Documentation:Open Case Studies/FRST522/2021/Community-based Forestry Case Study in Jiazaozi Village, Xinjiang Province, China

Summary

Active Participation by the people in forestry management is a central tenet of community forestry. To this end, soliciting public participation is one of the key tasks in planning and implementing community forestry programs. The development of forestry in Xinjiang province, China shows the potential importance of such participation. Throughout the past seven decades, the relationship between people and trees in Xinjiang has undergone fundamental changes due to the changing land and tree tenure regimes and timber market structures. This article starts with Xinjiang's geographic location, climate, common flora and fauna, introduces the location of community forestry case study, and then analyzes the overall community forestry situation in China and that Xinjiang mainly develops community forestry in the form of farmer cooperatives. In the case study, it detailed how Jiacaozi village developed their community forestry in the form of farmers' cooperatives, and at the end the author tried to contribute to a better development of the community forestry by giving some thinking and recommendations.

Introduction to Xinjiang Province

General information

Location of Xinjiang Province, China

Xinjiang, formally the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is a landlocked autonomous region of China located in the northwest of the country near Central Asia. And it is China's largest province-level division and the world's eighth-largest country subdivision, covers 1.6 million square kilometres and has a population of over 25 million people. Xinjiang borders the countries of Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The rugged Karakoram, Kunlun and Tian Shan mountain ranges occupy much of Xinjiang's borders, as well as its western and southern regions. The most well-known route of the historic Silk Road ran through the territory from the east to its northwestern border.

Climate

Xinjiang is shut off from maritime climatic impacts since it is separated from the ocean by steep mountains. As a result, it has a dry, continental climate. Because the Tien Shan divides the arid south from the somewhat less arid north, the northern slopes of the Tien Shan are slightly more humid than the south. Not only is precipitation scarce, but it also varies greatly from year to year. The yearly rainfall is around 165 millimetres. The average January temperature in the Tarim Basin is around 7 degrees Celsius, compared to 15 degrees Celsius in various regions of the Junggar Basin. Summer temperatures are cooler north of the Tien Shan than they are south of the mountains. July temperatures in the Junggar Basin range from 21°C in the north to 24°C in the south. July temperatures in the Tarim Basin average around 27°C. The Turfan Depression is the warmest section of Xinjiang, with a maximum temperature of 49 °C and a July mean temperature of 32 °C.

Flora and Fauna

Xinjiang Pine Forest

Much of Xinjiang's plant life is monotonous due to the vast stretches of desert. The Tien Shan has pine forests and stands of drought-tolerant trees on the outskirts of the Takla Makan Desert. Aside from these trees, poplar and willow kinds are the most frequent. There is a diverse range of plants and wildflowers in the Tien Shan and adjacent mountains, many of which have never been classified. Xinjiang does, however, host over 3,000 plant species, with over 300 of them having commercial or therapeutic importance.

The Tien Shan's animal life is more interesting. Antelopes, ibex (wild goats), wapiti (elks), different wild sheep, leopards, wolves, bears, lynx, and marmots all live in the highlands. The Takla Makan Desert has wild horses in the north, wild camels in the south and east, and wild yaks (big, long-haired cattle) and wild asses on the Tibetan border.

Community-based Forestry in Jiacaozi Village, Xinjiang Province, China

Community forestry is increasingly recognized as one of the key alternatives to centralized state-led management to tackle the loss of forests and achieve sustainable use of forest ecosystems, as well as social well-being in the developing world. Currently, more than half a billion people in developing countries are dependent on the forest managed by community forestry for their livelihoods. Moreover, around 732 million hectares of forest representing 62 countries in the developing world (28% of the world's forests) are managed under community-based approaches. Further expanding the scale of community forestry is of great significance in developing countries.

Community Forestry in China

China is a vast agricultural country with characteristics such as a large population but little arable lands, many mountains but few farmlands, and low forestry output. According to reports, approximately 42 million farmers are still living in poverty. Like all other developing countries, China is confronting a number of challenges, including a large population, food security, resource exhaustion, and pollution. On the other hand, China is an ancient civilization with a rich history and many cultures. There is no shortage of community forestry ideas, cultures, or practices. Farmers' spontaneity and freedom were crucial in the early days of communal forestry in ancient China. Planters were the target of afforestation in rural regions. The growth of community forestry was previously slowed and localized due to historical, scientific, and technological limits, particularly the most essential aspect - land tenure.

