In China desertification has affected 2.622 million square kilometers, 27.3% of the total territory. As a result, 40% of the farmland are being degraded to various extend, causing an annual economic loss of 54.1 billion RMB or the joint annual revenue of five provinces in three years.

At present, a huge sand dune is only 70 kilometers away from Beijing. In the second half of the 20th century, there came 62 strong dust storms, 4 in the 1950s, 8 in the 60s, 13 in the 70s, 14 in the 80s, and 23 in the 90s. In 1998, 12 prefectures in the northwest China were attacked by dust storms, 1.56 million suffered from it and economic loss totaled 800 million RMB. In 1979, 3 dust storms hit Tarim Basin during April-June and one of them gave 25,600 tons of dust per square kilometers in three days.

Does market can do anything about it?

An expert introduced a kind of medicinal herb into the desert belt of Ningxia, and also brought an investor from Shenzhen, south China. The herb not only has very high economic value but also is a special plant to fix the sand. The first year of harvest generated 20 million RMB...