Natural farming methods that have existed for more than a thousand years on the "roof of the world" are being brought into the modern age through agricultural science and technology.

Last year, the Tibet Autonomous Region enlarged the area where the contract system of responsibility linked to agricultural technology would be used for large-scale production. New production targets were fixed, firing the enthusiasm of the leaders and technological staff at all levels. More than 1,000 people were contracted to farm the area of 26,000 hectares, taking up 25 percent of the total seeded area. Each hectare of the 18,000 model fields using new technology to increase production produced an average of 5,040 kilogrammes of grain.

Meanwhile, Tibet has been successful in increasing the amount of land that use new agricultural technology methods. Last year, improved variety were employed on 120,000 hectares, 36,000 more hectares than the year before. The area ploughed by tractors and seeded by machines totalled 26,000 and 40,000 hectares and 17.5 million kilogrammes of improved varieties of grain were employed. Production over large areas increased dramatically due to soil enrichment, mixing fertilizers with seeds and wiping out grass using chemicals. In 1989, the total grain output was 532.5 million kilogrammes, the highest in Tibet's history.

Farmers in Tibet have realized the significance of agricultural science and technology and have mastered the application of conventional agricultural science and technology. The next step is to standardize agricultural technology.

(January 3, 1990)

(This article appears page 27, No. 20, 1990)