Forest tenure reform

• Prior to 1949, only around ten percent of rural dwellers owned 70-80 percent of arable land, and most farmers lacked enough area to start community forestry. As a result, community forestry with the nature of "directly for residents' self-sufficiency" could be cultivated on only 20-30% of the area. In other words, community forestry was still in its infancy at the time.
• Then the forest tenure reform started in China and it began with the agrarian reform (1950-1953) when the state confiscated all large scale forests, wastelands and barren mountains for redistribution to farmers.
• Between 1953 and 1956, cooperatives were formed in rural areas to manage forest resources. As they evolved, ownership shifted from individuals to the community.
• From 1957 to 1980, a three-tiered ownership system was put in place whereby production brigades were assigned a rural labor force, land, domestic animals and farm tools for long-term use.
• In 1981, the "Three Fixes" forestry policy stabilized ownership of forestland and forests, delineated forest plots for private use and established a responsibility system for forest production. During this period, all collective forestland was divided into three categories: private use, under contract, and under centralized management.
• In 1985, state monopolies and the prescribed purchase of timber from collective production regions were abolished - changes which allowed farmers and collectives to freely trade timber at negotiated prices in the market place.
• In 1987, collective ownership was reinstated and forestry bureaus became responsible for managing and purchasing timber in key producing counties.
• Between 1991 and 2002, a modern market system was introduced. The most notable features of this phase were the length of the contract period (70 years) and the ability to transfer forestland use and management rights. It was during this period that the first Natural Forest Protection Plan was drafted (1998), banning logging and other activities deemed harmful to the environment in fragile forest and watershed areas.
• June 2003 marked the beginning of China's new round of forest tenure reform to strengthen institutions and forest development.
• In 2008, guidelines were issued for managing collective forestland by households under contracting arrangements.

Farmers' Cooperatives in China

Farmers' cooperatives harvest cotton

Improving the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of smallholder agriculture is argued to be the main pathway out of rural poverty in developing countries. Institutional innovations are believed to play a crucial role in this because they can help farmers overcome market failures. There is a renewed interest in producer organizations such as cooperatives as an institutional tool to improve market participation of smallholder farmers, increase farm incomes, and reduce rural poverty. Throughout the world, cooperatives are and for a long time have been important institutions for strengthening the economic position of farmers, and community forestry in Xinjiang is mainly developed in the form of farmers' cooperatives.

Since the mid-1980s, Chinese farmer cooperatives have played an increasingly prominent role, a trend bolstered by the enactment of the "Law on Specialized Farmers Cooperatives" in July 2007. Over the course of more than 90 years, Chinese cooperative-style farmer organisations have evolved against the backdrop of various socio-economic systems. The cooperatives differed in their eventual goals, organisational beginning, and other significant characteristics depending on the period. To overcome the restrictions of a small-scale peasant economy and better react to market developments, several agricultural firms and small-scale farmers began to form farmer cooperatives in the mid-1980s. Cooperatives of all types have sprung up all throughout China. In this context, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress enacted the "Law on Specialised Farmers Cooperatives" in 2006, which went into effect on July 1st, 2007. The stated goal of this law is to provide assistance and advice in the formation of cooperatives, as well as to promote agricultural and rural economic growth. In China, farmer cooperatives grew rapidly in the first ten years after they were established.

Farmers' cooperatives grew in number from 26,400 in 2007 to 1,794,000 in 2016. In other words, from 2007 to the present, China has seen an average of 196,400 farmer cooperatives every year. According to Ministry of Agriculture figures, registered membership topped 110 million farmer families in 2016, accounting for around 44.5 percent of the total in China. Each cooperative has roughly 62 farmer households on average. The average cultivated area per household is 0.5 hectare, which includes rented land and property ceded to cooperatives. On average, such coops cultivate or provide services on less than 30 ha each. Services here refer to selling agricultural materials and providing technical services to cooperative members.

Case study in Jiacaozi Village, Xinjiang province, China

The Xigebi Green Planting Cooperative

Location of Jiacaozi Village

The Xigebi Green Planting Cooperative of Xinjiang Province was established on June 10, 2011 with a registered capital of 10 million yuan. It was initiated and established by 6 people in Jiacaozi Village. The main investor is Shawan County Baoying Coal Co., Ltd. The business site is located in the Shitougou area of Jiacaozi Village, Xigebi Town, Shawan county. The general business projects are the comprehensive development of modern agriculture such as agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, production and processing; relying on the planting of ecological forests, economic forests and modern livestock and poultry breeding to implement tourism development. The cooperative business area is mainly hilly and mountainous. There are tens of thousands of acres of hilly grassland around the current business area, and there are no pollution sources around it. It is an ideal base for creating green and pollution-free food materials; due to the scarcity of surface water all year round, the climate is dry, the vegetation is single, and the natural climate conditions relatively poor. For a long time, the vegetation began to wither after June each year. Farmers and herders only used the grassland in this area as a transitional grassland during the transition between spring and autumn, and the utilization rate was low. In order to maximize the use of resources, the cooperative has determined to rely on the construction of double-layer pastures (double-layer management of intercropping between forest and grass) to implement comprehensive development of modern agriculture, establish tourism industry, create leisure resorts, and radiate and drive the development goal of comprehensive development of regional economy and society, and obvious improvement of climate and ecology.

