Cash cows

By Wang Ru (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-13 14:20

Her perseverance paid off when the township administration stepped in and provided her with the basic facilities. Her business picked up and soon she was selling chickens to markets in Lhasa.

Using her own experience, Yeshe has helped 500 other households in Lhoka raise chickens. The couple also has plans for another chicken farm this year.

Dairy farming has traditionally been an important aspect of Tibetan life as butter is used extensively in their food, drinks and in the temples. But milk cow farming was sporadic and inefficient. For a long time, Lhoka had to rely on milk from Gansu and Qinghai provinces.

However, cow farms have been booming in Lhoka in recent years, thanks to the cooperation between the local government and villagers.

Tobgye, 50, in Serkar village of Nedong, had two milk cows. He got 15 liters of milk everyday, earning the family 20,000 yuan ($2,900) every year.

Tobgye tried to raise several milk cows, but yields were poor.

"Farmers have always grown highland barley but the profits on this is low," says Tobgye. "We couldn't afford to feed the cows."

In the early 1980s, the local government introduced high quality milk cows for cross-breeding with the local ones. In 2005, a milk cow farm was established in Tobgye's village.

"We sell calves to villagers at 3,000 yuan each and the local government grants 1,500 yuan to the cow farmers," says Sonam Reten, a technician on the farm. "Besides, we provide free medical and breeding services."

"Every milk cow can bring in a 10,000 yuan profit per year. The local milk factory signs contracts with farmers every year to collect their milk," Sonam says.

In recent years, farmers have also been encouraged to grow garlic and this is done between August and May, says Sonam.

He believes Tibet's pristine natural environment can help the production of high-quality milk and help it become a major milk producing center supplying all of China.

Where once the consumption of fresh vegetables was a privilege enjoyed only by the elite, vegetable greenhouses that produce a great variety, including carrots, cabbages, tomatoes and cauliflower, can now be seen everywhere in Gongkar town in Lhoka prefecture.

Vegetable farmer Chikya, 35, has two greenhouses in Hongxing village in Gongkar and says that before the local government helped him to build these in 2003, he earned only 500 yuan ($73) from growing wheat. Now his vegetable business brings him 23,000 yuan ($3,360) every year.

Almost every household in his village of 2,000 dwellers, has a vegetable greenhouse.

"It costs 1,300 yuan to build one but the local government offered us 800 yuan," says Chikya. "We received seeds and also learned growing techniques from the local agricultural bureau."

Graduates from the Tibet Agricultural and Animal Husbandry College also stop by villages around Gongkar to help the local farmers.

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