Lezhi Integrated Development Project
Location: Lezhi County, Sichuan
No. of recipient households : 150
No. of animals given: 750 indigenous black goats and 900 sheets of breeding silkworm
No. of pass-on families: 300
Lezhi County is located in the center of Sichuan around 120 km fromChengdu. As a hilly county, it often suffers from drought with an average annual rainfall of 976mm only. The major crops are rice, corns, sweet potatoes and bean. Farmers have a tradition of pig and goat raising and silkworm keeping. Lezhi Black Goat is a fine breed goat appraised by the provincial authorities. The whole county has 54,255 acres grassland which provides rich resources for goat raising. It has 120 million mulberry trees, which can provide feed for 300 thousand sheets of silkworms, producing eight thousand tons of silkworm cocoons every year.
But poor communication and transportation remains a barrier for farmers to acquire new knowledge on animal raising, which in turn increases income. So the average annual income per person is still low, around RMB1,300 in 2004. To earn more, young men swarm into cities to do some labor intensive work, leaving children, women and old people at home for farming and animal keeping
Heifer will provide 150 families with 750 indigenous black goats and 900 sheets of breeding silkworm. Training and technical services will be provided to families so that they can acquire knowledgement on animal management. In addition, leadership training and technical training will be provided to women recipients