M-grass steps up efforts to ease fodder shortage in Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia M-grass Ecology and Environment (Group) Co Ltd, an ecological environment engineering company, has donated 20,000 metric tons of grass, worth 20 million yuan ($3 million), to help herdsmen in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region tide over fodder shortage in the winter season.
Because of the cold air currents blowing from the north, the east and northeastern parts of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region undergo a severe cold spell during the winter season. Temperatures in the region dip sharply and there are also chances of heavy snowfall. This could lead to a severe shortage of fresh fodder for livestock in the region.
M-grass offered 1,500 tons of grass last month to 300 families in the Xin Barga Left Banner (county) in Inner Mongolia.
“With the fodder donation, our herdsmen will no longer have to worry about grass shortages or rising grass prices due to snowstorms. They can rest assured about supplies for the whole winter,” said Hai Qing, banner of the Xin Barga Left Banner.
Zhou Wen, deputy banner of the Horqin Right Wing Front Banner said that the entire Inner Mongolia autonomous region has been receiving help from the government and private enterprises to combat the severe cold spell.
He said that in 2017, his banner had suffered from a spring drought for 100 consecutive days, and the affected area reached 840,000 hectares, among which 462,667 hectares were severely damaged. The number of disaster-hit livestock was about 4.15 million and overall there was a 60 percent decrease in the grassland’s output.
Thanks to the assistance from the government and M-grass, the whole banner would be able to weather the difficulties this winter.
Gao Jungang, group executive president of M-grass, said that: “Apart from establishing a well-balanced pastureland ecology, we are aiming at offering the local people better quality of life. The public welfare undertakings we are doing is not only rooted from a short-term perspective, but a long-range vision.
“Enterprises, as part of their economic and social responsibilities, should not only create wealth, but also undertake social responsibilities to solve problems. This is what we are doing in Inner Mongolia to achieve balanced development,” he said.
As a listed company, M-grass is conveying its charity ideology to many places in China, as well as to the rest of the world. At present, its own measures to prop up the local ecology have been applied to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Tibet autonomous region, Northwest China’s Shaanxi province and Southwest China’s Yunnan province. The company is also offering reference for economies such as Singapore, Russia and Mongolia.