ryethenovel Chapter 20 The Rise of Urban Agriculture: Turning Desert into Gold!
Chapter 20 The Rise of Urban Agriculture: Turning Desert into Gold!
9 month 10 day.
A residential community in Shenzhen.
As usual, Wang Hai was watching the "Xia Guo News" program at home.
On the television screen.
Host Kang Hui reports: "The vast desert and rice paddies have always been completely unrelated."
Recently, the 10,000-acre greenhouse rice paddy in the Taklamakan Desert has been harvested, turning a dream into reality.
Next, please watch the detailed report…
Camera angle change.
Located in the Taklamakan Desert, thousands of greenhouses stand in an orderly fashion.
This area is the 10,000-mu facility agriculture base of Oasis City.
At this moment, the base staff are harvesting ripe rice in the greenhouse.
Lin Qi, director of the Agricultural Research Institute of the Xia Guo Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said to the camera: "We have achieved rapid rice propagation through multi-layer three-dimensional cultivation under desert greenhouse conditions."
In the greenhouse, vertical soilless cultivation using technologies such as temperature control, intelligent artificial LED light source supplementation, and nutrient regulation allows rice to reproduce and grow rapidly, taking only more than 30 days from seed to harvest.
We rapidly propagate and test the local rice variety "Xin Dao No. 1" in southern Xinjiang. After a 15-day seedling period, the rice seedlings can be transplanted onto cultivation racks, and the rice will mature in 30 days, thus achieving rapid propagation.
While reducing time costs, vertical farming technology also greatly saves labor costs. Here, three layers of planting can be carried out on one acre of land, requiring only two workers to meticulously care for the crops.
The camera angle changes.
Lynch began to popularize the technology related to desert greenhouses.
For example, greenhouses are built for desert environments and have a double-layered structure inside, which is beneficial for keeping warm in winter.
For example, greenhouses can be equipped with active heat storage and release devices and air heat extraction devices. During the midday high-temperature period, heat is stored in a water storage tank under the greenhouse through water flow, and the heat is released at a suitable time in the evening, which not only keeps the greenhouse warm but also saves carbon.
For example, greenhouses are equipped with air-to-water collection devices that collect the water that crops transpire into the greenhouse from the air and reuse it for secondary irrigation. Combined with water-saving technologies such as hydroponics, the amount of water used is reduced to only one-third of that in ordinary cultivation methods.
Lin Qi explained: "Greenhouse cultivation of desert rice utilizes vertical, multi-layered space, which increases the yield per unit area. In one planting, the yield per mu can reach 4200 jin."
Desert rice grown in greenhouses can be harvested five times a year, with an annual yield of 21000 jin (10500 kg) per mu.
Why can rice be harvested five times a year in a desert greenhouse?
The reason is that rice has very high requirements for light, heat, water and nutrients. The optimal temperature for seedling germination is 28~32℃, and the optimal temperature for panicle differentiation must be around 30℃. Low temperature will prolong the differentiation of stalks and spikelets.
Desert rice grown in greenhouses has no shortage of light and heat. When light and heat are insufficient, there is also artificial light source intelligent LED supplemental lighting. Based on the rice's life habits at each stage, light and heat are supplemented. In addition, with precisely formulated nutrient solution, the rice can develop and mature earlier.
Of course, growing rice in desert greenhouses is relatively expensive and not suitable for large-scale promotion at the moment.
In the future, we will promote this technological achievement from Oasis City to the whole country, allowing Xia Kingdom's agricultural technology to reach the world!
The camera angle changes again.
In the agricultural areas of the Taklamakan Desert, millions of acres of rice are grown in the open air, thriving under the sun.
The narrator explains: "From rapidly propagated rice grown in desert greenhouses that can yield five harvests a year, to ordinary desert rice grown in the open air."
The Oasis City government is working on two fronts simultaneously to create a new paradigm for desert rice cultivation!
in front of the TV.
Wang Hai was secretly astonished when he saw this news.
In conventional wisdom...
It is impossible to grow rice in the desert, let alone grow high-yield rice that can be harvested five times a year.
Modern agricultural technology is truly amazing!
Although rice can be harvested five times a year, it cannot be widely promoted.
However, if the Xia Kingdom encounters a food crisis, it can use this method to grow a large amount of food and alleviate the food crisis.
……
On the television screen.
