West China witnesses growing interest among private sector to combat desertification

An increasing number of farmers in west China are getting rich by growing or processing plants in deserts in recent years so as to work out a way for sustainable development in the country's most seriously desertified area, said Chu Weidong, an official with a key tree-planting project launched by the State Forestry Administration (SFA).

With the 10th World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought falling on Thursday, China has set the theme "to combat desertification and increase farmer's income" in a bid to waken people's awareness of land degradation and its adverse impact on farmers.

Sources with the SFA indicate that 18.2 percent of China's land is threatened by desertification, exceeding the total area of the country's arable land and the west region is hit most by the problem, with about 75 million people suffering from frequent sandstorms each year.

"Only through upgrading the environment can we talk about how to get rich," said Yu Cong, a 34 year old farmer living in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a place encircled by three big deserts.

Yu, now with an annual income of 500,000 yuan (60,459 US dollars), has spent seven years fighting against desertification. "I raise livestock as well as planting trees, because leaves can feed animals and the money from selling them can be used to plant more trees," he said.

As a matter of fact, Yu Cong is not alone in finding a way to get rich while also protecting the environment.

Huocheng county in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China has one third of its forestation area planted by private entities. In 2002, the private sector invested 23 million yuan (2.78 million US dollars) to plant trees and in return, their fruit trees altogether earned some 120 million yuan (14.5 million US dollars).

In 2003, the SFA launched a policy that granted preferential tax and subsidies to private entities undertaking tree-planting practice.

Encouraged by the policy, Chuan Song agricultural technology corporation in southwest China's Sichuan Province has sent experts to investigate the drought land in Ningxia and developed a special mulberry tree that could endure arid land and cold climate in the area.

"Mulberry's root can reach as deep as nine meters underground to absorb water, so it is quite adaptable to desert area," said Dou Jiangang, president of Chuan Song, "And its leaves are rich ina kind of protein that is very healthy to livestock. Its fruits can be processed to juice and wine and its branch is also an ideal material to make paper."

Since 2003, the company has planted 4,000 hectares of mulberry trees in Ningxia and plans to plant 330,000 hectares of mulberry in 12 years, and meanwhile, it plans to build up several processing factories near the planted area.

"No program for protecting the environment can succeed without alleviating the day-to-day reality of poverty," said Zhou Shengxian, the director of SFA, "However, if profits are there, individuals will have more motivation to protect the environment."