Xinjiang makes miracles in battle against Taklimakan Desert

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China has been stepping up its efforts in sand control around the Taklimakan Desert over the past year, with key counties on the edge of the desert making remarkable achievements in afforestation.

The Taklimakan, located in the heart of the Tarim Basin, is China's largest desert and the world's second-largest drifting desert, spanning more than 330,000 square kilometers, nearly one-fifth of Xinjiang's total land area.

For generations, it has posed a formidable challenge to survival and development in the region. Over the recent decades, Xinjiang has mobilized joint efforts across multiple regions to build a protective green shield around the desert.

As of Nov 28, 2024, a sand-blocking barrier of 3,046 kilometers encircling the Taklimakan has been fully established, marking the longest green ecological barrier around a desert in the world.

Over the past year, the work of desert control has been continuously proceeding with remarkable results. As of the end of October 2025, Xinjiang had treated over 914,000 hectares of desertification.

People in Qiemo County have spared no efforts in sand prevention and control, transforming thousands of hectares of barren desert into a green landscape and building a windbreak and sand-fixing forest stretching over 20 kilometers.

Bachu County in Kashgar Prefecture has promoted ecological restoration through techniques such as reed barriers and three-dimensional planting, completing the treatment of over 66,600 hectares of desertified land and continuously consolidating the achievements in ecological governance of the Taklimakan Desert.

In 2023, the vast desert in Ruoqiang County was completely covered by crisscrossing barriers in just two years, thanks to the combined efforts of engineering sand control and biological sand fixation.

While intensifying desert control efforts, the locals have also made their efforts to develop arable land and aquatic products, achieving a double harvest of economic and ecological benefits. To date, the total area of desert-growing economic crops in Xinjiang has exceeded 720,000 hectares, generating a total output value of 28.9 billion yuan (about 4.1 billion U.S. dollars).

At the Houheba Desertification Control Base in Minfeng County, Hotan Prefecture, experimental fields are being planted with 22 kinds of Chinese medicinal herbs and 10 kinds of cash crops.

By exploring diversified governance approaches, Yutian County has formed a 20,000-hectare planting area of red willow and tamarisk, a 16,000-hectare inoculation area for cistanche deserticola, and a rose field over 4,600 hectares, forging a new path for the coordinated development of ecology and economy.

Located on the edge of the desert, Hotan County is witnessing a booming development of aquaculture. The area for large-scale aquaculture of crabs, bass, and lobsters has jumped to over 350 hectares as of today.

Xinjiang makes miracles in battle against Taklimakan Desert

Smart, terrain-adaptive harvesters are helping farmers in Bijie City, southwest China's Guizhou Province, make the most of the fine weather to bring in crops in its summer wheat harvest.

At a wheat farming base in Pingzhai Town of Zhijin County, several combine harvesters are busy working in the golden fields.

"We used to get in crops manually. It often rains in the wheat harvesting season, which would leave wheat rotten in the field, mildewed and sprouting. With mechanized harvesting, we've become more efficient. After it is harvested, the wheat can be quickly dried, guaranteeing the wheat quality," said Wang Jun, head of the wheat farming base.

This year, Bijie has widely introduced agricultural machinery services across all stages of summer grain production, from plowing, planting, managing to harvesting. To tackle the mountainous terrains, local operators have fine-tuned their equipment mix and promote small to medium-sized harvesters, which effectively improved the harvest efficiency.

"We're using tracked combine harvesters, which are advantageous in flexibility, as they turn easily in our hilly areas in Guizhou. With three machines, we can harvest about 10 hectares of wheat a day," said Peng Jian, head of an agricultural machinery service cooperative in Bijie's county-level city of Qianxi.

Bijie is set to harvest over 16,600 hectares of wheat this summer. Local authorities have implemented various subsidy policies for agricultural machinery while streamlining service links of equipment dispatch, maintenance, and technical support. The goal is to wrap up the summer wheat harvest by the end of May.

High-tech farming boosts summer harvest in Guizhou