They've made a triumphant comeback. In the 1970s, the farmers had to leave their housing estate on the rim of the encroaching Mu Us Desert, one of the country's biggest. Today, they've nurtured one of the largest vegetable production bases in northwest China.

 

The veg base, covering Bainijing town and Haiziliang village in Dingbian county of Shaanxi Province, presently produces 180,000 tons of vegetable a year, including 90,000 tons of chili.

 

The two vegetable wholesale markets in the region sold 66 million yuan (US$8.25 million) of chili and potatoes to other parts of the province since 2003. An industrial association, consisting of 80 vegetable growers, was set up to promote local products to the national market, said Shi Qingliang, an official with Bainijing town.

 

"This was incredible 20 years back," said Shi. "We could only grow barley then and wheat was a luxury we could eat once a year."

 

High wind used to bring sand all year round, he said. "After each sandstorm, the sand and dust in my courtyard would fill two handcarts."

 

In 1984, Shi Guangyin, a farmer from Haiziliang village, volunteered to combat desertification by growing a cluster of desert bushes on the rim of the Mu Us Desert.

 

The Mu Us, also known as the Uxin Desert, is one of China's eight biggest deserts. It extends about 10,000 square km in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Shannxi Province.

 

To date, Shi has covered 14,500 hectares of barren land with at least 20 million plants, building up a 100-km-long defense line against the encroaching desert.

 

Many locals have followed his suit by growing trees and grass to improve the local ecology.

 

Despite the arid climate, agronomists say the region enjoys high temperature and much exposure to sunlight, a big advantage in vegetable production.

 

By exploiting ground water for irrigation and using films to attenuate evaporation, local farmers have increased per hectare output of chili to 200 kg and potatoes to 160 kg.

 

In 2005, Bainijing town registered 220 million yuan (US$27.5 million) of agricultural output, 80 percent of which came from vegetable production. Last year, the per capita net income of villagers rose to 2,125 yuan (US$266).

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2006)