Regional aspects of returning fallow land to agricultural use (Republic of Buryatia)
O.A. YEKIMOVSKAYA1, A.P. SIZYKH2, V.L. RUPOSOV3, A.I. SHEKHOVTSOV4, A.A. SOROKOVOI4, I.A. BELOZERTSEVA4, A.P. GRITSENYUK2, Zh.V. ATUTOVA4, D.N. LOPATINA4
1Baikal Institute of Nature Management, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulan-Ude, Russia
2Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia
3Irkutsk National Research Technical University, Irkutsk, Russia
4V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia
Keywords: agricultural land use, post-agrarian landscapes, recultivation, phytocenoses, mathematical model, efficiency
Abstract
A brief analysis is made of the agricultural land use in the Republic of Buryatia with a focus on the regional aspects of returning fallow lands to agricultural use. Geobotanical descriptions are provided for the abandoned arable lands along the middle reaches of the Selenga River (Southwestern Transbaikalia), the degree of overgrowth and the current status of tree and shrub vegetation. A characteristic is given to the structural-dynamic organization of plant communities in the key areas which are currently used as natural forage areas. The main species of plants are identified, which characterize the current status of vegetation cover in different areas of post-agrarian landscapes. It is found that the arable lands, which were abandoned as a result of the agrarian reforms of the 1990s, are used as pastures and hayfields. Natural forage lands are not withdrawn from agricultural turnover and are used with a different degree of intensity. The regeneration potential of vegetation (long-term regeneration successions) is low. This is due to the specific character of the physical-geographical conditions (the duration of dry periods) of the study area and of the region as a whole. We developed the economic-mathematical model which permits assessing the efficiency of the return of fallow lands to agricultural use. The inverse relationship obtained between the area of arable land and the volume of agricultural products indicates that an increase by 1 ha of arable land will lead to a decrease in the volume of agricultural produce. On the contrary, an increase in the area of pastures by 1 ha increases the volume of gross agricultural output by 35 thousand rubles annually. In the current socio-economic conditions of the Republic of Buryatia, it is more economically efficient to use fallow lands as natural forage lands. By calculating the area of fallow lands and analyzing the possibility of using them to obtain livestock products, it is possible to calculate how much income post-agrarian landscapes can provide in the event of their the recultivation.
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