Greenhouses, soilless cultivation help farmers in NW China's Jiuquan

Farmer Fan Lide (back) and his wife pick vegetables growing soil-free in a greenhouse of an agricultural garden at Zongzhai Township of Jiuquan City, northwest China's Gansu Province, April 18, 2018. Jiuquan is known for droughts and barren sands of Gobi Desert. The local government has come up with measures to help farmers, including building greenhouses and introducing organic soilless cultivation. Locally sourced plant and animal waste is used in place of soil and fertilizer in the soilless cultivation in the greenhouses. Local farmers also adopt micro-spray irrigation technology in the greenhouses to save water. More than 2,000 hectares of greenhouses have been set up in the region by the end of March this year. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)