"The ban helped us regain the grasslands once covered with sands due to over-grazing," said Li Fengqi, a farmer in Yanchi County, Ningxia.

The county, located near the Mu Us Desert -- one of the eight largest deserts in China -- suffered strong winds throughout the year. Most of its grassland have turned into sand dunes.

Since the regional government of Ningxia banned grazing on May 1, 2003, many farmers in the Yanchi County has changed their traditional habit of over-breeding on the grasslands. As a result, over seven million mu (about 467,000 hectares) sand-hit grasslands in the county have been recovered with grass.

The Mu Us Desert, also called the Uxin Desert, lies in parts of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Shaanxi Province and covers 32,000 sq km. People living near the desert suffer from sand storms throughout the year.

In Otog Front Banner of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which is located in the center of the Mu Us Desert. At one time 90 percent of the region had turned into sand dunes due to over-grazing. In the year 2000, the government banned grazing on 470,000 mu (31,300 hectares) of land; now grass has re-grown on half of the land.

Currently, more than 60,000 farmers of the Otog Front Banner have given up their old habits of free grazing and started to feed from pens. As a result, more than 60 percent grasslands in the region has been reclaimed.

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2005)