Tibet's Geography and Agriculture

Shen, T.H. "Agricultural Resources of China". Cornell University Press: Ithaca, New York. 1951. Print

Shen talks just briefly of the pasture lands of Tibet. He explains them as being rugged, desolate, and barren. Most of the land is wasteland and the rest is meager grazing land. There are very limited agricultural sections. Vegetables can be grown at the bases of the highlands, and barlely and grasses at higher elevations. Food produced there is not sufficent for the populations and depends to some extent on imports through caravan routes.
This kind of information is key in comparing farming in India and the changes and adjustments they have had to make to farm in India. Rain in Tibet is between 300- 600mm while in Bylakuppe it rains approximately 35in just in the summer.

Pushed to the Limits

Free Tibet. "Pushed to the Limits".  Charles Square, London. 1 October 2009. p 1-8.

This article examines and refutes the claims by the Chinese government That Tibetans have largely benefited from the governments policies and booming Tibetan economy. They refute by saying that although everything is growing economically they are not being the ones benefited. The Tibetans  are at an educational disadvantage leaving Han works to complete with them. The Chinese workers take advantage of their education, Chinese language fluency and business culture, to gain the higher wage jobs in the Tibetan economy. This article was very bias.

Project Background

As part of my project in India I had to research background information to purpose why my project would be beneficial. A I wrote it really made be begin to think about the how I am going to approach asking my questions. Using my annotated sources I was able to come up with the following: 

“The Tibetan culture will never die,” says Collen McKnown, an avid researcher and journalist for the Tibet Post International (McKnown. CST. 2011). In 1959 the Dalai Lama and tens of thousands of Tibetan citizens fled to India to escape the Chinese invasion (United State Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2003). Previous to moving to India, the Tibetan people’s main industry was animal husbandry and herding.  Now that Tibetan citizens no longer have the expansive land required for herding they have had to learn how to farm on the limited land offered by the Indian government.  I propose to study this transition- study how Tibetan refugees have learned to farm on India’s soil.

In Tibet families were able to provide organic crops for their own family. Though the plot of land was modest they were able to have a well balanced diet based mainly off of meat then followed by barley and seasonal crops. In India land is more space than in Tibet so the Tibetan refugees had to accommodate to farming on little land. At this point they were still farming organically as they had done in Tibet. In the 1960’s and 1970’s the green revolution began in India and the Tibetan communities caught on as well. Fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation and high-yield seeds became popular because the amount of crops that could be harvested and exported. In 2002 the Dalai Lama made a statement encouraging a balanced and healthy diet (Central Tibetan Administration. 2012).  The objectives of Dalai Lama’s organic farming policy as stated by the Federation of Tibetan Co-Operatives in India Ltd. is as follows:

• “To protect, preserve and rejuvenate the environment and biodiversity.
• To offer assistance and support to the international movement against consumerism. More specifically by persistently opposing the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, hybrid and genetically engineered seeds, etc.
• To make future Tibet is a storehouse of organic grains to the rest of the world.
• To achieve sustainable livelihood in the Tibetan settlements in India by turning the present agriculture land holding into a source of sustainable income generation.
• To achieve in making organic farming, animal husbandry and other allied activities as remunerative opportunities. Thereby we can encourage the educated Tibetan youth to live in settlements.” (Federation of Tibetan Co-Operatives Ltd. 2009)

Bylakuppe has taken these objectives seriously and started to apply them to the community almost immediately. In 2002 the Tibetan Farm Project, an 80 acre plot of land dedicated to farming, transitioned to completely organic farming because of the Dalai Lama’s call to produce healthy organic food just as they did in Tibet. Bylakuppe is the largest Tibetan refugee settlements in India and is the sixth largest organic farming community in India(Federation of Tibetan Co-Operatives. 2009). As part of my study I would like to learn how they made the adjustment from the green revolution to being an organic farm.

The Organic Research and Training Center in Bylakuppe has played a key role in educating the community about organic farming.  They have trained Tibetan exiles on the Tibetan Farm Project to rotate crops, create natural composts, and construct proper irrigation systems utilizing India’s vastly different environment (Himalayan Institute. 2011).  While all this talk of organic farming, pesticide free, and feeding the whole world is great talk there are still many concerns and problems that have to be confronted. Lobsang Chodack, a family farmer from Mundgod (the largest Tibetan organic farm community), emphasizes his concerns with organic farming stating that it requires more paid help to take care of the farm and much less product is produced than from fertilized farms. In order to maintain his organic farm teak trees must surround his farm in order to keep the cows out; the soil must be a mixture of 5kg cow dung, 1kg cow urine, and 1 kg jiggery to detract pests and still pests attack his crops somehow (McKown. Mundgod’s Tibetan Farmers. 2011). Chodack shows that on his farm alone he is confronted with three specific challenges that conflicts with the Tibetan organic farming objectives. First, he is not producing a large enough crop to contribute to the storehouse of organic grains for the world. Pests are invading his crop causing  small harvests. Secondly, because pests still invade his farm even when using natural pesticides it makes it difficult to remain resistant to chemical fertilizers and pesticides because it is either lose your whole harvest or use fertilizers. Lastly, since Chodack needs extra assistance on the farm resist the pests it does not provide a sustainable income due to the loss of income to pay for the helpers. As a result of all this Tibetan youth do no find farming as a sustainable enough income to remain on the settlements (McKown.CST. 2011). Although this is in different community, I expect similar problems to be occurring in Bylakuppe. In interviewing farmers I would like to know the depth of these problems on an individual and societal level and also learn if there are other challenges specific to Bylakuppe.

