How to farm on desert land? Agriculture in sandy areas is flourishing
Currently, China's agricultural production and development is subject to hard constraints such as the reduction of arable land resources and the limited carrying capacity of environmental resources. China's existing desertified area is 1.73 million mu, and there is great potential to expand agricultural production space in arid desert areas. However, the ecology of sandy areas is fragile, and it is necessary to find a balance between ecological environmental protection and agricultural development, and to develop farmland moderately on the premise of protecting the ecological environment.
In many places, deserts are being turned into farmland, and some other places are also eager to try. So when it comes to agricultural development on deserts, exactly how should it be done? Is it controlled development, or large-scale advancement? Our newspaper's reporter conducted in-depth research on this.
Agriculture in sandy areas is flourishing
Entering Suanlihaize Village, Qinhe Township, Yuyang District, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, the reporter saw dozens of greenhouses standing in the middle of sandy land. Zhang Lianhu, a science and technology commissioner at the Yuyang District Horticultural Technology Extension Station, told the reporter that this is the facility vegetable planting base of Suanlihaize Village. Although the village is located on the edge of the Mu Us Desert, due to abundant groundwater resources and with the improvement of the ecological environment, Suanlihaize Village has leveled and improved sandy land, developed facility vegetables and fruits, and the strawberries, grapes, muskmelons, cucumbers, etc. grown there are very popular in the market. Suanlihaize Village has therefore become a famous demonstration village in Shaanxi Province for one village, one product, with the average annual income per household reaching more than 100,000 yuan.
Yulin City is located in the northernmost part of Shaanxi Province, on the southern edge of the Mu Us Desert, and was once one of the areas in the country most severely harmed by desertification and sandification. After decades of arduous desert prevention and control, the forest coverage rate has increased from 0.9% before the founding of the People's Republic of China to 33% today, 8.6 million mu of shifting sand in the northern wind-sand area has been fixed or semi-fixed, and all 1.5 million mu of farmland has achieved forest network coverage.
Liu Zhongxiong, deputy researcher of the Yulin City Agriculture Bureau, told the reporter that with the improvement of ecological conditions, in recent years Yulin City has developed 150,000 mu of arable land in sandy areas through land requisition-compensation balance projects, establishing modern large farms one after another, and facility agriculture is flourishing. "On the premise of pursuing ecological benefits, moderately developing sandy land agriculture is conducive to mobilizing local enthusiasm for desert prevention and control and realizing the sustainable development of ecological protection," Liu Zhongxiong said.
⟦NL> Like Yulin City, Ordos City in Inner Mongolia, nearly half of whose area is occupied by the Kubuqi Desert and the Mu Us Desert, was also once an area in China that suffered relatively severe desertification. After decades of desert prevention and control, Ordos's ecological environment has undergone tremendous changes. The treatment rate of the Mu Us Sandy Land has reached more than 75%, and the treatment rate of the Kubuqi Desert has reached more than 25%. While carefully protecting the hard-won desert oases, Ordos is also exploring the possibility of turning desert oases into fertile farmland.
Wu Xiangdong, deputy director of the Dalad Banner Forestry Bureau in Ordos City, believes that China is currently short of arable land resources and can expand agricultural production space into deserts. However, to transform desert oases into arable land without destroying the ecological environment, there is currently a lack of scientific and effective technical and theoretical support. If agriculture is overdeveloped in sandy areas, it will cause water levels to drop and may very likely cause secondary desertification of sandy land. Based on current explorations in various places, the principle of "more sunlight, less water, new technology, high efficiency" should be followed, making full use of the light and heat resources and forest resources of desert areas to develop industries such as sea buckthorn, sand willow, caragana, and licorice.
It is understood that whether fertile farmland can be developed for agriculture in areas with relatively good desert treatment has always been controversial. At present, desertified areas such as Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia are also exploring the development of sandy land agriculture in the process of protecting the ecological environment. Potatoes from northern Shaanxi, wolfberries from Ningxia, sunflowers from Gansu, and grapes from Xinjiang have already formed a certain influence in the market.
Experts believe that people hope to break free from the constraints of natural economic conditions and obtain agricultural harvests with favorable weather, and such a wish is understandable, but different regions have their own inherent characteristics. People cannot change the natural attributes of a region, nor can they eliminate arid climate once and for all. People need to live in harmony with nature, and through continuous practice, rationally summarize comprehensive measures to achieve因地制宜, innovative development under harsh climatic conditions.
Strictly control the scale of development
During the reporter's interviews in sandy areas, the word heard most often was moderate development. People who have experienced desert harm better understand the importance of protecting the ecological environment. Li Anxiong, deputy director of the Yulin City Land and Resources Planning Bureau, told the reporter that in order to avoid overdeveloping agriculture in sandy areas and damaging the ecological environment, they strictly control the scale of arable land development, and the arable land developed each year through land requisition-compensation balance projects does not exceed 50,000 mu.
It is understood that since Yulin City was designated as a national pilot city for "multiple plans integrated into one," it has formed an overall plan in land use and built a unified spatial control system including construction land scale control lines, urban development boundaries, industrial development boundaries, mining development boundaries, ecological protection red lines, and basic farmland protection red lines. Any land use must comply with this plan.
