Because the herders on the Tibetan plateau follow the seasons in their search for fertile pastures, they spent much of the year in makeshift accommodations, which are always under threat when blizzards or landslides occur on the exposed land.

Losang, a herder from the village of Damchuka in Damxung county, was awarded a subsidy of 80,000 yuan ($13,000) by the Aid to Tibet program. The money accounted for more than half the cost of building his new house, and allowed him to buy a motorbike, which he uses to travel over the barren plateau and keep an eye on his sheep and yaks.

"The 297-sq-m house is twice the size of my old one, and it's closer to the county seat so I can still run my brick factory and make extra money," the 45-year-old said.

Under the program, two provincial-level governments are mandated to provide assistance for Lhasa or one of the six prefectures in the Tibet autonomous region. In the past 20 years, Beijing and Jiangsu province have provided about 5.5 billion yuan, and although Losang has never met any of the officials, he knows his new house was sponsored by the Beijing government.

Every year, provinces and municipalities set aside 0.1 percent of their revenue to help three counties and one district in Lhasa. Over the past two decades, a combined 2.8 billion yuan has been spent in the counties of Nyinmo, Damxung and Todlung Deqen, along with Chengguan in Lhasa.

Raising living standards

In 2012, 6.89 million yuan was invested to build a square in Lhasa's Jangshar village, and also to construct a highway to link the small community with other parts of the regional capital. The square is popular with the locals, who often gather there to practice traditional arts such as circle dances and Tibetan operas, and to play their favorite sports.

"Before, we had to walk in the mud when it rained, and people were often injured as a result of slipping on the sodden ground. The new road has really improved the situation," said villager Sonam Tsetan.

Because the project is directed at raising local living standards, more than 70 percent of the total investment has been used to provide jobs and funding for businesses, according to the Lhasa government.

Initially, the funds were used to improve the local infrastructure by building highways, hospitals, schools and houses. However, as the local economy developed, the locals started to look at ways of promoting sustainable industries, and quickly realized that mature industries in tune with local conditions were the best bets, according to Ma Xinming, head of the Beijing Aid to Tibet organization in Lhasa.

By the end of 2013, 59 counties had received a total of 127 million yuan from the central government. The money was mainly used to establish about 70 special projects to develop industries suitable for farmers and herders, such as cultivating highland barley, plateau rapeseed, potatoes, and greenhouse vegetables, and raising yaks and Tibetan pigs. Traditional Tibetan medicine has also received funding.

Growing demand

In Todlung Deqen, a county less than 10 km west of Lhasa, money from Beijing has helped to build 360 greenhouses on two sites. To date, the Chinese capital alone has donated 217 million yuan to the county, and the greenhouses have helped to double farmers' incomes, said Luo Hanmo, deputy general manager of Jingtu Eco-Agriculture Co. "The project pays the farmers' land rents every year, and they also take a cut of the net income," he said.

Many of the goods transported to Lhasa from the provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai and Yunnan are expensive, especially fresh produce, so another 1,860 greenhouses will be put into use in Todlung Deqen in the next few years to lower vegetable prices, according to Luo.

"Our company is planning to set up 20 direct-sale vendors within two years. They will sell vegetables for 15 to 30 percent less than the supermarkets," he said.

Drolma, a local farmer, said growing vegetables is 20 times more profitable than planting low-yield highland barley. She is confident she can grow a greater variety of vegetables in her greenhouses. "We are learning the necessary skills, because it's a good way to develop our economy and improve our standard of living," the 33-year-old said.

In other areas, trials are under way to assess the suitability of new strains of livestock. Dairy cattle introduced by officials from Jiangsu have raised incomes in Palding, Dagze county. Of the 217 families in the village, 69 have been taught to raise cattle and a further 62 have been given guidance in raising sheep.

Village chief Nyima said the cattle are milked twice a day to produce fresh milk, cheese, butter, and yogurt. "We used to grow highland barley and corn, but they generated annual per capita income of less than 2,000 yuan. Now that we are raising cattle, our incomes have more than doubled to 5,000 yuan."

Nyima said the local people are intelligent, but are hampered by a lack of exposure to new methods and ideas: "The officials and agricultural experts are far more experienced than we are, so we take their advice about developing new breeds of domesticated animals or cultivating new vegetables to raise incomes and improve the quality of life. In the end, though, we will only achieve our goals if we work as hard as possible and learn to understand new ways of doing things."

(China Daily 07/18/2014 page6)