A further 28,000 people in drought-plagued Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China will be resettled in an irrigated area of land that has been converted from a former artillery range, bringing the total number of relocated residents to 200,000.

The Hongsibao Area resettlement program began in 1995 when the 40-year-old former Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) shooting range, which used to cover an area of 55,300 hectares along the Yellow River, was opened up to 6,190 poverty-stricken farmers from the adjacent area of Xihaigu.

Drought is the main cause of poverty in Xihaigu as the area receives less than 200 mm of rainfall each year. More than 70 percent of its two million inhabitants were living under the poverty line in the mid-1980s. The harsh living conditions have put Xihaigu on the UNESCO's list of most unlivable places on earth.

"We had nine years of drought in a decade. My whole family could only harvest 75 kilograms of grain during the best year," Ding Shengui, who was resettled in Hongsibao in 1999, said, recalling life in Tongxin county in Xihaigu.

"Due to lack of grain, the local farmers started to dig for a strain of herbal grass root to sell them to traditional medicine makers. But this further deteriorated the ecosystem and vegetation," Ding said.

After moving to Hongsibao, Ding's family can now harvest 750 kilograms of grain a year from their 0.67 ha of land irrigated by eight pumping stations that transfer water from the Yellow River.

More than 26,800 ha of irrigated land has now been developed to support a total of 200,000 people.

"The quickest and most effective way to rid poverty in the Xihaigu area is to relocate them," said Ma Li, an official with the working committee of the Hongsibao resettlement project.

He said there were plans to relocate a further 100,000 people from Xihaigu to other villages along the Yellow River. However, he did not detail any plans for the 200,000 people who continue to live below the poverty line in Xihaigu.

According to Ma, Hongsibao is now more than a resettlement area. The Hongsibao Area now covers two counties, two townships and 42 villages with a total area of 6.4 square kilometers. Fifty-seven percent of its population belong to the ethnic Hui minority.

Resettlement has also improved the environment. Local government started to distribute saplings to farmers in 1998. Nearly 69,000 ha of trees have been planted and 39 percent of the region has been covered by forest.

PLA soldiers in Ningxia have helped build more than 2,000 houses and 680 kilometers of roads, and plant 1.2 million trees for Hongsibao's new residents.

"We are entering the last year of the resettlement project and we are starting to work out a blueprint for Hongsibao's future. But most importantly, we should develop it in a environmentally-friendly way. It's very clear that nobody here wants to go back to the days when he has to live at the mercy of weather." Ma said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2007)