Host Kang Hui reports: "It sounds incredible that seafood can be farmed in the arid desert, but it is gradually becoming a reality in Oasis City."
Oasis City has successfully achieved large-scale production by using saline water to simulate a marine environment for "land-based seafood farming".
Next, please watch the detailed report…
The camera angle changes.
In the agricultural areas of oasis cities within the Takh desert, numerous aquaculture bases are scattered, creating a spectacular scene.
Each breeding base has facilities such as indoor ecological breeding sheds, open-air fish ponds, and breeding pools.
Huo Lin, the deputy mayor of Oasis City, said to the camera: "The biggest challenge in raising seafood in the desert is water."
The water used for seafood farming in the agricultural area of Oasis City all comes from desert groundwater 2 meters underground, which is genuine "desert saline water".
Data shows that the original saline water in the desert has a pH value as high as 9 to 9.5, but after technological transformation, the pH value is precisely controlled within 8.6, which is almost the same as the natural water quality of the South China Sea.
The secret to desert seafood farming lies in the technology of "saltwater rehydration of seawater".
We use desert saline water as a base, combined with specially made microorganisms and bacteria, to gradually recreate the ecological environment of simulated seawater.
At present, the 500 million mu Oasis City Seafood Aquaculture Area adopts intelligent aquaculture technology throughout the entire process. All processes such as drainage, feeding, and circulating water filtration can be completed with one click through a mobile app or electronic control screen.
Wastewater containing fish excrement can be reused after being treated by a recycling system, truly achieving a zero-emission, fully circular ecological aquaculture model.
At present, we have cultivated a wide variety of fish, shrimp and crab species, including tiger grouper, pearl grouper, mullet, tilapia, salmon, whiteleg shrimp, Australian lobster, giant freshwater prawn, Chinese mitten crab, white jade crab, crayfish, oysters, golden pomfret, and sea bass.
These fish, shrimp, and crabs will be served on the tables of Oasis residents and will also be sold throughout the country via land and air transport.
I saw this news.
Wang Hai, watching on television, kept praising it.
Oasis City is using saline water and an artificial marine environment to foster a revolutionary "seafood revolution" in the heart of the desert.
This is truly incredible.
……
On the television screen.
Host Kang Hui said on the radio: "The Taklamakan Desert, which was once barren, has been transformed into a natural pasture with abundant water resources under the construction of the Oasis Municipal Government."
Countless cattle and sheep live contentedly on the pasture, grazing on alfalfa.
Next, please watch the detailed report…
Aerial footage switching.
Within the agricultural area of Oasis City, lakes abound, and the ground is lush and green, entirely planted with alfalfa, making it virtually indistinguishable from a grassland.
Herds of cattle and sheep grazed on the "grassland," looking relaxed and content.
The narrator's voice came on at the right time.
"With the technology that turns deserts into oases, the agricultural areas of the Taklamakan Desert have become natural pastures for cattle and sheep to live on."
"The Oasis City government has transformed this area into a 'green garden' and achieved complete infrastructure including roads, electricity, water, and internet access."
"The Taklamakan Desert, once covered in yellow sand, is now covered in green fields, giving it a different kind of vitality."
"These cattle and sheep will produce high-quality beef, mutton, organic milk, organic goat milk, milk powder and other agricultural products."
"To improve the organic quality of milk, the Oasis Municipal Government adheres to the organic cycle concept of '3 acres of grass feed 1 cow, and 1 cow's manure returns to 3 acres of land,' and has built a 10 million acre organic pasture planting base in the heart of the desert, along with a ranch that can raise 10 million organic dairy cows, providing a large amount of relatively clean organic fertilizer for organic pasture planting."
"They planted desertification control plants and pasture to feed dairy cows, returning the cow manure to the soil as organic fertilizer. By expanding the scale of breeding, they continued to expand the planting area, forming a unique and complete organic ecological desertification control industry system and a new model of industrial desertification control, achieving a win-win situation for both ecological and economic benefits."
……
in front of the TV.
Wang Hai was deeply moved.
The Takh Desert is now not only suitable for growing crops such as rice, but also for raising seafood and serving as a natural pasture.
From green advancing into sand to turning sand into gold.
The Oasis City Government is writing a new chapter of green development and prosperity in what was once a barren desert.
Given time...
The Taklamakan Desert will be completely transformed into the "Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall" of the Xia Kingdom!