Brief Country Report
Heifer International China

China has a long history of raising goat. Time could go back over 3000 years ago. With fast development, China has taken the first place of goat head, and by 2006 there had been 199 million heads in stock, 24% of the world total, and 156 million fattened, up to 40% of the world total.

Goat raising has been the means of income generation for millions of Chinese rural families, taking up 30% to 50% of the whole family income. Goat raising also boomed feed industry, including grass seed industry, and process industry. Thirdly it diversified nutrition resources for many Chinese families. For many rural minority communities, goat is treated as one of their families and also considered as wealth.

In order to meet the goat meat consumption, the goat breeding has been shifted from hair type to meat type. Early of 2000s, China imported Boer goat blood to improve the local ones, which indicates the efforts and practices. Also China has several fine meat type breeds, such as Nanjiang Huang goat, Chengdu Ma goat, and Matou goat etc. With the great potential of domestic market of China, some bottleneck issues have been identified. Specific high yield meat breed still needs to be worked on. Now each Chinese only takes up the amount of 2 kg meat each year. A huge room to fill up. Stable crossbreeding combination is in short, and multi-dimensional crossing needs to be promoted. Nutrition and management should be highly stressed. Lastly industrialization needs to be scaled up.

Heifer China program has helped hundreds of thousands of rural families raise goats, and plant grass as well, as a means of promoting zero-grazing. Mainly Heifer China encourages farmers to raise crossbreeds with local blood, one way to improve growth rate, another to localize animals.

Following are some stories from Heifer China projects.

Story 1

Aergege is a woman living in Xincun Village of Xide County, Sichuan Province. Two men and 1 woman in her family live on 0.8 acres of arable land and a few heads of animals. Her family had only RMB1000 yuan (USD147) as the whole family’s annual income before Heifer project enter s her village.

When Heifer project started in her village in 2005, Aergege became a project farmer and got 20 does and 1 buck. She actively participated in technical training on forage management, nutrition and offspring management, etc. Her family had 21 goats now in stock. And 45 kids were born during past three years. The survival rate was 100%. The project goats and offspring brought her RMB 6, 600 (USD795), which tripled the family income before the project. Moreover, the goat manure was used to fertilize the farmland, thus the crop production also increased. Her family changed totally.

Aergege passed on the gift to another needy family this November. She recalled what she said when she got the Heifer animals in 2005: “One day my family will improve with Heifer’s help, and I will help other poor families with similar situation as I have. I will try to pass the gift ahead of schedule as early as I can.” She kept her promise. On the POG ceremony she was awarded by the project partners, leaders from Sichuan&Chongqing Regional Office and Heifer China. She got a red flower to show her commitment to passing on the gift.

(Story and photo by Aniumo, project partner in Xide county)

A’en Lequ was one of the first recipients of Heifer’s Meigu Women’s Goat Breeding Project recipients, also the leader of Yiqugu Village project community. Since Heifer’s implementation, he had been conducting baseline survey along with project partners regardless of tiredness, introducing Heifer’s poverty alleviation values and importance, leading and guiding villagers to build up pens and change traditional feeding method, mobilizing them to plant trees, leading them to plant grass for winter storage, activating other recipients to pass on the gift: he did a lot for the holistic community development. By the support from Heifer and his diligence, he had passed on 5 goats as gifts and values such as the 12 cornerstones & scientific breeding.

Having 10 Meigu goats in stock now, he had already sold 15 with a cash income of RMB 5,800. Now he told everyone “Heifer is good, the income is better, life quality is enhanced, environment is cleaner and our minds has changed” We can live a much better life if we work on diligently!

(Story & Photo: Jiwu Lamo, Project Partner from Meigu county)

Liu Hanyou, 50 years old, living with his wife Li Guilin and two daughters, is a farmer from Taigushi village of Xinchengzi Town, Miyun, Beijing. Because of being less educated, he can only spend their lives by 0.48 acre farmland with only 1500 RMB per year. Suffered from illiteracy, the couple determined to support their two daughters to go to school for a better life no matter how much they will cost.

2002, the Heifer Project came to Taigushi village. With the 12 Cornerstones training, Liu Hanyou got to know the Heifer Project and became a project recipient. The couple considered using the fund from the project to make well-breeding goats. The next few days Liu Hanyou received the passing-on gift fund with 4000 RMB, meantime, he borrowed some money from his relatives and bought 30 goats to raise. From then on, the Heifer Project sowed the seeds of hope for this family.

Heifer Project provided the initial funds for producing and organized project recipients to attend cornerstones or skill training as well. Liu Hanyou, seldom walking out before but active in this project, was enlighten by the training and deeply shook by the principle of passing on the gift, at the same time his feeding skill was also improved.

In year 2003, this family got 10000 RMB by feeding, which is hard to imagine before for him. Smiles appeared on faces of the couple, and they no longer worried about the tuition fee of their daughters. In 2004, the house of the project farmer Wang Zuolin caught fire and more than 40 goats together with the fold were completely burnt down. Liu Hanyou and other farmers donated 6 adult goats to help Wang Zuolin resume the production, which brought a deep impression not only to the project recipients, but also the entire villagers, from then on, helping others became a pubic trend there. When contract of passing on the gift became due, Liu Hanyou took the lead to take out 4000 RMB as the passing on fund, what he didi made the whole village continue this project in time.

In feeding process, Liu Hanyou realized that farmers hardly get reasonable rewards from their hardworking for the extremely low purchase price. He contacted with slaughter houses, and found that the purchase price of traders was 1 RMB less than the sale price of slaughter houses. So he searched for sale channels actively. As a result, he not just solved sale problems but increased farmer’s income. Now, all the farmers nearby asked the warm-hearted man to help them sell their livestock.

(Story by Han Fuquan, photo by Ma Fengying from Xiaomuniu Beijing Miyun Service Center)