Modernized farming gives a boost to rural development
During an autumn day in the county of Dranang in Tibet’s Lhokha city, farming workers carefully and joyfully harvested renshenguo, a variety of melon unique to the region, in a greenhouse of about 17 acres.
Their joy came from the fact that the harvest marked the successful conclusion of a three-year experiment to domesticate the wild crop, according to Xie Lekui, general manager of Jiangping Agriculture, the company operating the farm for breeding research.
“The per-acre yield is stabilized at more than 9,000 pounds,” Xie said. “We have reached an agreement with a fruit dealer in Lhokha to supply them renshenguo melons at 45.5 yuan ($6.37) per pound.”
He added that the scale of renshenguo melon farming will be expanded to nearly 100 acres in two years, making it one of the company’s pillar sectors for growth.
Founded in 2016 in Dranang county, Jiangping is now a comprehensive farming company with diversified operations in fruits, vegetables, medical herbs and forage grasses.
Xie said the company’s sales of fruits and vegetables could amount to 4 million yuan this year.
Tsering Rigzin, a technician at the company, said Jiangping is one of the most favored employers by farmers in Dranang, because it allows them to learn modern farming skills and enjoy a stable income. He is now paid more than 8,000 yuan a month.
Sitting at the company’s central control room, he showed how farming operations were made possible via a smart system.
“You can start irrigation
by clicking the icon on the computer. Presetting the time period and volume of irrigation, you can just click the start button to keep it moving,” Tsering Rigzin said.
He also visited the greenhouses regularly to learn from farmers and agronomists onsite.
“I’m figuring out how to open my family greenhouse farm, after teaching my parents all the skills I’ve learned here,” Tsering Rigzin said.
Thubten Tsering, an official at the Dranang bureau of agriculture and rural affairs, said companies like Jiangping have set a good example for the county’s agricultural modernization.
He said that farmers equipped with skills for modern, intelligent farming will become a vital force to drive the county’s agricultural development and rural vitalization.
Leveraging the modern farming enterprises’ resources in technologies and talent pool, the county of Dranang is applying to the nation’s agricultural authorities for the establishment of a State-level modern agricultural demonstration
zone, hoping that local practices will be spread across many areas of Tibet.
Another example piloting modern farming is Gobi Pasture Agricultural Technologies based in the village of Sinpori in Gonggar county.
Based on its smart greenhouse farming technologies, the company is one of the leading producers of cherry tomatoes in Tibet.
With an annual output of about 2,200 short tons, Gobi Pasture is currently a major supplier of cherry tomatoes in Tibet. It began nationwide sales last year.
“Cherry tomatoes here feature good quality and taste thanks to the unique plateau environment where they’re grown, which includes sufficient sunshine and a big temperature difference between day and night,” said Guo Xiaojun, an executive of the company. “The use of modern technologies is another aspect to ensure the appeal of our products.”
The company’s modern technologies and techniques include soil-free cultivation, smart sensing and internetconnected
farming operations, according to Kunsang Lhamo, a technician at the company.
The technician added that, as its name suggests, the company is targeted to explore a modern, efficient model of farming for arid regions.
“The company is using a smart sensing system to monitor all the conditions for crop growth, including soil and atmosphere moisture, soil fertility and temperature,” Kunsang Lhamo said. “The data are sent to the computer at the operational center, which gives optimized solutions for irrigation, fertilizing, temperature conditioning and illumination to various greenhouses, ensuring that crops grow in the best environment.”
The company has established cooperative ties with renowned universities and research institutions in the country, including Sun Yatsen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province and Hunan Agricultural University in Changsha, Hunan province, for research and development in a wide range of fields.
The company is now the owner of seven utility model patents granted by the National Intellectual Property Administration for its research in water-saving and high-efficiency farming suitable for arid areas.
The use of farming machines is another factor that drives agricultural modernization in Tibet. The emerging rural cooperatives have made it possible for the large-scale popularization of farming machines.
Sidar is a senior member of an 11-person family in the township of Rasok in Shigatse’s Gyalze county. His family joined a local farming cooperative in 2019 by contributing his farm of about 14 acres as a stake.
“My family used to work on the farm with manual labor, which was tiring and inefficient,” Sidar said. “The output could just ensure our livelihoods but there was no surplus yield to generate additional revenue.”
He said he knew farming machines could greatly boost efficiency but it was impossible for an individual household to afford a full range of large machines.
“And this problem is solved by the farming cooperative, which owns a range of machines for modern farming,” Sidar said. “The cooperative now takes care of all farms belonging to me and my fellow villagers.”
After being freed from work on the farm, Sidar said a number of his family members are now working outside the township to make additional money, while the family is given stable dividends from the cooperative.
“We earned more than 500,000 yuan last year, a fivefold increase from our earnings in 2017,” Sidar said.