The air is clean. The earth is red. Spring is on its way. Dong Zhicheng is busy weeding between the endless rows of plants. Before long, it will be time for him to plant orange trees on the steep slopes of his fields 40 kilometres outside the city of Yichang, in China’s central Hubei province.

His two hectares have lain fallow all winter long, making them vulnerable to erosion. In the ten years that Dong has worked these fields, the torrential rains of the annual monsoon have washed more and more soil over the edge of the slope, taking with it the nutrients his crops need in order to grow.

Improving quality of lifeBy planting fruit trees in his fields, Dong will no longer need to rely on traditional farming methods. The trees should be able to keep the soil from running off into nearby rivers and eventually flowing into the reservoir created by the Three Gorges Dam.

For Dong, the trees have another benefit. “Farming them is easier,” he says. “Other crops need constant attention, orange trees just need to be planted and fertilised.”

Loans for affected farmersThe orange trees are being planted as part of the River Basin Management Programme, a joint EU-World Bank project involving some two million peasants in southern China. Planting new types of crops on the steep terraced fields can help reduce the effects of erosion after decades of soil depletion and improve the lives of farmers.

At the same time, concrete runoff drains that lead water away from the fields are being used as another way to prevent erosion.

Where the slopes are too steep to cultivate, forest trees and grass are being planted. As compensation for lost cropland, farmers involved in the project are granted loans to buy livestock. As part of the sustainable project, farmers are also offered modern appliances that use biogas as a replacement for their inefficient coal-burning stoves.

Long-term investment
Back out in the field, Dong is looking forward to being able to plant his orange trees and to learn how to care for them.

Wang Junhua, the director of the Yiling County Water Resources Bureau, explains that oranges from the region sell well, thanks to their reputation for being juicy, something he says is due to the region’s sunny climate and the damp, slightly acidic soil.

But even with an established market for his new crop, Dong does not expect to be making a profit for the first few years.

“It takes about six years for orange trees to bear fruit,” he says. “I don’t expect that the quality of life for myself, my wife and my 90-year-old mother will improve dramatically until then.” 

By Christina Tækker
Published: 19 May 2010.