Research on the Development Model of Ecological Agriculture in Loess Hilly-Gully Region of Northern Shannxi, China

On the Loess Plateau of China, facing the vulnerable environment, local people have to try their best to guarantee the security of food, and at the same time, to control the most serious soil erosion in the world. The paper introduces two typical models of ecological agriculture: ecological agriculture with commodity and agriculture with soil and water conservation. According to the local natural condition, the model of eco-agriculture with commodity could be characterized by the structure of “agriculture-byproduct”, “agriculture-fruit” or “agriculture-forestry-husbandry”. The development of agriculture with soil and water conservation has decreased the soil erosion rate from 12, 184 ton/kin^2 in 1980 to 458.4 ton/kin^2 in 1999, while the farmers‘ income has increasingly risen. Analyses on the two models‘ benefits both in terms of ecological and agricultural economy show that there is a great possibility to construct or restore good eco-environment with comprehensive control in the hilly-gully area of north Shannxi. Further more, the paper points out the potential problems of foodstuff production and stockbreeding development in forming ecological agriculture and eco-environmental restoration.