沙漠研究 24-1, 191-194 (2014)
Ἃ₍◊✲ 24-1, 191 - 194 (2014)
Journal of Arid Land Studies
Journal of Arid Land Studies－ DT11 Refereed Paper －㸫DT11 Refereed Paper㸫Studies on Long-term Changes in Herders Household and Land Usein Inner Mongolia, China
YONG-HAI1), Buho HOSHINO*2), Sumiya GANZORIG 2), SURIGA1),
Tsedendamba PUREVSUREN1) and Karina MANAYEVA1)
Abstract: The arable land, artificial pastures, and enclosed grassland are widespread in Inner Mongolia, China from 1978. In thisstudy, we observed and evaluated long-term changes in land use associated with Land reform movement during the period of 1947 to2012 in Inner Mongolia. We interviewed 158 families of one village in 2012. Results indicate that, based on the history of arable
land establishment, it is necessary to achieve improvement of arable land productivity, to improve people livelihoods. The
development of irrigation facilities is one possible approach. Another approach is to return abandoned non-irrigated land to pastureland. This will protect hilly areas used for grazing utilization and reduce cultivation area which is distributed to each family.
Support from Germany has enhanced agricultural productivity and ecological environment recovery, and also to the Grain for Green
project and forestation. This also includes prohibition of grazing and aid in development of irrigation facilities. It is difficult tomaintain herder’s life based on low productivity agriculture in arid areas without grazing. As policies change, rural development
should consider natural environmental conditions of grazing areas, traditional culture, customs, and religious aspects.
Key Words: Ecological environment recovery, Herder’s households, Inner Mongolia, Land use

1. Background of Study and Objective
During people’s commune period (1958-1982), the grazing
land in Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia of China wasowned by the village community and shared among the villagers(Ren, 2008). After China’s “Reform and Opening” (1978),implementation of various land management activities such as
agriculture and mining caused land conversion which resulted in
reduction of grazing land, decline of traditional nomadic culture,and erosion of the soil layer. In particular, starting from July
1997, a new land contract (grassland contract management rights)
which lasted for years was distributed. As a result, the rights to
use the land were given to the herders where they were allowed touse it for personal purposes. The stratification of herders has
subsequently occurred (Yong-Hai, 2013).
The objectives of this study were: i) to clarify the cause of
the stratification and of land privatization through the changeof land use and; ii) to study the technical suggestion whereby
the small scale generated stratification of herders can live
locally without migration.

2. Study Area and Study Method
The study site (S village) was at the west of the sandy area
which is located in the south-eastern part of autonomous region* Corresponding Author: aosier@rakuno.ac.jp
582 Bunkyodai-Midorimachi, Ebetsu, Hokkaido 069-8501, Japan
1) Graduate school of Dairy Science, Rakuno Gakuen University2) Department of Environmental and Symbiotic Science, Rakuno Gakuen University

Fig. 1. Map of study area.

of Inner Mongolia, China (Fig. 1).
The geographic coordinate of S village is 43°26’13.10”N
㹼43°30’18.58”N, 119°43’16.00”E 㹼119°52’41.53”E, withland surface area of 6,310 ha, 376-635 m above sea level.
The S village was located in a semi-arid area with annual
precipitation of 390.2 mm A) and annual amount of evaporationof 1,600㹼1,700 mm. The majority area is composed of hilly
terrain (about 80%), salt accumulation areas in and around thelake, and desert land.
In year 2012, the population of registered families was 537
people (in 158 households). The main land use was animal
agriculture (168 ha) and farming (with 10,000 sheep and goat).
The main income of the villagers was from agricultural
㸦Received, September 13th, 2013; Accepted, January 13th, 2014㸧
Tel: +81-011-388-4913 Fax: +81-011-388-4913

192

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3. Transition
3. Transition
3. Transitionof Landof LandofPrivatizationLand
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andand
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household.
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and andgrazingandgrazing
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In In
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1980,
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were
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first
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among
among
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on
a per
a per
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thethegroundwater
groundwaterlevellevel
was
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basis.
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In 1983,
In510
1983,
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a wellato well
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newly
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enclosed
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In In
1985,
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these
of of
these
areas
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areas
waswasdeveloped
developed
developed
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facilities.
facilities.
facilities.
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additionto accessto toaccesstoaccessto to
distributed
distributed
distributed
among
among
among
the herders.
thetheherders.
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A total
A totalAof total
117
of of
ha
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toledexpansion
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to to
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expansionof theof enclosure.
ofthetheenclosure.
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rations)
was distributed
waswasdistributed
distributed
0.17 0.17
at 0.17ha/personat ha/personat ha/personand 150
andand150150otherother
hand,
other
hand,
becausehand,becausebecausethe groundwater
thethegroundwater
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aroundthearoundpasturethethepasturepastureha ofha artificial
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at at
0.23ha/person
0.23ha/person

193

and small enclosed pasture. By 2004, distributable land of thevillage was distributed to all of the herders. Distribution rules
were distributed on the basis of livestock numbers andpopulation. Its total area was 4,699 ha, which was about
74.5% of the land’s total area.

