Growing "Rich Grass" in Saline-alkali Land of Lanxi County, Heilongjiang Province

Standing in the saline-alkali land transformation experimental field of Shengli Village, Yuanda Township, Lanxi County, Heilongjiang Province, I saw that several hundred mu of alfalfa had been clothed in green. Wang Fengcai, a farmer in Shengli Village, said that nothing could be grown here a few years ago, and cattle and sheep were unwilling to "patronize."

Lanxi County is a national key county for poverty alleviation and development, and a large area of Baihua "Alkali Bazi" land used to be barren. "Saline-alkali land, broken skin, no weeds, let alone grain" is a true portrayal of how to get rid of poverty and become rich has always been a difficult problem for the local area.

In 2012, the Institute of Grass Industry of Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences introduced alfalfa planting in the local area, and the former barren land was full of vitality. Zhang Yuexue, director of the Institute, said that some of the nearby 5000 mu experimental fields have a pH value of 8.5, and only alfalfa with well-developed roots and strong salt tolerance can adapt.

According to reports, alfalfa, known as the "king of forage", has the advantages of fiber plants and protein feed, and is the most widely cultivated forage in the world.

Zhao Zhengyou, secretary of the party committee of Yuanda Township, said: there was a brisk market for forage grass last year, and several enterprises with the size of thousands of dairy cows competed for it, and farmers achieved benefits of about 1500 yuan per mu, and are expected to have another bumper harvest this year. Compared with the days when the original corn yield per mu was hundreds of yuan or even lost money, the change can be described as earth-shaking.

Seeing that there is hope for planting alfalfa, many farmers have joined in, growing from dozens of households to more than 200 households. The planting area has been expanded to more than 50, 000 mu, accounting for 1/3 of the arable land in Shengli village.

"the development of alfalfa cultivation has led migrant workers to return to their hometown for employment. Last year, farmers earned more than 2 million yuan in labor fees from experimental plots." Zhao Zhengyou said.

In order to drive farmers to get rich, Shengli Village also set up forage production cooperatives, which realized the process and scientization of forage planting under the guidance of agrotechnical experts. "We plan to further expand alfalfa cultivation and strive to turn Shengli Village into a 'pasture land' in 2014." Zhao Zhengyou said.