      Stu Nicholls reports a brief history of Bylakuppe in which he discusses the difficulties of sustaining a family solely off of farming. Most original families have a small crop of land for agricultural use but due to the lack of irrigation facilities families have to engage in other activities such as trading, restaurants, shop keeping, etc. (Nicholls. 2011). To help with sustaining farms in Bylakuppe the Dickey Larsoe Co-operative Society Ltd. was installed to help with loaning seeds, fertilizers, urea, and other agricultural inputs on a credit basis. As a result the farmers are obligated to return agricultural products to the Dickey Larsoe Co-operative Society Ltd. warehouses where they can sell the products to open markets for gain. There is lack of further information on how this cooperation is currently being used. I hope to find out more information while I am in India.

 The growing concern among the younger generations of Tibetans in Mundgod is that farming is no longer a profitable occupation as exemplified by Chodack. As a solution the Central Tibetan Administration advises farmers to farm cash crops such as alphonso mango, coconut, cashews, and amla to boost farmers’ gain. Still young Tibetans desire to grow up and become doctors, nurses, and dentists which puts the older generation of Tibetans in fear of their children forgetting their culture (McKown.CST. 2011).

            Though there have been many implemented plans by the Dalai Lama, the Central Tibetan Administration, and the Federal Tibetan Co-Operative there are still many struggles with adapting. By going to Bylakuppe, a prime opportunity for interviewing and observation, I will be able to interview individuals like Chodack so see their experiences and how they have progressively learned and become better at their trade. By observing and meeting the the Organic Research and Training Center I hope to be able to assist in their objectives in training and assisting individual farms and farmers produce a good harvest that can sustain themselves. I also plan on looking at the Dickey Larsoe Co-Operative Society to observe how they are benefiting the community and expanding the farming community. Through each of these ideas I propose to observed how the Tibetan Refugees have adjusted and learned to farming on India’s soil.

Works Cited

United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. India: Information on Tibetan refugees and settlements, 30 May 2003, IND03002.ZNY. < http://www.unhcr.org/

refworld/docid/3f51f90821.html>. Accessed 24 February 2012

Xu, Jianchu; Yang, Yong; Li, Zhuoqing; Tashi, Nyima; Sharma, Rita; Fang, Jing. “Understanding Land Use, Livelihoods, and Health Transtion among Nomads: A Case of Gangga Township Dingri County, Tibetan Autonomous Region of China.” EcoHealth. 5,104-114 (2008).

 Federation of Tibetan Co-Operatives. Untitled Document. 2009. <http://www.ftci.co.in/

consolidated-information-on-15-member-coop-socities.htm>. Accessed 20 February 2010.

Central Tibetan Administration. Department of Home: Central Tibetan Administration. “Agriculture: Tibetan Organic Farming.” 2012. Web. 10 January 2012. http://ctrc.tibet.net/agriculture.html

Federation of Tibetan Co-Operatives Ltd. Tibetan Organic. 2009. <http://www.ftci.co.in

/F41923/tibetan_organic.html>. Accessed 20 February 2010.

Himalayan Institiute. “Bylakuppe Settlement.” 2011. <http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/

            humanitarian/tibetan-settlements/bylakuppe-settlement/>. Accessed 19 February 2010.

McKown, Colleen. “Mundgod’s Tibetan Farmers on Organic Methods and the Monsoon Pattern”. The Tibet Post International. 29 Sept 2011.

McKown, Colleen. “CST Pricipal and Students on Changing Times, Tibetan Identity”. The Tibet Post International. 26 September 2011.

