Technology helps transform saline-alkali soil into fertile land in China's Baicheng

STORY: Technology helps transform saline-alkali soil into fertile land in China's Baicheng DATELINE: Oct. 1, 2023 LENGTH: 00:01:32 LOCATION: BAICHENG, China CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. various of scenery of Baicheng 2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese): MAO YINHUA, Head of Lihua Family Farm, Baicheng City 3. various of scenery of Baicheng STORYLINE: Modern technologies have been helping farmers in Baicheng City in China's Jilin Province reap bumper harvests on saline-alkali land. Mao Yinhua contracted 150 hectares of saline-alkali land in 2015 and tried to convert it into farmland. However, due to a lack of technology, the rice yield was very low, which resulted in a loss of over 3 million yuan (about 410,900 U.S. dollars) in the first three years. Later, experts from the Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences imparted their knowledge to Mao on the techniques for converting saline-alkali soil into arable land, and introduced saline-alkali tolerant rice varieties. In 2022, Mao's rice fields produced 8,000 kg of gr