County in SW China's Yunnan afforests stony mountains, develops green industries

Photo taken on April 18, 2019, shows a kiwi planting base in Xingjie town, Xichou county, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Yang Zongyou)

Xichou county in southwest China's Yunnan Province has turned its vast stony mountains green and developed thriving green industries, giving local residents better lives.

Located in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan, Xichou once suffered from severe stony desertification, with 99.9 percent of its land being covered by mountainous areas, and 75.4 percent considered stony deserts. The county's per capita arable land was less than 0.78 mu (0.05 hectares).

In the 1980s, foreign experts asserted that Xichou was almost inhospitable due to harsh natural conditions. In 1985, the county vowed afforestation efforts.

To tame the harsh environment and change people's living conditions, the local government decided to reclaim the rocky lands. Liu Dengrong, then Party chief of Muzhe village, which was a food-deficit village, took the lead in using explosives to break up the rocks and reclaim the land. Then, over 300 villagers joined the efforts.

After more than 100 days of hard work, these villagers turned 360 mu of rocky ground into arable farmland. Next year, crops grown in the farmland will see a bumper harvest.

Villages in the county also excavated roads in mountainous areas and developed industries.

"Afforestation efforts not only mean planting trees but also changing our way of life and production," said Huang Mingyong, Party chief of Xichou county, adding that after meeting people's basic needs, a more eco-friendly way of life and production has been formed in the county.

Thirty years ago, 54 villagers' groups in the southeastern part of Xichou were plagued by serious water and soil erosion due to deforestation. Now, the yield per mu of the area's land has multiplied thanks to the planting of kiwi fruit trees.

In 2016, Xichou founded the Wenshan Haohong Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. and adopted a business model that integrates the company, planting bases, cooperatives and farmers to develop the kiwifruit industry. The company obtained over 5,000 mu of land through the transfer of land-use rights from local residents for the purpose.

Chen Dengshu, general manager of the company, said fertilizers and pesticides are seldom used in Xichou, which lays a sound foundation for green planting.

In Jianglong village, Xingjie town of Xichou, Liu Chaoren, then a village official, took the lead in making afforestation efforts and planting orange trees to improve local ecology and bring wealth to villagers. The annual income of over 50 households of fruit growers in the village has reached 1 million yuan ($141,000).

Scenic areas in Xichou always attract visitors on weekends and during holidays and festivals.

A stony desert park in the county is a popular tourist destination. Near the park, a local villager, Zhang Guixiang, plants strawberries. "Visitors flock to the park, and my strawberry greenhouses covering an area of over 20 mu are sought-after among tourists," Zhang said.

Ai Yongjian, head of Xichou's forestry and grassland bureau, said the county will promote the high-quality development of afforestation. Ai explained that the county will protect rare and endangered tree species such as the Pachylarnax sinica, a wild plant under first-class state protection in China, through afforestation efforts, and plant cash crops to strike a balance between prosperity and ecological conservation.