Hostile lands give up vegetable and fish bounty

YINCHUAN－Located at the foot of the Helan Mountains in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Dawukou district in Shizuishan city is known for its saline, alkaline land that is hostile to agriculture.

The district, part of an old mining region that stopped producing coal five years ago, has taken up the challenge of transforming the local economy and embracing green agriculture, despite its poor soil and lack of water.

Shizuishan was one of 10 coal mining centers authorized by the Chinese government in the 1950s when large-scale mines were built at the foot of the Helan Mountains. All the mines were shut down in 2017 due to the damage they were causing to farmlands and the environment.

In recent years, backed by a government campaign to "build a prosperous countryside", local farmers have been working on environmental recovery, turning the vast tracts of saline and alkaline land into a center for vegetable farming and fish breeding.

In Zaoxiang village, farmers are using large buildings for the dual purpose of breeding fish and growing vegetables. The two ventures work well together, sharing the same supply of water, which is made to circulate through the fish tanks and vegetable plots efficiently.

"Zaoxiang is located on low-lying land and suffers from heavy saline and alkaline elements in the soil, which previously made it unsuited to growing crops," said Yang Hongjie, a village Party official. "So, the village was half-deserted, with all the able-bodied men having moved elsewhere as laborers."

Like other villages in the district, five years ago, Zaoxiang turned to government financial support and technological support from scientific institutions and universities to revive the land, ecologically.

The combination of growing vegetables and farming fish in the special buildings was one of the innovations to emerge from this process. It is designed to reduce the saline and alkaline elements in the soil, while speeding up fish and vegetable production.

"Each season, we can harvest 7,000 kilograms of fish and 16,000 kg of vegetables, melons and fruits, which earn us 30,000 yuan ($4,475) and 10,000 yuan, respectively," Yang said.

Taking advantage of the government-financed project promoting modern agriculture in Dawukou district, Zaoxiang expects its farmers to increase their incomes by over 8 percent this year. The government has mobilized 220 million yuan for the project, which covers the whole district.

With agriculture establishing a foothold in this arid area, brand-new villages, mini-towns and highways are being built to facilitate the lives and work of farmers.

Among those overseeing development is Niu Junwei, a Party official at Dawukou's Xinghai township.

"We have recently built houses with courtyards for 44 households on the site of an old dilapidated village, which was built four decades ago for immigrants from the poverty-stricken Xihaigu region in central and southern Ningxia," Niu said.

Xinhua