China is trying to restore its degraded pastures by banning grazing, and official sources believe that the policy has produced encouraging results.

Currently, grazing is prohibited in 71.25 million hectares of natural pasture in the country, leaving more than 20 million livestock being raised in captivity instead of roaming on wild grassland, according to the Pasture Monitoring Center of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Natural pasture has a very crucial bearing on ecological safety in the country. China has decided to restrict grazing to special zones, in compliance with the 11th Five-Year Program (2006-2010), which was approved at the Fourth Session of the 10th National People's Congress earlier this month.