Big funds bolster Tibetan sheep industry in China's Qinghai

XINING -- Northwest China's Qinghai province has invested 124 million yuan (about $19 million) in the Tibetan sheep industry over the past two years, local authorities said.

The funds have been used to facilitate the transformation and upgrading of Tibetan sheep breeding, build ecological rangeland and standardized production bases, cultivate talent and brands, and expand marketing channels, according to the provincial department of agriculture and rural affairs.

Last year, the province saw around 6.3 million Tibetan sheep available for slaughter and produced 133,000 tonnes of meat, up 8 percent and 10.8 percent respectively compared with the figures at the end of 2015, said Wang Yuhu, head of the department.

Qinghai is one of the five pastoral areas in China, with a usable grassland area of 474 million mu (31.6 million hectares). The Tibetan sheep industry has become the main source of income for many local farmers and herdsmen.