An aerial view of the apple orchards on the hills in Nuanshui Township (COURTESY)

As the Spring Festival draws near, Desheng Youliang Village in Nuanshui Township, Jungar Banner in Ordos City of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, enters a new round of apple sales. In the 2,000 cubic meters of cold storage facility, workers are busy picking, packing, and loading. 

Pisha sandstone, known as the “cancer of the earth,” covers more than half of the area of Jungar Banner. The development of traditional agriculture here was once considered challenging. However, things turned around from the 1990s onwards, after local villagers successfully planted and grew the first apple seedlings. In just a couple of decades, the apple industry has now become a major business for local economy.  

Orchards on soft rocks  

Pisha sandstone is a kind of soft rock in the semiarid region along the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River and is severely eroded by wind and rainfall, before being carried into the Yellow River. The Pisha sandstone region in Jungar Banner once suffered the most severe water loss and soil erosion in the world.  

In 2009, due to the poor living environment, the local government relocated Nuanshui Village which was badly impacted by exposed Pisha sandstone. Those migrants relocated to the Juxin community, not far from the township government. However, it was difficult to carry out agricultural and husbandry production in this area, and the lack of livelihood posed a new challenge to the villagers.  

In 2015, Hua Shengming, Party branch secretary of Desheng Youliang Village, was inspired by the success of local villagers planting apple seedlings on Pisha sandstone in the 1990s, and therefore took the lead in “growing apples on cancer rocks.”  

“The rock was so hard that we couldn’t use shovels, so we dug pits in the cracks between rocks with pickaxes,” Hua Shengming told ChinAfrica. “From selecting seeds, planting seedlings, filling soil, watering, hoeing weeds, and fertilising - every step had to be trialled multiple times.” To their surprise, the land between hills in Desheng Youliang Village contained loose soil, and Pisha sandstones are retentive, airy, and high in trace minerals. The area also receives long hours of sunlight throughout the year and has a huge variation in daily temperature. These natural conditions are ideal for apple growing.  

In 2015, villagers began to plant apple trees, and the planting area kept expanding with the increasing survival rate of apple seedlings. In the meantime, the local government in Jungar Banner provided assistance such as technical support, road construction, and access to utilities such as water, gas, and electricity to help the local apple industry to develop. Due to these efforts and measures, now the area of apple trees for commercial purpose has reached around 153 hectares.  

Apple forests can retain sand, prevent soil erosion, and purify the air, fundamentally reversing the fragile ecological conditions in Nuanshui. “The sustainable apple industry has become the best solution for local ecological protection and restoration,” said Wang Long, head of Nuanshui Township. 

Hua Shengming picks apples in the orchard (YU XIANGJUN） 

‘Gold trees’  

Hua Shengming is an apple tree grower who operates one of the largest apple orchards in Nuanshui. His orchard expanded from approximately 2.7 hectares in 2015 to around 6.7 hectares today, netting him increased income. “My orchard generates around 1.4 million yuan in revenue a year, with a net profit of 900,000 yuan,” Hua said.  

In addition to Hua Shengming, more and more villagers in Desheng Youliang Village are getting rich from planting fruit trees. In 2019, with the support of the township government, 82 fruit farmers in Desheng Youliang Village jointly set up a cooperative and decided to develop a 10-hectare orchard, with 25 percent of the net profit allocated to the land contractors, and 75 percent dedicated to the village’s public welfare and the its collective economic development.  

Today, the apple industry has become a pillar industry in Nuanshui. Over 20 varieties of apple trees are grown, producing up to 5 million kilos of fruit annually generating over 80 million yuan in revenues and around RMB 3 million for the village’s collective income. 

In order to increase its share in the apple market, Desheng Youiang Village has had its 153 hectares of orchards certified as green food and gotten the brand name “Nuanshui Mountain” used by apple growers in the region approved.  

Transition to ‘industrial forests’  

From planting to storage and processing to sales, the apple industry in Nuanshui is becoming specialised and market-oriented.  

In order to cultivate apples of better quality, the local government is scaling up orchard production by introducing new cultivation patterns, adding new varieties, and adopting other solutions. It also invites technical personnel to give lectures to growers on planting, pruning, pest control, mulching, and other technical knowledge concerning tree care at different stages.  

“In the past, the villagers relied on old methods and past experience of growing apple trees. A large number of growers have emerged now equipped with modern technology and new management skills after professional training in forestry and fruit knowledge,” Zhao Yongjun, Party secretary of Desheng Youliang Village, said.  

To create greater value of its apple industry, Nuanshui is extending its industrial chain while continuing to expand its share in the market. It built a production and processing line and a fully automated filling line capable of processing 750,000 kilos of apple vinegar and drinks annually, aiming to improve the added value of the apple; it also built a cold storage facility that is able to store 400,000 kilos of apples to prolong the apples’ shelf life. E-commerce platforms have also been utilised to sell apples in the larger market. 

In addition to these efforts, the local government has also cooperated with China Agricultural University to create a digitalised smart apple orchard base. “In the future, with the real-time data scrolling on the screen, growers will be able to find out in real-time the conditions in the orchard such as the lack of water and fertiliser running low. Digital means will help the orchard further improve quality and efficiency.” Zhao Yongjun told ChinAfrica.