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Like father, like son:
He Huaxun's mission to restore Hainan's soils
(cont.)
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Prof. He visits the farmers regularly after the project is launched to get ideas on the growth of fodder crops and the their difficulties faced.
Photo : Prof. He Huaxuan
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But convincing farmers to conserve soil, and to try new farming techniques, are not always easy. Prof. He believes one way forward is to promote a kitchen-garden economy. This would bring small households together to run a business in the form of a cooperative or a small enterprise. "The mango cooperative in Panzhihua, Sichuan, is a good example. The members run farmers' schools in villages, and invite experts to lecture and guide the farmers. So their skills and, eventually, the product quality are gradually enhanced. High-quality products will soon build a brand; and outside enterprise is more willing to buy them, the price will rise and form a positive cycle." More importantly, when there is a group of practitioners, their practice will serve to guide as well as motivate others; they can advance scientific methods step by step.
"What farmers do is ultimately for their own sake, and this is a very good learning process," he went on. Households influence one another; if your mangos are of low quality, the other households will exert pressure on you, and you have no way to shirk your work. It is a spontaneous project; its vitality is so strong it can expand in stages. Those who have left the villages all come back to help cultivate the mangos. I gained some deep insights, and a real sense of accomplishment, from this project.
Ecological protection is an integrated task
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Last May, we ran training with Hainan Yinggeling Nature Reserve for the local community on the techniques of Sustainable Agriculture, Prof. He guided the farmers to visit his research base, and acquainted them with different kinds of fodder crops.
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China is a country founded on farming. It is essential to maintain a high rural workforce, as a highly urban population risks unemployment and instability. In Hainan, the farming industry is not on a large scale, and is rather scattered. He depicts the farmers as having "four lacks": lack of technology, money, organization and market. Poverty is a vicious-circle; without the support of the state or enterprises, it is almost impossible to break out of it. Strategic materials, like rubber, attract official subsidy, so that farmers planting this can earn a living. But they bear higher risks if they plant other crops.
Prof. He thinks that although China already provides farmers with support, efforts have to be intensified in the case of Hainan. "Hainan has a good environment. It should be planted with more trees, and it deserves better protection for wildlife. But where can we source the money? To protect the ecology, the government should pay; words are useless without action to back them up. But we also don't want villagers to be too dependent and ask for money without doing anything."
"The key is to organize the farmers; to improve their economic status on one hand, while enhancing their ecological knowledge on the other hand; to change their perceptions step by step through their livelihood." He says if farmers do not care about the ecological issues, how can experts change anything? "Experts just give them lectures, then leave… In a thriving project people would run it on their own. They'd know the ecological principles and how to operate under these principles. But expert advice, and national investment, are also of crucial importance."
Prof. He often stresses that ecological protection is a systematic thing. A person or a single technique can't solve the problems single-handed. What we need is a systematic and integrated approach involving various experts, government, entrepreneurs and social scientists, and so on. Prof. He has played different roles. "I was concerned with production instead of the environment in the past. Now I am trying to repair the damage."
Professor He's words are intense and captivating, not because of his verbal skill or his ability to catch people's imagination, but for his speaking from the heart. His every word unveils his inner feelings; he speaks up because he cares about farmers and the environment, and he has a broad depth of understanding. Like his father, he has a sense of mission towards the world, and spares no effort for environmental conservation.
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