Nicholls, Stu. Central Tibetan Admistration: Department of Home “A Brief Story of Lugsung Samdupling, Bylakuppe, Karnataka State.” 2011. <http://ctrc.tibet.net/

settlements/india/south/lugsam.html>. Accessed 20 February 2012.

http://tdlsociety.com/tractor_Section.aspx

Tradition and Change

Allen, Tracy H.. “Tibet: Landscape of Tradition and Change”. FOCUS on Geography. 2009. 23-29

In this article the Allen explores the changing Tibetan landscape and the relationship shared between the culture and the environment. In Buddhist practice there is a deep interrelated balance between humans and nature but as modernity sets in so does a change in practice. China is compelling this change of going global. Railways are increasing and tourists are continually increasing but at the expense of tradition and the environment.

Social and Demographics of Tibetan Refugees

Bhatia, Shushum; Dranyi, Tsegyal; Rowley, Derrick. “A Social and Demographic Study of Tibetan Refugees in India”. Social Science and Medicine. (2002). 42; 411-422.

This article discusses the social and demographic characteristics of approximately 65,000 Tibetan refugees in India from data collected between 1994 and 1996. Of the 65,000 Tibetans 55,000 of them were refugees living in 37 different settlements and the remaining 10,000 were monks in the monasteries associated with these settlements. Surveillance was established through trained community health workers in house to house visits to collect data. Community health workers also conducted monthly interviews with a designated liaison monk at each monastery. Through this research it was found that new refugee immigration was little in the past 10 years but there is a steady influx of new monks in the monasteries. Age distribution in the settlements showed a prominent mode of individuals ranging from 15 to 25 years old . There seems to be a declining birth rate (16.8/ 1000) and increase proportionality of elderly.  Those that were born in India were educated through secondary schools while those born in Tibet were often illiterate. Occupations ranged from students (27%), Farming (16%), sweater selling (6.5%), and others who were too young or old to work (6.5%). Unemployment is estimated to be about 2.4%. Child vaccinations cover less than 50%. Illnesses  in the Tibetan refugee societies were characterized as diarrhea, skin infections, respiratory infections, fevers, and among the elderly death was assumed to be caused by cancer, tuberculosis, accidents, cirrhosis, and heart disease.

From this article I begin to slightly understand the social dilemmas and demographic characteristics of the individuals I will be working, living, and interviewing with. I can understand possible illness of the family, the rareness of child birth, and the occupations of those around me. I am excited to be in these communities and learn the sensitivity or openness of subjects. I want to gain a personal and emotional connection to these kind of subjects.

Integration of Cultural Aspects

I am finally becoming truly interested in my project as I have begun to read the article from Colleen McKown. The experience is becoming more personal and real in my eyes. Mckown has published a series of articles nearly all reporting from Mundgod in Karnataka, India. The three in which I have read cover topics such as farming, preserving culture, school, work and family. As I have thought about it throughout the day I have began to consider how this all fits together. Though all that I say may not be perfectly accurate I am going to make some assumptions combined with the information that I have learned from McKown’s published articles.

In 1959 the Tibetan people were forced out of Tibet. Many fled into India where they were guaranteed protection. As a result the Dalai Lama wanted to preserve some of the cultural traditions of Tibet while also acclimating to the new land. He directed the Tibetan refugees to learn how to farm and to farm organically, he asked for help by the CTA to set up schools, and set up communities in which Tibetan refugees could live and preserve culture. While this was all instated soon following their arrival in India times have changed since then. Money is not found in farming and herding like it was in Tibet. The rising generation is finding the need and the responsibility to support their families and gain an admirable education. While in the early 60’s, 70’s and 80’s farming was considered a sustainable job for the Tibetan refugees it isn’t any longer.

The younger generation realizes this and sees the need to be knowledgeable and become doctors, dentists and nurses. They want to see the world. They are accommodating their needs. Few of the older generations of the Tibetan refugees see the need to leave. They see leaving as a destruction of their culture. The few that don’t perceive it this way understand that the only way to truly support your family is to have at least one of your family members leave the community. One of the teachers that McKown mentions says that Tibetan culture will never die. The students in Mundgod show that they know the song, dance, debates, and poetry of their culture.

 I see this transition of rising generation being a benefit to the people. The Tibetan refugees will never forget their culture, where it comes from- who they are. My theory is that as children grow up, move away and get an education they will make their money, have a family, and when they get older and can support themselves they will return back to their Tibetan community.

As pertaining to my project I am predicting that I will see many younger children, older Tibetan refugees, and some unfortunate (poorer) individuals on the farms. I am assuming that the coming generation will be going to universities and colleges gaining a higher education or off in the city working a higher paying job than they would have in the community. I am excited to see how exactly all these aspects fit in to the culture in Bylakuppe.

Mundgod Tibetan Settlement

McKown, Colleen. “Mundgod’s Tibetan Farmers on Organic Methods and the Monsoon Pattern”. The Tibet Post International. 29 Sept 2011.