Like Yulin City, Ordos implements strict control over land. Mao Yunfeng, chief engineer of the Ordos City Forestry Bureau, told the reporter that for many years, Ordos has regarded ecological construction as its greatest infrastructure construction, carrying one ecological blueprint through to the end. In order to protect the ecological environment, as early as more than 10 years ago, Ordos City implemented a strict three-zone development plan, dividing the area within its territory into agricultural and pastoral optimization development zones, restricted development zones, and prohibited development zones.
Ordos's agricultural and pastoral optimization development zones are mainly distributed along the Yellow River and the Wuding River basin, and are core areas for building modern agriculture and animal husbandry and improving comprehensive agricultural and pastoral production capacity. Along the banks of the Yellow River and the Wuding River in Dalad Banner, water resources are abundant, and by transforming sandy areas into high-standard farmland, it has become an important commodity grain base in China.
In agricultural and pastoral restricted development zones, where the contradiction between population and environment is prominent, Ordos resolutely implements the development policy of determining farmland by water, determining people by farmland, determining livestock by grass, and balancing grass and livestock, resolutely relocates farmers and herders who exceed the environmental carrying capacity, reduces overloaded livestock, and shifts part of the labor force from the primary industry to the secondary and tertiary industries. On this basis, with ecological construction and protection as the focus, Ordos strengthens the construction of farmland, grassland, and pasture centered on water, moderately develops the agricultural and pastoral economy, and resolutely prohibits excessive development.
In agricultural and pastoral prohibited development zones, the greatest basic construction is ecological construction. Ordos takes strong measures to increase population relocation, move out farmers and herders engaged in agricultural and pastoral production activities in the region as soon as possible, reduce human interference and damage, reduce the carrying pressure on the ecological environment, and restore vegetation.
"The three-zone development plan has been implemented for more than 10 years with very good results. It has avoided excessive expansion of arable land, effectively promoted ecological environmental protection and the development of the forest and sand industry, and achieved desert greening, people getting rich, and enterprises paying more taxes, thereby promoting regional economic development," Mao Yunfeng said.
Take multiple measures to do good management and protection
For already developed arable land, how to do good follow-up management and protection of the arable land, avoid predatory management, and prevent secondary desertification of arable land is a problem that currently needs to be solved.
Liu Zhongxiong told the reporter that sandy land is relatively barren and not suitable for directly planting crops. To transform sandy land into arable land, the soil must first be tested, and only those meeting the requirements for arable land development can be developed. Then 10 to 15 cm of loess and concrete should be laid on the sandy land. It is necessary to strengthen follow-up management of arable land through strict crop rotation and stubble turning, straw return to the field, and planting winter wheat and other farming methods that combine farming and land care, so as to minimize the impact of arable land development on the ecological environment.
Standing on the viewing platform of the potato breeding base of Shaanxi Dadi Seed Industry Co., Ltd. in Mahe Town, Yuyang District, and looking into the distance, tens of thousands of mu of potatoes stretch endlessly. Company chairman Hao Guangfang told the reporter that in 2012 their company contracted 19,700 mu of improved sandy land, planted 10,000 mu of potatoes, and planted the other land with high-quality forage such as corn and purple alfalfa, with the land utilization rate reaching about 70%. "In the first year of contracting the land, when cultivating, the wind blew and the sand ran. We consolidated the sandy land and improved soil fertility through measures such as straw return to the field and planting winter wheat. Now the sandy land is becoming more and more level, soil fertility is getting higher and higher, and planting returns are getting better and better. Last year, the net income per mu reached about 300 yuan, and this year it is expected to reach about 500 yuan," Hao Guangfang said.
The reporter saw that on some sand dunes that cannot be cultivated, Dadi Company planted sand-tolerant plants such as sand willow, caragana, and sand sagebrush, as well as purple alfalfa. Hao Guangfang said that in order to resist wind erosion of the land, they usually do not allow any bare arable land, planted shelterbelts around the arable land, and strictly implemented a potato and corn rotation and stubble-turning model. "In the winter slack season, all straw is returned to the field, using straw to cover the land. Some plots are planted with winter wheat, and when the land is cultivated the following spring, the winter wheat is returned to the field, which can also improve soil fertility," Hao Guangfang said. "However, planting winter wheat is the most effective measure to protect arable land, but it increases planting costs. I hope relevant departments can increase subsidies in this regard."
During interviews in Yulin and Ordos, the reporter learned that some modern farms widely use water-saving irrigation technology. The potato base in Mahe Town, Yuyang District, Yulin City, and the Gao Haize potato base in Haizitan Town, Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province, widely use large mobile sprinkler irrigation facilities for sprinkler watering, and farmers generally use drip irrigation technology in facility agriculture greenhouses. In some sandy area farmlands in Dalad Banner, Inner Mongolia, farmers mostly use micro-sprinkler irrigation technology.
Liu Xiao, a technician at the Yulin City Agricultural Technology Center, believes that although large mobile sprinkler irrigation facilities can play a water-saving role, they still easily cause waste of water resources and can cause land salinization. Promoting drip irrigation and micro-sprinkler irrigation is more in line with the needs of agriculture in sandy areas. A dynamic monitoring mechanism for groundwater levels should be established to monitor changes in groundwater levels at any time. When groundwater levels decline, fallowing should be implemented to allow vegetation to recover.