How Cistanche deserticola turns 70,000 mu of desert sand into gold
On June 23, Liu Zhilin, a young farmer from the 38th Regiment of the Second Division of the **Production and Construction Corps, inspects the growth of Cistanche deserticola under the saxaul forest in an artificial windbreak and sand-fixation saxaul forest. Who could have imagined that this place was once an endless great desert.
Seven years ago, Liu Zhilin ran a family farm in Qiawaledun Township, Qiemo County, **. Because it was located in the hinterland of the Taklamakan Desert, the natural environment was extremely harsh, and ten thousand mu of farmland suffered severe losses year after year from wind and sand encroachment. Therefore, he resolved to control the desert, sold the family farm he had painstakingly managed, gave up land with an average annual income of more than 2 million yuan, raised 10 million yuan, and mobilized manpower and machinery to level sand dunes, dig wells, and lay pipelines at the front edge of the desert in the Hedong area of Qiemo County, planting more than 4,000 mu of windbreak and sand-fixation tree species such as saxaul and Euphrates poplar, and using reeds to weave straw checkerboard barriers around the area to fix shifting sand.
Just after planting, the saxaul seedlings were buried by a strong sandstorm. In order to reduce the disaster, Liu Zhilin and the migrant workers fought the disaster and rescued themselves with all their strength, digging with iron shovels and kneeling to claw with their hands, battling for 6 days, and rescuing all more than 400,000 saxaul seedlings.
When the harvest season arrived, the 3,000 mu of Cistanche deserticola planted by Liu Zhilin yielded less than 500 mu. Experts determined that the seeds were too far from the saxaul roots, and the Cistanche deserticola had not survived grafting, so more than 4.5 million yuan in seeds, labor, and machinery costs all went down the drain. With tears in his eyes, Liu Zhilin borrowed more than 5,000 yuan from his parents, and once again went to Inner Mongolia to ask a friend to help guarantee him, bringing back Cistanche deserticola seeds without paying a cent. From then on, he ate and lived in the desert, aiming to plant at the roots of saxaul, and the survival rate rose to 93%.
After grafting Cistanche deserticola, farm work such as pruning, irrigation, and fertilizing is extremely heavy. During the growth period of Cistanche deserticola, it must be observed once every two days. In summer, the desert temperature reaches as high as 60 degrees, and Liu Zhilin walks more than 30 km in the sand hollows. In 2015, the saxaul forest played a role in windbreak and sand fixation, and the Cistanche deserticola harvested under the forest was snapped up by merchants, earning a net profit of more than 1.5 million yuan for the first time.
This year, Liu Zhilin expanded another 5,000 mu of saxaul forest at the front edge of the desert in Regiment 38 of the Corps, planting more than 100,000 trees. While persisting in desert control and grafting Cistanche deserticola in the great desert, he also did not forget to lead more people to become wealthy together. At present, Liu Zhilin's tree-planting area has exceeded 73,000 mu, and income from Cistanche deserticola and Cistanche deserticola seeds can reach 6 million yuan. The great desert once ravaged by wind and sand now has saxaul forests, and Cistanche deserticola has become a golden treasure land for local farmers to escape poverty and become wealthy.
Xu Mingsheng Du Bingxun