STORY: Sci-tech innovation turns desert sands into arable land
DATELINE: June 18, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:52
LOCATION: CHONGQING, China
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT/TECHNOLOGY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the pilot fields in the Ulan Buh Desert in Inner Mongolia
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): LI YA, Desert soilization team, Chongqing Jiaotong University
3. various of the pilot fields in the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WANG ZHIXIANG, Desert soilization team, Chongqing Jiaotong University

STORYLINE:

Using an innovative technique called "desert soilization," a group of Chinese scientists have turned barren desert sands into productive, farmable land at an affordable cost in northwest China.

In 2013, Professor Yi Zhijian and his team from Chongqing Jiaotong University patented the technique after years of research, giving sands the same properties as soil -- with the same capacity to sustain water, air and fertilizer.

The first test plot was established in the Ulan Buh Desert in Inner Mongolia, where the team found that it required less water but bore higher yields than untreated plots of land.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): LI YA, Desert soilization team, Chongqing Jiaotong University
"The land behind me is the desert ecological restoration zone. We sowed seeds here in 2017, after which it was only irritated for several times, and less than 50 cubic meters of water has been used for irrigation. After that, those plants grew without human intervention, and just with natural rainfalls.
When we step on the 'soil' here, we feel it very compact under the feet, which is totally different from the original desert."

Thereafter, this technology has also been applied in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

In the Taklimakan Desert, the largest desert in China and one of the driest regions in the world, about 10,000 mu (about 666.67 hectares) of desert land has been turned arable, yielding alfalfa grass and other crops.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WANG ZHIXIANG, Desert soilization team, Chongqing Jiaotong University
"The alfalfa is sprouting again after we reaped the first harvest this year in late May. In about a month, we will reap again. Here in this planting base, we can harvest three times in a year."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Chongqing, China.
(XHTV)