Since its establishment, the green planting cooperative has always adhered to the concept of improving the ecological environment and creating green management. Since the spring of 2009, it has invested a total of 35 million yuan to achieve the three links of water, electricity and roads in the operating area; of which 6 motorized wells, 1574 meters of anti-seepage canals were repaired, 12 kilometers of sand-gravel roads were paved, and nearly 470 hectares of hilly grassland was covered with water-saving pipes. Planted poplar, elm, white wax, yellow pineapple, high-acid crabapple, royal crabapple, red-leaved crabapple, purple leaf cherry, summer oak, white birch, arborvitae, spruce, mongolica, ash, etc., totaling 76 species, covering an area of close to 335 hectares, and included most of the tree species in the northern Xinjiang region. The cultivated nursery of Pinus sylvestris, spruce, white wax, white birch and all kinds of poplars and crabapples has 20 hectares of nearly 1 million trees, which can not only meet their own afforestation needs, but also ensure urban transformation, environmental beautification and other types in the region. Supply of seedlings for afforestation; more than a dozen new varieties of begonia introduced from Northeast China in 2015 filled the gap in Xinjiang.

Xinjiang poplar forest landscape

In 2015, while developing the fruit industry, the cooperative made full use of existing resources to develop animal husbandry and achieved remarkable results. One is to build a modern chicken farm of 3,000 square meters and it has been put into use, and the other is to build a 1,000 square meter mutton sheep breeding pen and buy it. More than 500 high-quality fattening sheep; 500 turkeys, 500 Landes geese, 4,000 ducks, and 1,000 large-bone chickens under the forest have not only become the "weeders" of the grassland in the forest, but also become the big dish of Shawan delicacies. Green and pollution-free food materials are welcomed by the market. The unique natural conditions provide a good opportunity for the development of the four-season tourism in the region. The former barren mountains have become an oasis, and it has become another development base for tourism and ecological farming in Xinjiang.

The cooperative currently has 20 fixed management personnel (including technicians, tree management and protection personnel, etc.), and 8 temporary workers are hired every day. The radiation has driven more than 70 households of local farmers and herdsmen with nearly 200 people, with an annual income increase of 2,000 yuan per capital; The social and ecological benefits have already appeared. After several years of hard work, all kinds of tree species are growing very well, and the former barren mountains have been put on green clothes.

Development plan

According to the regional resources and the policy opportunities to build leisure and tourism capital, while implementing the comprehensive development of modern agriculture, the following objectives and tasks will be completed in the future: The first is to expand eastward within the existing business area and complete the greening task of 335 hectares, realize the ecological afforestation plan of 670 hectares, and introduce all the species suitable for planting in the country to this point, and create a tree species expo park in Xinjiang and even in the north of the country. The second is to use Ningjiahe Reservoir and Xiaofendi Reservoir to rebuild some small streams, ponds and dams within the current business scope, and build 10 farmhouse picking greenhouses. The third is to build a demonstration base for breeding 1,000 mutton sheep, 50,000 modern poultry farms, and a special aquaculture area; to create a four-season tourist attraction.

Recommendations

Community forestry in the form of cooperatives in Xinjiang is currently in a good state of development, but there is still room for improvement in the following aspects:

• Introduce more professional personnel to farmer cooperatives. The challenge of having limited human resources has been somewhat alleviated with the advent of the professional management system inside cooperative. But on the other hand, the cooperative lacks a practice-oriented vocational education and training system.
• Farmers' cooperative development needs to be met by relevant laws, policies, and regulations. Agricultural cooperative federations, for example, can register with the administrative department of industry and commerce. However, the different federations' legal status is uncertain, as is the relationship between the federation and local farmers' cooperatives in terms of property, accountability, and commercial scope.
• Improve internal management. Immature internal governance structures, for example, might lead to issues with regular farmers' rights in cooperatives. As a result, profit-sharing and risk-sharing arrangements are difficult to develop.