Study site description: Yan River Basin, China

Table of Contents

1. Responsible partner
2. General information
3. Bio-physical description
   1. Major natural resources available in the study site area
   2. Use of land resources
   3. Use of water resources
   4. Uses of forest resources
   5. Strengths of existing land use practices
   6. Weaknesses of existing land use practices
   7. Major degradation issues due to the use of natural resources
4. Socio-economic description
5. Institutional and political setting
6. Relevant end-users / stakeholder groups

Use of land resources

The main land use practices include arable farming, cash crops, grass planting and vegetables. The main crops are winter wheat, maize, millet, buckwheat, potato, many kinds of beans like soybean and mung bean, rape, tobacco and so on.

Since the implementation of "Grain for Green Policy" in 1998 thousands of ha of sloping crop land have been converted into forest and grassland. The local farmers could get annual subsidies, such as cash and cereals, from the central government. In the meantime, the grazing outside was forbidden in the whole area. The terraces, damland and alluvial land are the main cereal production areas. The oil crops and cash crops in Yanhe River Basin are very limited because the exchange is not active all the time.