Harvest season is underway in the fertile Ili River valley in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, whose native pasture area has grown to 3.47 million hectares, thanks to eight years of grazing restrictions. Herdsmen are busy harvesting grass for their livestock ahead of the winter season 

China has implemented a series of measures to improve pasture ecology, including the imposition of a grazing ban and a grazing offseason, as well as the introduction of rotational grazing. As a result, the yield of fresh grass per mu (about 0.067 hectares) in the natural pastures of the Ili River valley has reached 340 kg, an increase of 24 percent over that of eight years ago. Plant diversity has also hit a record high, with more than 1,200 species, 70 percent of which are rated high-quality forages.

In order to help herdsmen harvest forage grass in time, the local authorities provided subsidies for them to buy new machines. 

The total yield of fresh grass may reach 16 million tons this year, and the harvesting is expected to be finished before September 15.

(Cover image via VCG)

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