The rocky desertification areas in Guizhou have prominent contradictions between people and land (mainly due to large population and large proportion of agricultural population). They are generally faced with three major problems: economic poverty (lack of food and money), poor living environment conditions (low vegetation coverage, difficulty in sourcing drinking water for people and livestock, frequent karst drought and flood disasters, etc.) and insufficient potential for regional sustainable development (single rural industrial structure, lack of alternative industries and new economic growth points)
[18][19][21,22]. Therefore, the rocky desertification control model should be explored from the aspects of different karst landform types, different levels of rocky desertification, different rocky desertification types and different site conditions. Moreover, on the basis of following the principle of species adaptability, the principle of combining long- and short-term, the principle of hierarchy and sequence, the principle of ecological compensation and the principle of market orientation, the coordination and unity of ecological benefits, economic benefits and social benefits is sought after
[20][23]. In recent years, various scientific research institutions and local forestry, agriculture, water conservancy, animal husbandry and other departments have made technological breakthroughs in the implementation of key national scientific and technological projects, namely, the Yangtze River improvement project and the Pearl River improvement project. In the field of the comprehensive control of rocky desertification, many models and application technology systems with practical application value have been proposed, which play an important guiding role in the comprehensive control of rocky desertification in Guizhou
[7][20][7,23]. Based on the key problems of rocky desertification and the technical measures taken by the control model, the constructed rocky desertification control models include seven categories: a vegetation restoration model of forest and grass
[9], a soil and water conservation model
[10], a development model of herbivorous animal husbandry
[21][11], an ecological agricultural model
[18][21], a tourism mode of ecological reserves
[22][24], a comprehensive governance model
[23][25] and an ecological migration model
[24][26]. Karst rocky desertification control has established different control models from different angles, but the landform and geology of karst areas are complex, and it is difficult is difficult to achieve the desired effect with a single model.
2.2.2. Ecological Industry Models in Karst Areas Are Diverse
Ecological industry is dominated by ecological theory, organically combining traditional agricultural experience and modern agricultural technology and planning, organizing and producing new models of modern agricultural development according to local conditions
[13][14]. It is an organic system that includes the ecological environment and living conditions of industry, agriculture, residential areas and so on. Therefore, it spans the primary production sector, the secondary production sector and the service sector, including eco-industry, eco-agriculture and eco-service industries
[25][27]. At present, the main and large-scale ecological industry models in the karst area are as follows: the company is the leading enterprise, the farmers are the industrial workers, the establishment of commodity production bases and the market-oriented comprehensive agricultural development and operation model
[20][23]; an agricultural product base centered on “market + standard + technology + management + environmental protection + insurance + base + company + farmer + government key support”, forming a highly intensive, high-quality, efficient and safe production model
[26][28]; a three-dimensional agro-ecological model for planting vegetables, medicinal materials and other economic crops or breeding chickens and ducks in open space in forests; and fruit row spacing by using the temporal and spatial differences and complementary relationships between crops, forests and fruits during growth. Not only can these models improve the utilization rate of land and increase economic benefits, but they can also protect soil, reduce soil erosion and reduce pests and diseases
[27][29] It is a comprehensive utilization model of waste resources based on the development of cow dung, pig dung, chicken dung and other wastes in the breeding industry or the use of biological and microbial process measures
[28][30]; the forest belt model around the city is mainly formed by returning farmland to forests, closing mountains for afforestation and maintaining natural forests
[29][31]. The construction of these poverty alleviation models through ecological agriculture has brought both ecological and economic benefits. To sum up, it can be seen that these ecological industrial models in karst areas are mainly based on agricultural development, and most of them are primary agricultural products, with a single industrial structure.
2.3. Industrial Demonstration
2.3.1. Eco-Industry Application Demonstration
From 2004 to 2006, six standardized demonstration bases for grassland animal husbandry stony desertification prevention and control were established in southwestern Guizhou, southern Guizhou and Guiyang, Guizhou province, and 2000 hm
2 of high-quality artificial forage base was built. Involving 1800 specialized households in grass planting and breeding, the demonstration effect is significant
[30][32]. With the development of the demonstration project, beef cattle breeding demonstration areas have been established in Zhanjie, Liuchang and Anliu Town and Qingzhen City, Guizhou Province, with 952 farm households, 12,000 acres of artificial grassland and 3237 hybrid beef cattle
[31][32][33,34]. Seven breeding demonstration sites have been established in Qinglong County, Guizhou Province. Each demonstration site has established a sheep breeding base, a high-quality mutton sheep fattening base, Artificial Forage Planting and an improvement base to combine demonstration, production and promotion
[33][35]. In Xin’an Town, Pingguo County, Guangxi, a standardized meat rabbit breeding demonstration farm covering an area of 3.6 hm
2 and supporting three meat rabbit deep processing production lines has been established. It is the only demonstration base of meat rabbit breeding and processing in Guangxi
[34][36]. These demonstration bases have promoted the development of ecological aquaculture in the surrounding areas, but the market for these products basically depends on the government or management enterprises. Their retail market is limited, and some products are basically sold domestically.
