What crop varieties are mainly grown in Northwest China?

The climate in Northwest China is arid, and it is one of the four major geographic regions of China today, including 5 provinces or autonomous regions: Shaanxi Province, Gansu Province, Qinghai Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Its land resources are abundant, so what are the main crops in Northwest China?

1. What are the main crops in Northwest China?

Northwest China mainly grows dryland crops, such as highland barley, wheat, soybeans, cotton, potatoes, and jujubes.

2. What are the main geographic features of Northwest China?

1. The geographic boundary of Northwest China lies west of the Loess Plateau and the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, north of the Kunlun Mountains, Altun Mountains, Qilian Mountains, and Qinling Mountains, east of the national border, and south of the national border and the Mongolian Plateau.

2. Annual precipitation in Northwest China decreases from about 400 mm in the east to 200 mm, or even below 50 mm, toward the west. Drought is the main natural feature of this region (respectively temperate continental semiarid, arid, and alpine climates).

3. The terrain of Northwest China is mainly plateaus, basins, and mountains. The eastern part of Northwest China is mainly the Loess Plateau, Hetao Plain, Ningxia Plain, and Hexi Plain. Within the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, mountain ranges and basins alternate: the Altai Mountains, Junggar Basin, Tianshan Mountains, Tarim Basin, Kunlun Mountains, Altun Mountains, Turpan Basin, Tarim River, and Taklamakan Desert.

4. From east to west, the ground vegetation in Northwest China consists of grassland, desert steppe, desert, stony gobi, sand dunes, inland rivers, inland lakes, and oases. Under the influence of human activities, natural vegetation also tends to gradually decrease.

5. Great grasslands and national livestock production bases: nomadic and settled rotational grazing, artificial pastures, pen and shed feeding, hay cutting, milking, and sheep shearing are gradually becoming mechanized; horses and camels are important means of transportation in the Qinghai pastoral area, while the use of motorcycles and automobiles is gradually increasing.

6. Irrigated agriculture. “Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall”—the Hetao Plain in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province. Oases scattered at the foot of high mountains in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Turpan grapes and Hami melons. Long-staple cotton in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Villages, towns, cities, and farmland distributed in dots and belts.

7. Rich mineral resources: coal, oil, natural gas, rare earths, iron, nickel, gold, salt, gemstones, and others have relatively large reserves.

8. Important transportation hubs include: the Lianyungang-Horgos Expressway, the Beijing-Tibet Expressway, the Baotou-Lanzhou Railway, the Longhai Railway, and the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway. (The Longhai Railway and the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway are part of the Eurasian Land Bridge.)

Northwest China is rich in resources. Friends who want to invest can go there to look for good projects.