:

CBIK & Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau of Yunnan Province Agriculture Department

(funded by IDRC, Canada)

Indigenous knowledge and livelihood assets: NW Yunnan is rich in both ethnic and bio- diversity of global significance. Many communities are agro-pastoralists and have rich indigenous knowledge about fodder species, rangeland and livestock management (see and ). Traditional social arrangements are a common way of mobilizing labour for grazing. Animal husbandry plays a key role in livelihoods, not only as a source of cash income from the sale of livestock and livestock products (such as wool, wool products, milk and butter), but also as a source of protein for villagers themselves, and as a source of manure and compost for agricultural production. Animal husbandry also interacts closely with forest resources, as many types of rangeland represent various stages of forest succession. Often, forest is managed with fodder needs as well as timber and fuel wood needs in mind. A ban on commercial logging in NW Yunnan was enforced in 2000, removing the main cash income source of some communities. In the last two years, the government has also taken active measures to promote the conversion of steeply sloped farmland to forest or grassland. As recent macro-policy changes affecting resource use come into effect, animal husbandry is playing increasingly important roles in local livelihoods.

Problems faced:

This project aims to enhance the capacity of relevant stakeholders to develop technical and institutional interventions to enhance the sustainability of agro-pastoralists' livelihoods in three localities in NW Yunnan. The main approaches to capacity building proposed are knowledge and skills enhancement through (ii) experimentation with institutional and technical interventions developed through a Participatory Technology Development approach (see Project Working Paper 4).

Working plans for the year 2003-4 have been developed by CBIK staff together with villagers and local technical agencies (see Project Working Paper 2 and Project Working Paper 3), which detail the experiments and management issues which CBIK staff are supporting villagers to work on.

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Dimaluo Survey (in Chinese)

Dimaluo Plan (in Chinese)

Zhongdian Plan (in Chinese)

Zhongdian fodder evaluation (in Chinese)

Dimaluo PTD evaluation (in Chinese)

Evaluation of fodder technology extension methods (in Chinese)

Pengdang Village animal husbandry survey and technology experiment plan (in Chinese)

Sewalongba Grazing Ban and Doumuxia Rangeland Herding Path Evaluation (in Chinese)

Interim Summary of Animal Husbandry Experiments in Pengdang (in Chinese)

Participatory Livestock Development Plan for Four Townships in Gongshan(in Chinese)

Surveys in relation to potato and rapeseed experiments in Xianggelila (in Chinese)

Interim report on prescribed fire for grassland improvement experiment in Xiao Zhongdian(in Chinese)

Knowledge and assessment of grasses by Tibetans in Yunnan: a survey in Xiao Zhongdian, Diqing (in Chinese)

Agricultural change in Shanda village (in Chinese)

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* Photo by Andy