This article discusses concerns with farming and organic farming, the monsoon, and having the future generation continue the farming tradition. In Mundgod, a Tibetan settlement about seven hours south of Bylakuppe, there are nine camps six of which are fully organic. The Dalai Lama expresses the importance of producing organically, just like they did in Tibet, in order for good, healthy food. Lobsang Chodack from camp eight emphasizes his concerns with organic farming stating that it requires more paid help to take care of the farm and much less product is produced. In order to maintain his organic farm teak trees must surround his farm in order to keep the cows out; the soil must be a mixture of 5kg cow dung, 1kg cow urine, and 1 kg jiggery to detract pests and still pests attack his crops somehow. The Central Tibetan Administration is beginning to advise farmers to grow cash crops such as alphonso mango, coconut, cashews, and amla to boost farmers gain. There is a roaming fear that the younger generation will not keep the family tradition. The younger generations are leaving the farm to the parents care and Lobsang believes the only way to keep them involved is to gravitate towards modern technology. Lastly the monsoons of the last few years have been unpredictable so it is impossible to know how to protect the crops. My questions are if they could predict the weather how would it change farming techniques? Would location be different? Does the future generation plan on eventually continuing the farm? If so, will they continue organic farming?

Yamaguchi, Takayoshi. “Transition of Mountain Pastoralism: An Agrodiversity Analysis of the Livestock Population and Herding Strategies in Southeast Tibet, China”.  Human Ecology (2011). 39:141-145

In this paper Yamaguchi discusses his findings of the current status of mountain pastoralism and its future viability. In the past vertical mobile grazing was typical but as social, economic and political changes are occurring in Southeast Tibet so do modes of grazing.  Through analyzing rangeland environment, livestock variety, and grazing form it made it possible to look at livestock distribution. Yamaguchi states that his purpose is to evaluate the relationship between rangeland policy and the actual situation in the environment.  In the research conducted management diversity, agro-biodiversity, biophysical diversity and organization diversity were all taken into consideration. Yamaguchi also looked at the number of households engaged in mobile pastoralism in 1983, 1990, and 2003. This information will help supply the data needed to look at the difference from when mobile pastoralism was more of a government mandated job or community job than a family household based job. In conclusion, data showed that grazing was shifting from mobile pastoralism to sedentary forms of farming. Animal husbandry is dying out and farming is becoming more prevalent than in the past.  In the Southeastern Tibetan communities observed it was shown that families will resort to trading butter for their herds grazing on the neighbors property. It is being shown that milking yaks can be more profitable than eating the animals.

As I read this study I began to realize how much animal husbandry was previously a part of Tibet. Farming was not profitable in the past but now it is becoming more and more popular. Understanding this makes it understandable why Tibetan refugees had to be taught and trained how to work the soil in India. By going to Bylakuppe I hope learn the process that they had to go through to learn farming techniques.

25 questions

 This coming May my husband and I are planning on going to Bylakuppe, a little town in southern India for a field study. Although his plans are pretty set in stone, I have yet to confirm my exact plans. Thusfar, I have become interested in agriculture and farming in India. The town that we are going to is a Tibetan Refugee settlement so I would like to base my study on how they learned to farm on India's soil, what kind of problems they have confronted as far as pesticides, and how they have learned to manage the summer monsoon rains. To further extend my study I will look at natural medicine in the home. These are a few questions that I have about India, Tibet, and the people there:


1. What grows in India during the summer months?
2. How does irrigation work?
3. What fungus and bugs are a problem?
4. What pesticides are used?
5. Do most Tibetans do their own farming?
6. How common is organic farming?
7. Is farming ran by Tibetan families or their "Help"?
8. Where does Bylakuppe's water source come from?
9. Who do their crops go to?
10. Where did the Tibetans learn how to work on India's soil?
11. Does the future generation show interest in continuing to farm?
12. How do the Tibetans feel about working somebody else's soil?
13. What kinds of medicines do the refugees tend to use in their home? Natural vs. allopathic?
14. What are some remedies for common ailments (headaches, upset stomach, etc.)?
15. What is the Tibetan conception of death like?
16. How are major ailments dealt with, generally? Acceptation, leaving the camp for a major hospital, etc.?
17. Do people often grow their own medicines?
18. Is it common to go and see doctors?
19. What does the typical Tibetan refugee diet consist of?
20. Do the refugees import things from Tibet for a "taste of home?"
21. I read a paper about substances in the soil producing various skin ailments in northern India. Is this type of thing common in Bylakuppe?
22. What is the quality of the soil in Bylakuppe?
23. How do farmers maintain nutrition in the soil?
24. Is farming mostly done by men, or do women and children also farm?
25. What is the quality of the available water sources?
26. How open are family members about their illnesses? Is it a source of shame, or a fact of life?
27. Are health issues common topics of conversation ("how have your bowel movements been lately" is not an uncommon question in some places!)