Cistanche deserticola: turn 70,000 mu of desert "sand into gold"

On June 23, Liu Zhilin, a young farmer from the 38th Regiment of the Second Division of the Production and Construction Corps, checked the growth of Cistanche deserticola under the forest in the artificial wind-breaking and sand-fixing Haloxylon ammodendron forest. Who would have thought that this was once an endless desert?

Seven years ago, Liu Zhilin ran a family farm in Qiawaldun Township, ** Qiemo County. Because it is located in the hinterland of Taklimakan Desert, the natural environment is very bad, and ten thousand mu of farmland has suffered heavy losses from sandstorm for years. Therefore, he is determined to control the desert, sell the family farm painstakingly managed, abandon the land with an annual income of more than 2 million yuan, raise 10 million yuan, dispatch manpower and machine power to level sandbags, drill wells, lay pipelines, plant more than 4000 mu of wind-proof and sand-fixing trees such as Haloxylon ammodendron forest and Populus euphratica, and fix quicksand with reed grass squares around.

Just planted, Haloxylon ammodendron seedlings were buried by strong sandstorm, in order to alleviate the disaster situation, Liu Zhilin and migrant workers to fight disaster self-rescue, with shovel digging, kneeling with hands, fighting for 6 days, more than 400,000 Haloxylon ammodendron seedlings were rescued.

In the harvest season, Liu Zhilin planted 3000 mu Cistanche deserticola harvest less than 500 mu, after experts identified that the seeds are far away from the roots of Haloxylon ammodendron, Cistanche deserticola did not graft survival, more than 4.5 million yuan of seeds, labor, machinery costs have all been wasted. Liu Zhilin borrowed more than 5000 yuan from his parents with tears. He came to Inner Mongolia again to ask friends to help guarantee that he didn't pay a penny to get back Cistanche seeds. From then on, he ate and lived in the desert, aiming at the roots of Haloxylon ammodendron, and the survival rate increased to 93%.

Cistanche after grafting, pruning, irrigation, fertilization and other agricultural work is very heavy, Cistanche growth period, every two days to observe once, summer desert temperature up to 60 degrees, Liu Zhilin in Shawo a walk is more than 30 kilometers. In 2015, Haloxylon ammodendron forest played a role in preventing wind and fixing sand. Cistanche deserticola harvested under the forest was snapped up by merchants, and the net profit of more than 1.5 million yuan was obtained for the first time.

This year, Liu Zhilin expanded 5000 mu of Haloxylon ammodendron forest at the front edge of the desert of Regiment 38 of the Corps, planting more than 100,000 trees. While insisting on desert sand control grafting Cistanche deserticola, he also did not forget to drive more people to become rich together. At present, Liu Zhilin's planting area has exceeded 73,000 mu, and the income of Cistanche deserticola and Cistanche deserticola seeds can reach 6 million yuan. In the past, the sandstorm raging desert has Haloxylon ammodendron forest, Cistanche deserticola has become a golden treasure for local farmers to get rid of poverty and become rich.

Xu Mingsheng Du Bingxun