Chicken farming: A new form of grazing

The pilot of a new form of grazing, chicken farming, launched by Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has achieved good results in Inner Mongolia.

Chicken farming belongs to integrated ecosystem management (IEM), aims to restore vegetation, increase carbon sink and develop science by introducing chicken to grassland and partly substituting large livestock, such as sheep and cattle. The project was initiated in 2009 by the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) as one of the important directions of the Knowledge Innovation Projects, and subsequently was classified as an important part of Strategic Leader Projects of Science and Technology of CAS in 2011.

Since the implementation, the project has got strong support from the local people and government. As the tremendous impacts on ecology, economy and society, the project has been concerned by CCTV-7 (agricultural channel). In August 2011, two columns of CCTV-7, daily agriculture and economy and technology park, interviewed exclusively Chicken Farming R & D centre located in Bayinhushu village, Zhenglan Qi, Inner Mongolia, respectively. Dr. LI Yonggeng, who is in charge iniof this project, accepted the interviews.