Potatoes chip in to restrict desert growth

Retarding expansion

Inner Mongolia is a key part of this greening plan. From 2016 to 2020, work in the region prevented and controlled the desertification of an average 800,000 hectares per year, effectively curbing the spread of local deserts, according to the regional forestry department.

"About five years ago when I came here, there were no plants, only the Mu Us Desert stretching as far as the eye could see," said Chen Xiliang, potato production team leader for Lay's, a potato snacks company based in the United States that buys produce from his cooperative potato farm in Ordos, Inner Mongolia.

As the site of two of China's biggest deserts－the Mu Us and the Kubuqi－Ordos introduced potatoes as a major measure to restore the sandy land. Chen was among the pioneers when the project began in 2018.

"The Mu Us has unique advantages: It has no industrial pollution, and we also found rich underground water there. Both are promising factors for the success of large-scale potato planting," he said.

To ensure that the crops are protected effectively, Chen spends six to seven months in the field every year, only visiting his family in downtown Ordos during the other months. On his daily patrols around the fields he walks an average of 20,000 steps.

"Potatoes can't talk, so we need to take care of them carefully. That was especially true during the first few years when we experimented with planting techniques," he said, stressing the need for constant surveillance of the plants.

"The field was supported by an irrigation pipeline system, but any small technical mistakes resulted in months of effort going to waste."

With the help of a number of agricultural experts, Chen and his team conducted dozens of experiments and changed planting techniques many times. Eventually, they were able to expand operations from one small experimental potato field and introduce several large-scale cultivation units.

In 2019, Chen's farm was expanded to 2,000 hectares, resulting in a crop big enough to ensure production of potato products worth 60 million yuan ($9.4 million) a year.