Farmers join battle

Linze is noted for its quality maze seeds and organic red dates, and planting in the name of fighting desertification has increased locals' incomes.

Other farmers in Gansu who have joined battle against the spreading desert include those of Minqin county, in the city of Wuwei, who are also earning money by growing Chinese medicine based on sacsaoul. Nearly 89.8 percent of Minqin's 15,900-sq km land is desertified, compared with 94.5 percent in 2009. The county has a population of 270,000.

Had desertification gone unchecked, much more of the county would lie under sand because at one stage the Tengger Desert and Badain Jaran Desert looked destined to meet, sandstorms laying siege to many villages between March and May. In 2007 locals officially joined battle against desertification, and there is evidence to suggest that this work has paid off in reducing the severity of sand-wind events.

"People used to move the sand with carts," says Cai Chengcheng, 31, deputy head of the county in charge of desertification control. "There was so much sand in the wind that after a sandstorm, donkeys could climb onto the roofs of houses. The population kept falling as more people moved away. Now they can sweep sand away much more easily."

To make sand fighting efforts more efficient, the New Energy Technology Co Ltd of Gansu Construction and Investment Group Cooperation in Wuwei has developed sand-stabilizing machines to replace human labor, said to be the first of their kind in the world.