2.3.2. Eco-Industry Demonstration Benefits Are Remarkable
The demonstration of the three-dimensional ecological agriculture model of forest, fruit, tea, medicine and vegetables promoted the recycling and reuse of materials in the agricultural ecosystem and achieved a unified effect of ecological development, ecological environmental protection and renewable utilization of energy and economic benefits
[32][34]. For example, the Guizhou Taro Stem Horticulture New Technology Development Company grows
Lycoris radiata on barren hills and wasteland rented by farmers in Maizhi Village and Baiyi Township, Dongfeng Town, Wudang District. Add in the annual net income of CNY 3000 per mu and the wages of reemployed farmers, and the average annual income of farmers will reach more than CNY 12,000. In 2007, the project realized an output value of CNY 500,000, increasing farmers’ income by CNY 100,000. Under the leadership of the company,
Lycoris cultivation is advancing on the road of green development of “chain development and recycling”, helping farmers increase their income
[35][37]. Lin demonstrated the application of the principle of three-dimensional agriculture and the Directional Cultivation Technology of corn nutrition group seedling and practiced the three-dimensional planting and breeding mode of “rice, corn, fish, mushroom and vegetable” in a low-yield paddy field in the rock hill area of Northwest Guangxi. Compared with the control (simply planting double cropping rice), the output value increased by 579.5%, the net income increased by 759.2% and the reciprocating utilization of agricultural resources was realized
[36][38]. The economic effect of the model demonstration is remarkable, but the ecological products of most three-dimensional ecological industries are relatively singular and lack industrial innovation according to local conditions.
2.4. Monitoring and Evaluation
2.4.1. Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation System of the Rocky Desertification Ecological Environment System
The evaluation of ecosystem stability and sustainability before and after the treatment of eco-environmental vulnerable areas is conducive to ecosystem health management, and points out the direction for the correction of treatment methods and follow-up treatment paths of eco-environmental vulnerable areas. The comprehensive benefit evaluation of rocky desertification includes ecological benefits, economic benefits, and social benefits
[37][39]. The evaluation of ecosystem stability after karst rocky desertification control mainly focuses on the evaluation of cultivated land fertility
[38][40], water quality monitoring
[39][41], soil and water conservation benefits
[40][42], grassland animal husbandry benefits
[41][43], characteristic forest industry benefit monitoring, shrub and grass restoration benefits
[42][44], rocky desertification sensitivity, ecological restoration
[43][45] and carbon sequestration benefits
[44][46] and the comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of ecological benefits
[45][47]. Sustainable benefits focus on the benefits obtained by ecological and social development in stability and protection in development
[46][48]. The construction of various ecological models, research and development technology and application demonstrations have brought huge ecological benefits to karst areas, but the main socio-economic benefits depend on the ecological industrial cycle and sustainable development. Obviously, paying attention to its ecological benefits is often not enough. The socio-economic benefits before and after rocky desertification control are also one of the indicators for the evaluation of rocky desertification control. The ecological environment is the advantage of ecological resources, and high-quality ecological products are the transformation of ecological resources into economic resources, and their good quality corresponds to a wider market
[46][48]. Therefore, the quality evaluation of ecological products is also very important for the evaluation of the benefits of rocky desertification control.
2.4.2. The Quality Evaluation of Ecological Products Has Limitations
Different growing environments have a great impact on the quality of ecological products. As one of the achievements in the governance of ecologically fragile areas, the quality of ecological products directly affects the economic benefits of ecological industries, and indirectly affects the demonstration and promotion of ecological industries. Generally, the quality of ecological agricultural products mainly includes the sensory quality, nutritional quality and flavor quality. Temperature, light, moisture, altitude and environmental pollution are the main factors affecting the quality of ecological products. The soil and water of the fragile karst ecological area have high contents of mineral nutrients such as calcium and magnesium, and the ecological environment pollution after rocky desertification treatment is small. Its good ecological environment is of great significance for improving product quality. Li Baojiang analyzed the content of mineral elements in the fruit of 22 apple varieties. The results showed that the varieties with high calcium and potassium content and low manganese and copper content had good fruit flesh, good storage resistance and good flavor quality. However, zinc content had little effect on fruit flavor, meat quality and storability, and the zinc content of high-quality varieties was relatively low
[47][49]. Glenn used pear as the test material. Through calcium infiltration treatment, it was found that the pectin decomposition of the fruit after calcium treatment was slow during the storage period, which could maintain a high degree of fruit hardness and brittleness, showing strong storability
[48][50]. Different crops have different adaptability to the environment
[49][51], and the research on the change in fruit quality due to the influence of specific environments is not enough. The impact of ecological factors on fruit quality is difficult to quantify and has strong limitations, so it is difficult to establish a systematic ecological product quality evaluation system.