A famer's story

The protection of the ecological environment by Chinese farmers

Posted by /Sun Zexuan

“Keeping the forest natural is my duty,” says Yang Zhi, a farmer in China’s Yunnan province. Yang Zhi has been farming Tian Ma, a root that is used in traditional Chinese Medicine, for the last 10 years. To Yang Zhi, farming is not about getting the best and most profitable crop, it is about keep the environment natural.

In 2015, China signed the Paris Climate Agreement, pledging to increase the forest space to 13 billion cubic meters by 2020. Already, China’s forest savings has increased by 2.1 billion cubic meters and looks to exceed their agreed 2020 target. It is dedicated and ambitious people like Yang Zhi that are helping meet this target by farming rules that adhere to the natural rules of the forest. Jinshan Yinshan, meaning “a good environment is money” is the Chinese slogan that attempts to inform Chinese about the importance of protecting the environment.

In the deep mountains of Yunnan, Yiliang county is one of the poorest regions in China.Here, farmers’ perception come is less than 500USD peryear, despite the low income, the farming culture here focuses on keeping the forest natural rather than the risking forest damages for economic stability. This area is known as the origination of Tian Ma, a type of Chinese medical root, known as Tian Ma in broader China.

According to the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China, between the years of 2014-2016, Chinese farmers returned 30.1 million acres of farmland to forest or grassland in 2017. In the process of environmental protection, Chinese farmers have made a great contributions.

Yang Zhi began to plant Tian Ma with his parents.The growth of thiscrop, similar to mushrooms,requiresan environment with dense forests and trees.New technology has been developed that increases the production of Tian Ma making its growth faster and more efficient, while more tradtional methods may be slower, they tend to focus on keeping the forest alive rather than mass producing the plant. Yang Zhi insistson this useof traditional methods as he sees the benefits to keeping the forest healthy, alive and in its natural order.

Yang Zhi uses traditional methods to grow Tian Ma

He is one of only a few people deep in the mountains who are using traditional farming methods for Tian Ma. While only being able to harvest the crop every two – three years, the crop can grow naturally amongst the trees. Here ,Tian Ma can grow in the depths of the mountains naturally without too much human intervention. The use of natur alleaves in the mountains,as well as nutrients for the Tian Ma, means that farming in this area will greatly reduce the amount of forest cut down.