Preliminarg discussion of agricultural structure and economy from Qinghai Tibet to Loess Plateau

Abstracts: The transition zone from Qinghai Tibet Plateau to Loess Plateau, which also lies between the first ladder and the second ladder of China landform, is a traditional agropasturage ecotone and an ecological sensitive region. This paper analysed the agricultural structure along the transect belt of the Xiahe, Weiyuan and Tongwei County and found that from Qinghai Tibet Plateau to Loess Plateau, agricultural population, rural surplus labor, the total area of arable land, and the per capita area of cultivated land all increase while the per capita grassland area decreased. The proportion of food crops in the crop gradually increasd and the proportion of forage crops decreased. The per capita slaughter number of herbivore livestock such as cattle and sheep, wool production, meat production also decreased, while the slaughter number of foodtype animals such as pigs gradually increased. The gross agricultural production increased but per capita output declined. The proportion of farming and forestry in the composition of agricultural GDP tended to be increased, while that of animal husbandry gradually reduced. In the composition of the income of farmers and herdsmen, per capita GDP of Xiahe, Weiyuan and Tougwei County, per capita GDP of farmers and herdsmen, per capita net income and per capita net income of farmers and herdsmen gradually decreased, while per capita of net income of urban residents increased.