High-tech vegetable farm boosts Xinjiang

A vegetable and fruit production base in a suburb of Shufu county, Kashgar prefecture, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, is helping to increase local employment and significantly boost the output of agricultural products.

The base features greenhouses of 70,000 square meters and a seedling cultivation center of 6,480 sq m.

Ni Xiangxiang, director of the production base, took visitors into a greenhouse on Wednesday in which watermelons are grown using soilless culture technology.

The production base is undergoing further construction and will be expanded into an industrial park equipped with agricultural processing workshops, warehouses for cold-chain logistics, a comprehensive service center and other zones, Ni said.

He said the production base has employed more than 1,100 people from various ethnic groups and that it will also serve as a platform for undergraduate student internships.

Nusratgul Tamakkul, 33, picks melons in the greenhouse. She got the job in March and earns more than 2,000 yuan ($310) per month.

It is estimated that after the industrial park is completed, it will yield nearly 1.5 million metric tons of fresh vegetables annually and will be able to process 1 million tons in the workshops.