N.Z. may help China farm grasslands

Press, 21 August 1979, Page 20

N.Z. may help China farm grasslands

NZPA Xilin Hot, Inner Mongolia

Proposals covering improved livestock management on the seemingly endless grasslands of Inner Mongolia will be made to the Chinese authorities as a result of the visit there by a New Zealand arigrcultural delegation. Led by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Maclntyre), the delegation spent more than eight hours ranging the area in jeeps, and mini-buses to gain a first-hand impression of the uses and potential of a flatlands area larger than New Zealand. Professor J. D. Stewart, principal of Lincoln College, described the potential as exciting, while farming members of the delegation and stock-firm representatives argued fiercely among themselves on the merits of various development schemes. The delegation returned to Beijing on Saturday and will meet today the Chinese Minister of Agriculture (Mr Huo Shilian) and later in the week, Chinese agricultural officials.

In these meetings the delegation plans to put forward [proposals for development of I the grasslands and to discuss ! schemes for pasture and ! stock management improveI ment in other areas. Herds of wiry horses used by the nomadic Mongol teribsmen and the cattle and sheep they shepherd, roamed in the areas visited by the delegation at a State farm 60 kilometres from the northern border city of Xilin Hot. The farm’s total area is 3730 square kilometres and it supports 11,960 people. The average mean temperature is minus 2deg Celsius and winter temperatures drop as low as minus 40deg. There are usually only about 130 frost-free days a year. In winter, snow lies feet thick over the grasslands.

At present the farm has about 80.000 sheep, 3700 cattle, 9800 cows and horses, and 200 camels. The richness of the soil and the abundant summer pastures in 26deg temperatures during their visit impressed the New Zealanders. A range of crops from wheat and barley to corn and rape is grown on the farm. The New Zealanders believed cropping could be intensified in the summer months and much higher numbers of stock carried through improved winter fodder arrangements. Their mini-buses became ’ bogged down in mud and stuck in small streams. Shoes were taken off and trousers rolled up while they pushed their vehicles to more solid land. Grassland mosquitoes pestered them when inspecting sheep and the circular hide homes of the nomads. Mr Maclntyre ate goat’s milk cheese while squatting with farm officials in the home of a nomadic family. Nearby, ponies, one in the shafts of wooden carts and three abreast in front, pulled hides, coal, bricks, and lumber of other families. The nomads stay with their stock in one area until feed is close to exhaustion before moving house and family to a new site. Their windowless homes are heated by a central cooking stove with a chimney running through the middle of the roof. Inside are pictures of the late Communist Party leader, Mao Tse-Tung, and his successor, Hua Kuo Feng. A portable radio sat on wooden shelving along one wall of the home visited by Mr MacIntyre. The family sat on cushions.

Shepherds use a rope stockwhip to herd sheep. Cattle and horse shepherds

carry long, looped lengths of rope on a wooden pole for lassooing wandering stock. Galloping across their land they stand in heavy 8 cmwide stirrups, a spectacular sight against the unending miles of grassland. On Friday evening, Mr Maclntyre and his group feasted at a 15-course Mongolian banquet, featuring thinly sliced mutton cooked at the table in boiling water warmed by a central brazier — a dish known as Mongolian hot pot. On Saturday, the delegation visited the Great Wall of China and the Ming tombs, near Beijing. J