China boosts Tibet livestock, agriculture spending

BEIJING (Reuters) - The Tibetan government plans to more than double spending on livestock and other local agricultural products upon which rural Tibetans depend, state media said on Sunday.

Agriculture only accounts for about 15 percent of GDP in Tibet, but rural farmers and herdsman still account for much of the region's ethnic Tibetan population.

Tibetan areas across the plateau erupted in protests against Chinese rule last March, following deadly riots in Lhasa. While Han Chinese and Hui Muslims now outnumber Tibetans in Lhasa, rural regions are overwhelmingly Tibetan and poor.

China is promoting the settlement of nomads in Tibet and in ethnically Tibetan regions in neighbouring provinces.

Spending on livestock raising as well as specialised local herbs and medicinal products will rise to 820 million yuan ($120 million) this year, up from 320 million yuan last year, the Xinhua news agency said.

The money will go to setting up bases for crop-fed dairy herds, yak, cashmere goat, chicken and pig production, the report said, and will also promote growing of Tibetan medicinal herbs, oilseeds and green vegetables.

Tibetans traditionally raise yaks or a yak-cow cross, as well as sheep and goats, and traditionally grow barley and rapeseed as staple crops.