Sea buckthorn planting becomes a green engine for poverty alleviation and prosperity among workers on a corps farm on the China-Mongolia border
“This year the sea buckthorn has a heavy fruit set, and now that the picking season has arrived, I can pick 50 baskets of sea buckthorn berries a day, which yields about 900 kg and a gross profit of around 4,500 yuan.”
On the 5th, Tasheng, a Kazakh worker from the 3rd Company of the Independent Battalion of the 183rd Regiment of the 10th Division of the ** Production and Construction Corps, located on the China-Mongolia border, told reporters that this year the price of sea buckthorn berries is very good, and he had already signed order contracts early with local sea buckthorn processing enterprises, with expected income reaching 40,000 yuan.
The 3rd Company of the Independent Battalion of the 183rd Regiment of the 10th Division of the ** Corps is less than 1 km from the China-Mongolia border line, 135 km from the battalion headquarters and 310 km from the regimental headquarters. The 19 worker households of the company year-round shoulder the task of guarding 37.5 km of border line. The company's natural environment is poor, with year-round raging sandstorms, a minimum winter temperature of minus 49.7 degrees C, an average annual frost-free period of 103 days, and a boundless Gobi desert that highlights the desolation. To improve the natural environment and increase workers' income, in 2003 the regiment implemented the national project of returning farmland to forest and grassland, and actively guided workers to plant 3,000 mu of large-fruited sea buckthorn.
“Planting sea buckthorn has not only effectively curbed wind and sand, but also brought considerable economic benefits to the 19 worker households of the company. At present, the large-fruited sea buckthorn has entered the picking period, with total output expected to exceed 250 tonnes and net income reaching around 900,000 yuan.” Guo Yulan, political instructor of the 3rd Company of the Independent Battalion of the 183rd Regiment, told reporters that from 2009 to 2015, the average household income of the company rose from 5,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan. The sea buckthorn industry has truly become a "green engine" for poverty alleviation and prosperity along the border line, achieving both ecological and economic progress.
It is understood that on land covered by sea buckthorn, surface runoff is reduced by 80%, topsoil loss by 75%, and wind erosion by 85%. Planting sea buckthorn can deliver ecological, economic and social benefits.
Sea buckthorn, also known as vinegar willow, black thorn and sour thorn, is a perennial shrub or small tree fruit species that is tolerant of dry cold, salt and alkali, and barren soil, and has extremely strong vitality. It is currently the precious economic forest tree species in the world containing the most types of natural vitamins, and its vitamin C content is far higher than that of fresh jujubes and kiwifruit, so it is hailed as a treasury of natural vitamins.