A pioneering method allowed the formerly salty land to boast knee-high rows of wheat in Nanliuhe village in Shandong in May.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergXi’s Campaign to Feed China Is Turning Wasteland Into Farms
Efforts to raise the amount of arable land are the building blocks of China’s intensifying campaign to feed itself, as concerns over reliance on imports mount.
China is facing increased pressure to produce more food at home, as grain imports soar to record levels and trade tensions mount. That’s spurring top officials to zero in on an essential component of that task: land.
The country feeds a fifth of the global population with less than a 10th of the world’s arable area, offset by massive purchases from abroad. Beijing is now out to shift that balance, pushing technology and spending to turn swathes too briny or polluted into farmable tracts. Efforts like it are the building blocks of China’s intensifying campaign to grow enough for its people, a topic likely to be scrutinized at the Third Plenum meetings next week.