Present situation investigation after grassland contracted by individual households in Gannan pastoral area, Gansu province

Pastoral grassland contract system was promoted since 1980s, which has lasted nearly 30 years. This system was designed to eradicate the disadvantages of prairie big rice bowl system, inspire the herdsmen enthusiasm of protection, construction and rational utilization of grasslands and curb fundamentally the grassland degradation trend, but there are still much controversial in academic circles on the practice actual results. This study has preliminarily discussed the problems brought about in the development of Gannan pastoral grasslands and how to improve the pastoral grassland contract system through questionnaires, visiting and field survey. Investigations indicated that actual effect of grassland contracted by individual households was far apart from the expected, in some respects even toward the original intention. Based on profound analysis of existing problems of Gannan pasturing area grassland contracting, this study puts forward opinions with focus on how to improve the grassland contracting system.