2015年CRI Experts Provides Tibetan People with Technical Aid

 

Han Junwen, an Aid-Tibet program agricultural expert from northwest China's Shaanxi province, brought forage¹ seeds to the remote area in 2005.

When he first came to the county, he was shocked by what he saw – large plots of barren land.

Since the county is short of rainfall, Han persuaded villagers of Gar New Village to plant alfalfa, a cold-and-dry-resistant plant.

"The seed of alfalfa is as small as sesame. A single seed is too small to break through the soil, so we decided² to sow between 30 and 40 seeds in one pit."

However, in spite of government subsidies³, some villagers at first declined to plant alfalfa as they had doubts about the new plant.

A villager named Migmar was finally persuaded and decided to give it try. Within two to three years, he harvested 2,500 kilograms of fresh grass which brought him a big fortune.

"At first, we had no trust in alfalfa. Later, in the following two years, we found that alfalfa is high-valued and popular among livestock⁴."

The successful example pushed other villagers to plant alfalfa, and since 2010 both the planting area of alfalfa and the number of dairy cattle have increased rapidly.

At present, nearly 2,000 hectares of alfalfa is planted and almost 600 heads of milk cows are being raised for sale.

Gongbu, a village head in Gar County, says with the help of Han they have started to lead a stable life.

"We plant alfalfa and raise cattle. By selling the forage and dairy products, the whole village earns over one million yuan each year."

So far, the annual per capita income has reached 20,000 yuan in Gar County, extraordinarily⁵ higher than it was ten years ago.

However, Han Junwen says his team plans to further extend the alfalfa planting and ensure each person has two heads of cattle in three years.

"We plan to build a fodder-processing plant to store food for the animals in case of winter natural disasters. It will be a great relief for the local government."

China launched the national Aid-Tibet program in 1995 to improve people's livelihood⁶ in the autonomous⁷ region.

Over 6,000 experts and officials from the country's other provinces have so far been sent to different parts of Tibet to help develop the local economy.

For CRI, I'm Guo Yan.

1 forage   

n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻

参考例句：

• They were forced to forage for clothing and fuel.他们不得不去寻找衣服和燃料。
• Now the nutritive value of the forage is reduced.此时牧草的营养价值也下降了。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

5 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

6 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

7 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。