Let's Grow Food in the Desert

China is pushing food production into its arid northwestern regions as arable land disappears and water tables are tapped out in eastern and central parts of the country.

One new initiative aims to turn China's remote northwestern territory of Xinjiang into a new granary for the rest of China. Last year the State Administration of Grain announced that Xinjiang will take advantage of abundant land, water, and good climate to "excavate" the region's grain production potential to go beyond producing enough grain to meet its own needs to become a national granary that produces and stores a surplus for use of the State. The initiative calls for Xinjiang to maintain a minimum 79 million mu of agricultural land--including 63.2 million mu of "permanent basic farmland", to upgrade irrigation, build "high standard fields," develop grain and oilseed industry clusters, and reduce grain waste. The plan aims for grain storage capacity of 1.5 million metric tons and a 31,000 ton reserve of edible oils. A grain processing, storage and logistics industry will be built up at a northwestern border crossing to suck in grains from Kazakhstan and other parts of Central Asia to augment China's grain supply. 

The Xinjiang grain program will consume huge subsidies:

• "High standard field" construction funds last year totaled 8.244 billion yuan.
• Payments to Xinjiang grain farmers for "land fertility protection subsidies" and one-time subsidies to offset the cost of farm inputs were 3.39 billion yuan.
• The central government's machinery purchase and use subsidy totaled 1.2 billion yuan.
• Increased funding of 3.478 billion yuan for grain production projects.
• Funds will be handed out to financially troubled Xinjiang grain enterprises to pay down 1.28 billion yuan in bad debts that resulted from carrying out grain policies.
• Grain companies will be allocated 25 billion yuan in loans to assist in buying up wheat and corn this year.
• Investments in irrigation projects totaling 25.25 billion yuan are planned.

Another project to produce vegetables and corn seed in the Gobi Desert has been underway for at least five years. The project based in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province, a desert with high temperatures, plenty of sunlight, less than 200 mm of precipitation annually and a high evaporation rate. The project was kicked off in 2017 with a provincial plan to create a 50,000-mu production base featuring enclosed glass hothouses, plastic-covered hoop houses, and "smart" technology. The project's construction of greenhouses, research projects carried out by China Agricultural University and visiting Israelis with expertise in desert agriculture suggests considerable subsidies. According to Gansu Daily, the project had received a cumulative investment of 3.865 billion yuan by the end of 2021 from various levels of government and by companies from around China who were probably under orders to join the project. The project mainly produces vegetables like tomatoes with ambitions to create a "market basket" to supply belt and road countries.