关键词: 农牧交错带, 风水蚀复合区, 粮食问题, 生态安全, 退耕还林

Abstract:

The water-wind erosion compound areas of farming and grazing interlaced zone in northern China are very special ecological fragile areas. The two anthropogenic factors, agriculture and animal husbandry, and the two natural factors, wind erosion and water erosion, affect together on the same space scale and different time scale, which results in the serious soil erosion and land desertification. In this paper, based on the data of our field work and investigation to 60 typical counties, we analyzed some problems of food supply and the Grain for Green Project. The results demonstrate that: ①Grain output in these areas is more than self-support, but the grain yield of unit area is very lower than other areas in China. So, it has little contribution to the country’s food security. In fact, the higher grain output is mainly from reclamation of the dry lands, which will cause land degradation. In the future, the most potential of grain increase production will depend on irrigable land; ②Considering from the country’s ecological security, the water-wind erosion compound areas of farming and grazing interlaced zone in northern China is not suitable for large scale land reclamation, and not suitable for developing the national grain production base. Irrigation land grain yield should be improved, and the unsuitable grain-production regions should be transferred to develop animal husbandry by converting farmland to forest and grassland (Grain for Green Project), which can resume its ecological barrier function step by step. ③Household inquisitions indicate that the policy of Grain for Green Project has little negative impact on the households’ food supply and family income, and most of the households could accept and support this policy very well. The inquisitions also show that households still need appropriate economic compensation for their retired land, because the Grain for Green Project can not increase their income during recent years. We consider that ecological security is the most important problem in such a special fragile region. Therefore, in the water-wind erosion compound areas of farming and grazing interlaced zone in northern China, the Grain for Green Project should not be reduced, on the contrary, which should be strengthened.

Key words: farming and grazing interlaced zone, water-wind erosion compound area, food supply, ecological security, Grain for Green Project