Innovation turns desert sands into arable land

Were it not for the windblown grains of sand stinging his body, Wang Zhixiang might easily forget that he is farming in the Taklimakan Desert, the largest desert in China and one of the driest regions in the world.

The harsh conditions in the Taklimakan, which is deep within the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, make farming in the desert impractical, so locals have traditionally relied on food supplies from other provinces.

However, Wang and his colleagues from Chongqing Jiaotong University want to reverse this situation. Using an innovative technique called "desert soilization", they have turned barren desert sands into productive, farmable land at an affordable cost.