New material for transforming degraded sandy land into productive farmland

Yongsheng Wang and Yansui Liu

Land Use Policy, 2020, vol. 92, issue C

Abstract: China has achieved the most remarkable success in fighting desertification. Unsustainable measures and practices gave rise to continued desertification expansion in some places. Sand land structural consolidation engineering was conducted in Mu Us Sandy Land using physical complementarity between sand particle and clay particle. Degraded sandy land was transformed into productive farmland for developing modern agriculture after soil reconstruction, crop optimization and precision management. Red clay can significantly increase crop yields by improving sandy land structure. Enhanced land productivity, increased land transfer rent and extra wage income provide a stainable and stable increase in households’ income for escaping from poverty. Spatial overlap between red clay with sandy land makes red clay as a new available material for sand land consolidation and utilization from China to global scale. China’s sandy land structural consolidation engineering and sustainable utilization practices will contribute prescriptions to global desertification fighting and rural poverty alleviation. Regional water resource carrying capacity should be evaluated before engineering popularization.

Keywords: Desertification fighting; Red clay; Consolidation engineering; Poverty alleviation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:92:y:2020:i:c:s0264837719314346

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104477

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