4. Summary and Discussion

Fig. 4. Transition of land use in S village. Note㸸The land distribution of
S village, face-to-face interview, “Tianditu”.

was low and not suitable for irrigation, the herders used theenclosure as arable land only if the amount of annual
precipitation was sufficient. If the amount of annual
precipitation was too low, the enclosure was used andexpanded for artificial grass harvesting to secure food for the
winter feeding of livestock. As a result, the total area of thesmall enclosed pasture was expanded to 412.5 ha.
3.3. Artificial pasture (Per livestock)
A three years “Artificial Pasture” project was performed in
1995-1997. For 58 households with 100 head or more sheep,
3.3ha artificial land per livestock was allocated. According toGermany Support Sand-Control & Afforestation Project,shelter forest was planted in year 2003 and for the remaining
58 households whose livestock were less than 100 head(according to the population of goats and sheep 1997), arable
land of 3.3 ha / head was allocated in year 2005. Fifty-eighthouseholds that were distributed land during 1995 to 1997 hadbeen weeding the distributed land as livestock feed until 2001,
but “Seasonal Prohibit Grazing” policy of 2002 and “Annual
Prohibit Grazing” policy of 2005 caused the reduction of
livestock numbers, and thus the land used for weeding (rental
or own land area) became arable land for planting of grain
gradually. After that, until May 2010-2012, artificial pasture
distribution per livestock was about 200 ha, and mostly
purchased by the merchants outside the village.
From 1985 to 2003, private use of land was divided into
four types: (1) fields for growing field rations (per capita), (2)artificial pasture, (3) small enclosed pasture, (4) conversion ofarable land into forest. But from 2004, these four types ofland were nominally assigned into salinization land, grassland,desert, and hilly areas (see Fig. 4). Despite the four different
nominally assigned types of land, the fact is the land use form
was of joint-use including land for field rations, artificial land

In the grazing area of Inner Mongolia, per capita land
distribution of artificial pasture was at first aimed tosupplement for the lack of food, and feeding of lamb andlivestock with disease. The enclosed pasture project
supported by the state was to establish a model of wealthy
herders called “Model Labor” and to promote private use ofland. However, small livestock numbers, lack of food and theneed to produce proso millet (traditional Mongolian food) wereaccelerated resulting in much of the land being converted into

Fig. 5. 158 households were divided into three levels according to thearea of private land they are in charge of. Note㸸Horizontal
axis: business name (distribution years are according to old order).
(Created by Land Distribution Table of S village).

Fig. 6. The center pivot irrigated land using the drop-type sprinkler
in the purchased area by a merchant outside the village(August 2013 shooting).

194

arable land. In 1989, for the purpose of sand prevention,
feeding sick livestock, and ensuring winter reserve forlivestock by the cultivation of artificial grass, land was
enclosed as “Small Enclosed Pastures” by households. In thearea where groundwater levels were high, wealthy herders dug
wells and developed irrigation facilities to expand theenclosure area of arable land. However the area with lowlevels of groundwater was not suitable for irrigation. The
enclosure area was expanded due to plantation, if sufficient
rainfall was received, If rainfall was not sufficient, land wasused for winter livestock feed.
The artificial pasture project for enclosure of livestock per
ground, which aimed at wealthy herders in the 1990s and theimplementation of the “Law of the People’s Republic of China
on Land Contract in Rural Area”C) in 1997, a 30-year’s land
contract was implemented and the distributable lands were
distributed into salinization land, grassland, desert, and hills(Yong-Hai, 2013).
In the grazing area of Inner Mongolia, there is a
distribution rule which states that 70% of the whole village’s
land is distributed per capita and the remaining 30% of thevillage land is distributed per livestock. However, some of
the actual distribution of S village such as field rations, small
enclosure pasture, artificial pasture, afforestation, andsalinization land are different from the distribution rules. For
example, fields for growing grain rations were distributed per
capita, small enclosed pastures were distributed per household,artificial pastures were distributed per livestock, conversion ofarable land into forest was distributed per capita, andsalinization lands were distributed per capita.
Additionally, the period of distribution was also different.

Nevertheless, the distribution of grassland (population 70%,
livestock 30%), desert (population 70%, livestock 30%), andhill (population 70%, livestock 30%) were still following the
distribution rules. As a result, 1) Distribution period
difference had affected the growth of the livestock. 2) The
difference of privatized area occurred due to the difference ofdistribution rule (Fig. 5). 3) Land was sold (purchased bymerchants outside the village) due to the time-limited land
distribution (30-years period), difficulty to irrigate arable landand others unstable reasons (Fig. 6). In conclusion, based on
the reasons mentioned above, stratification of herders has takenplace.
Notes
A) Data obtained from Hao-Er-Tu Weather Station which
located at about 66 km in north of S village.
B) TIANDITU: http://tianditu.cn/map/index.html
C) Article 20 in “Law of the People’s Republic of China on
Land Contract in Rural Area”: The contract for arable land
is 30-years period whereas the contract for grassland is30-50 years period.

References
Ren Q. (2008): A Study on the “Three Red Banners” Policy inInner Mongolian Livestock. Monthly journal of Chinese
affairs, 62(2): 20-39 (in Japanese).
Yong-Hai (2013):Studies of the problem with privatization of
pasture land system in Inner Mongolia, China. Journal of
Rakuno Gakuen University, 38(1): 23-27 (in Japanese).
Other references are non-disclosure or confidential items.