LANZHOU: For northwest China’s inlanders, tropical fruits were once an exotic delicacy that had to be shipped from southern provinces like Hainan or from Southeast Asia, but today the fruits grow ripe on the region’s arid land.
Ding Hai, 34, built a greenhouse in his hometown, Yinda township in Suzhou District of the city of Jiuquan, Gansu Province, 10 years ago, when he was working at construction sites.
Jiuquan, with most of its area covered by the Gobi Desert, has limited soil and a dry climate, though the long hours of sunshine and the great temperature difference between night and day also protect the area from pests.
Moreover, the abundant light, heat and snowmelt create the perfect growing conditions for plants. More than 10 years ago, with bumps and hollows on the land and no water or electricity supply, the local government organized construction teams to level the soil and provide basic utilities. Then an agricultural base with over 10 greenhouses was put in place. As prices of vegetables are always highest in winter, greenhouse vegetables soon became a cash cow for the greenhouse runners in 2011. “The adoption of substrate soilless culture and effective water-saving technologies can solve the problems of soil and water shortages in vegetable planting, and in addition, the greenhouse can fully utilize light and heat resources and is windproof, so it’s feasible to grow vegetables in the Gobi Desert,” Ding said. – Agencies
