Longtime PLA seed sowers earn 'role model' title

Decades of aerial efforts have transformed desert into greener locales nationwide

A brigade of the Search and Rescue Force of the People's Liberation Army Air Force has "rooted" themselves in the desert for decades, sowing seeds from the air to help restore vegetation and combat poverty in rural areas in addition to their routine training.

They have been tasked with aerial seeding and sand control since the early 1980s. For 39 consecutive years, they have sown seeds in more than 130 counties and cities across seven provinces and autonomous regions, including the Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai, spreading more than 10,000 metric tons of seeds over 1.73 million hectares of land.

Dubbed "the Green Eagles", the brigade has long been committed to aerial seeding and helping to alleviate poverty. It was awarded the title of "role model of the times" by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Wednesday.

Since the early 1980s, the central government began to place more importance on ecological management, especially in the western part of country which is characterized by vast mountains and the Gobi Desert.

Through aerial seeding, sowers can quickly cover a vast amount of land at a low cost. The Communist Party of China and the central government thus called on the Air Force to take part in flying missions supporting agricultural and forestry construction.