Shanghai scientists in remote northwest make the desert bloom

Xu Lingchao / SHINE

Yarkant looms as a large wasteland from the window of an aircraft as it prepares to land. Yellow courtyards of local Uyghur people dot a vast expanse of sand, forming a chessboard of flaxen color.

The county, on the southern rim of the Taklamakan desert in the Tarim Basin of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is part of Kashgar Prefecture.

Amid the parched earth and harsh climate, a group of scientists from Shanghai is working with local farmers to bring some green to this barren land by growing quinoa, a crop that originated in highlands of South America. They hope the project will help the locals escape the poverty that has engulfed them for decades.

On August 9, a Shanghai Daily reporter walked down the ridge of an experimental quinoa field in Awa Kanti, a small village in Yarkant that can’t be found on any digital map.

Quinoa is an annual seed-producing, flowering plant botanically related to spinach. Its seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and dietary minerals in amounts greater than in many grains, giving rise to its status as a “superfood” among health enthusiasts.

The quinoa formed a stark contrast with the monotonous, yellow sandy environment, which seemed to stretch for hours as the reporter made his way to the village.

The farmers had already harvested 5 metric tons of quinoa, and a second sowing was underway.

According to local weather authorities, the average precipitation in Yarkant last year was 56.6 millimeters, only 5 percent of the amount in Shanghai. Annual duration of sunshine was almost three times that of Shanghai. Statistically, not a very promising place to grow crops.

But grow crops they do. The scientists from the Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology came to Awat Kanti in March with seven different varieties and 12 cross strains of quinoa seeds.

As its name has suggested, the center is interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying plant responses to harsh environments. It aims to identify key genes for modifying the responses of crops to ecological stress.

“We chose Yarkant as the test field because the dry weather here suits quinoa well,” said Zeng Ai, a researcher from the center. “Compared with other crops, quinoa has better stress resistance and it is very nutritional.”

Zeng said 666 square meters of cotton, a crop grown in arid regions, requires 1,000 cubic meters of water, while quinoa needs only 300.

The seeds were prepared by Shanghai Bright Rice Group. Zhang Jianhan, chief executive of the company, told Shanghai Daily he is more than optimistic about industrializing quinoa in Yarkant.

“It has been proven that quinoa is a nutrient-rich, gluten-free staple with low fat,” said Zhang. “Quinoa straw can also be used to fertilize the land and feed livestock as well.”

Apart from looking for a better gene to tolerate hostile environment, the quinoa project also shines light on the lives of the local farmers.

Awat Kanti means “lively village” in the Uygur language, but the village has struggled to pull its 1,382 residents out of poverty. Most of the population are women, children and the elderly.

Tursun Abdurahman, a local farmer who is now working with the quinoa project, told Shanghai Daily the village used to grow cotton and a few other crops, but most of them couldn’t withstand drought and heat.

“My whole family got less than 1,000 yuan (US$ 142) last year,” said Abdurahman.

The annual income China has drawn for people in Kashgar to escape poverty is 3,000 yuan.

“Few crops can survive such weather, and our farmers don’t have enough knowledge to defend against insect infestation and occasional sandstorms,” said Ablikim Abdulla, Party secretary of Awat Kanti.

It was about 2pm and the temperature was above 40 degrees Celsius as the reporter watched a group of local farmers feeds dried quinoa stalks into a husking machine.

“We harvested the first season, and now we must act fast to husk the stalks and pack the seeds so that we can move onto the new sowing season,” said Abdurahman.

The team of Shanghai scientists researched the soil and environment of the area last September. Still, they met unexpected setbacks soon after the first seeds were sown.

Researcher Zeng recalled the frequent sandstorms that lashed the experimental fields.

“The desertification of the land here was way worse than we thought,” Zeng said. “The sandstorms added insult to the injured soil.”

The team had to duck inside and wait out the storms.

The days of high temperatures in Yarkant also came earlier than the scientists had anticipated.

“Quinoa has good resistance to drought,” Zeng said. “But not such intense heat, especially the kind of heat when the temperature surges in a short period of time.”

At first, the scientists didn’t set up wind-proofing in the field, so the dry, hot sandstorms destroyed many seedlings. Zeng had to organize the farmers and scientists to erect wind-proofing nets and re-sow the seeds.

Xu Lingchao / SHINE

Out of the 1,382 Uyghur villagers, only a handful read Chinese or speak adequate Mandarin, making communication difficult.

“Over hundreds of years, they have worked in families, looking after their own tiny, barren plots of land,” Zeng explained. “It wasn’t easy for villagers to learn to cooperate outside the family structure. But they were keen because they understood that cultivating quinoa could change their lives.”

Tursun Guli Abdulla, the only teacher in the Awat Kanti, volunteered as a translator. She told Shanghai Daily that she couldn’t afford university 20 years ago when she graduated from high school. Now she hopes her two children will be able to leave the village and attend university to get the chance she never had.

The scientists invited experts from neighboring counties to come and educate farmers on watering the quinoa and dealing with plant diseases and insect pests.

Mamatjan Juma from the agricultural technology center of Yarkant has so far taught two classes in Awat Kanti, each with 30 students.

“I teach them how to distinguish between ruderal, or weeds, and quinoa because they sometimes look quite similar,” said Juma. “Now the farmers are more confident and active.”

The farmers who participate in the project get 2,000 yuan a month, double the annual income of most of the villagers last year.

“They are the ones know the land here the best because they have lived here for thousands of years,” Zeng said.

Having spent more than 10 hours every day working on the project, the 33-year-old researcher now sports a deep tan. Despite the harsh conditions, he said he is happy to be there.

Only 57 villagers worked in the fields in the first season, according to center. That’s a small percentage of the village population, but already changes are emerging.

 “Now many of them have bought new furniture,” said Abdulla. “One villager invited me to his home just a few days ago to proudly show me the new sofa he bought.”

“Two varieties among the samples we brought performed well,” Zeng said of the seeds. “We will expand the planting scale in the next round and try to identify the genes that enabled them to endure the hostile environment.”

Zeng said he ultimately wants to find a stable variety of quinoa that would allow the local farmers to cultivate the crop with far less professional backup.

The center hopes to have 133 square kilometers under quinoa cultivation in the Kashgar Prefecture in the next five years.

“We are simply here to open the gate for them,” he said. “They have to enter and grasp their own future.”

Xu Lingchao / SHINE