ADAPTING PASTORAL LIFE TO FARMLAND
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This video featured the pastoral life in the farmland of the suburb Korla City. Due to climate change, and frequent draught-induced grass shortages, herders are seeking an alternative way to keep their livestock alive. In Bayangol during the winter of 2022, one option for herders is to transport their animals with large trucks from Bayanbulag grassland to the outskirts of Hejing County, Korla City, and even further to Kuche County, a distance of 500 km. Bangzai, a Torghut herder as shown in this video, explained that they lived in the rented farmland during winter for four years, and will return to Bayanbulag grassland at the end of April before the farming season starts. The average cost of transporting 400 sheep from Bayanbulag to Korla would be ¥20,000, and it would double for ewes with their lambs. This cost of grazing with falling meat prices has worsened the existing difficulties and made pastoralism more vulnerable and unsustainable.