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The size of his herd is always the gauge of a herdsman's wealth. But as overgrazing destroys China's pastures bit by bit, more and more herdsman may have to reduce their herds to let the pastures revitalize.

The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the far west of China, for example, has decided to drastically cut its herd size to protect its degenerating pastures, one of the five largest pastoral regions in China.

The region will also try to contain part of its wandering herds in fixed sheds, where they would be fed with grown grass, says Zhao Xinchun, from the Animal Husbandry Department of the regional government.

Xinjiang's nearly 60 million hectares of pasture can now reasonably support only 26 million head of livestock, while the current herd size is 45.25 million animals, according to experts.

If no measures are taken, the herd size is expected to grow to 52 million animals by 2005.

Overgrazing has seriously damaged Xinjiang's grassland.

Department figures show that 85 percent is deteriorating to some extent, with 37.5 percent seriously damaged.

Worsening degeneration has reduced the overall size of the pasture lands, resulting in ever more rampant desertification and sandstorms that have left their mark as far as Beijing and other north China cities.

Xinjiang has made great efforts in recent decades to pin down its nomadic population, half of whom now live in fixed homes.

However, the lack of enough land to grow grass still forces herdsman to leave their houses for remote pastures for at least a certain period each year.

Experts estimate that Xinjiang will need to farm one million hectares of grass to allow its pastures to gradually recover.

Overuse and degeneration problems are rife across China's major pastures. Official figures show that 90 percent of the country's grasslands are damaged to some extent.

Fortunately more and more people are realizing the gravity of the situation.

In Inner Mongolia, the government spent 1.6 billion yuan (190 million US dollars) in 2000 alone to improve its environment.

It also strove to persuade herdsman to give up their custom of always keeping the largest herd possible in their sheds even if it meant they lost money.

The region reported a drop in its herd size in 2001, the first fall in 16 years, according to regional government figures.

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2002)