Food and Grain Consumption Per Capita in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and Implications for Conservation

Abstract

Background: Grain security is crucial for social stability and ecosystem conservation regionally and globally, and it is particularly concerned widely in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) due to its high altitude and harsh climate for agriculture. Method: In this paper, we calculated and analyzed per capita food and grain consumption, including direct grain consumption, grain for fodder, industry consumption, seeds consumption, and wastage consumption and its changes in the QTP during 1995–2019. Results: The results showed that (1) in 2019, the average food consumption per capita was 333.35 kg, was stable since 1995. The dietary structure of residents was composed of direct grain consumption (44.15%), meat (10.72%), and milk (6.94%). The consumption of meat and milk was higher than the national average. (2) The average daily intake of energy and protein, animal protein, and the ratio of high-quality protein and fat energy were 2156.21 kcal·d−1, 73.53 g·d−1, 23.06 g·d−1, 38.32%, and 27.77% in 2019. Their changes were −342.98 kcal·d−1, −8.91 g·d−1, 11.16 g·d−1, 18.37%, and 11.08%, respectively. (3) The corresponding grain consumption per capita was 284.90 kg·a−1 in 1995, 262.19 kg·a−1 in 2010, and then remained stable until 2019. Conclusion: The study suggested that food consumption per capital was guaranteed at the well-off level since 2010, and food and dietary structure of residents were corresponding to physical geographic and climatic environment in the QTP. The conflict between food security and the ecosystem conservation can be managed without scarifying nature as the total grain consumption was stable since 2010, and the yield per unit area and total grain yield were both increasing since 2003 for agricultural condition improved in the QTP.

Association of dietary pattern and Tibetan featured foods with high-altitude polycythemia in Naqu, Tibet: A 1:2 individual-matched case-control study

“…The intake of vegetables by the population of Nagqu has greatly increased and the intake of staple foods has decreased, and the change in dietary structure may be the main reason for the decrease in total energy intake in our study. However, there has been a decreasing trend in energy intake among residents in Tibet in recent years (28). Our results of lower energy intake and protein intake are similar to some previous studies (17, 29).…”

High-resolution livestock seasonal distribution data on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in 2020

“…Fortunately, Qinghai and Tibet covered 79% grassland area of the QTP, and therefore the uncertainty of validating the model was alleviated. (4) In training the livestock distribution model, we used the county-mean of each predictor, for county-level statistics is the spatially finest official livestock number data available. Consequently, such statistical relationship derived could suffer from…”

Coupling Efficiency Assessment of Food–Energy–Water (FEW) Nexus Based on Urban Resource Consumption towards Economic Development: The Case of Shenzhen Megacity, China

“…The statistical data applied in this study, covering socioeconomic and environmental data, were derived from the Guangdong Statistical Yearbook [54], Shenzhen Statistical Yearbook [36], and Shenzhen Water Resource Bulletin [45] with the database supplements focusing on pollution monitoring and land utilization provided by the local department of environmental protection and land-use planning. The corresponding coefficients for foodsource protein estimations were retrieved from local case studies in Shenzhen City [47,48].…”

“…(AWC + IWC + RWC) × PT-RWW + (AWC + IWC + RWC) × (1 − PT) 9 ∑ i=1 FC i × PRO i × RPOP FC i :Daily food i consumption PRO: Protein content of food i RPOP: Regional population by the end of year[47,48] * SCE: Standard Coal Equivalent.…”