Uncategorized
Facility agriculture blazes trail of agricultural development on Xinjiang’s desert
By Jiang Yunlong, People’s Daily
Agriculture enjoys a long history in Kizilsu Kirgiz autonomous prefecture, a prefecture that boasts abundant sunlight in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Now, agriculture in the autonomous prefecture is becoming modernized and more and more driven by technology.
Last year, the autonomous prefecture’s capital Artux planted 271,600 mu (18,107 hectares) of food crops and built 30,900 mu of high-standard farmland, with a yield of 126,000 tons. Besides, Artux also established an autonomous region-level agricultural technology park.
Given the remarkable performance, it’s hard to imagine that Artux is home to nearly 3,773 square kilometers of desert that covers 24.7 percent of its total area.
Ahu township, located in the northwest of Artux, has built a 1,180-mu agricultural park on desert. Over the past 10 years, 346 greenhouses have been established in the facility agriculture base, where over 20 types of fruits and vegetables are grown.
Outside these greenhouses, there is vast desert swept by heavy winds. However, inside of them, warm and humid air is nurturing the greenness. Real-time videos are shown on big screens in the greenhouses so that farmers can get better knowledge of the growth of crops.
“I used to live on the desert. There was hardly any place for us to grow crops. The production of wheat and medicago we grew often shrank due to water shortage and heavy winds. We could earn 20,000 yuan ($2,784) at most a year,” said Harila Hasan, who was relocated to Ahu township and has contracted two greenhouses in the facility agriculture base.
It’s different to grow crops in the greenhouses, which needs skills, Harila Hasan told People’s Daily. But the yield is stable and it generates higher income, he added.
Harila Hasan’s wife is currently growing vegetables in the greenhouses he contracts, and the man himself works part-time jobs in surrounding areas. According to him, the couple makes more than 80,000 yuan a year now, which has significantly improved their living standard.
The greenhouses in Ahu township were built with capital aided by Shenyang, northeast China’s Liaoning province. Each household relocated to the township is eligible to contract one greenhouse or more.
“The yearly rent of a greenhouse is only 1,000 yuan. The township government has dispatched nine cadres to the facility agriculture base to teach farmers planting skills and help them solve farming problems they meet,” said Tan Yangguang, deputy head of Ahu township.
“Scarce water and farmland resources, as well as heavy winds are challenges faced by local agriculture,” said an official with the bureau of agriculture and rural affairs of Artux.
He told People’s Daily that the city has steadfastly developed facility agriculture over the recent years and built many modern agricultural parks. The city is home to 857 modern greenhouses that cover a total area of 3,000 mu, including 22 intelligent ones.
These greenhouses have tackled the challenges of scarce water and farmland resources, as well as heavy winds, becoming an effective tool for local farmers to increase their income.
The newest greenhouse in the facility agriculture base in Ahu township is managed by Zhao Shaowei, who runs a Xinjiang-based agricultural technology company. Different from other greenhouses, this one is much bigger. It’s not built with plastic films and red bricks, but glass and steel.
The 10,000-square meter green house was built in May 2022 with 15 million yuan aided by Kunshan, east China’s Jiangsu province and 6 million yuan raised by Zhao’s company.
The high-standard intelligent greenhouse is expected to provide seedlings for the rest 345 greenhouses in the facility agriculture base and drive technological upgrade among them.
Zhao can control the fans, cameras, sprayers and faucets in the greenhouse on a mobile phone or a computer.
“We have established a high-standard intelligent vegetable and fruit seedling system, which comes with 120 seedbeds and is able to cultivate 800,000 to a million seedlings. The seedbeds and sprayers are automatic, and lighting and humidity can be controlled with a mobile phone. The greenhouse provides 600,000 vegetable, fruit and flower seedlings for other greenhouses a year,” Zhao said.
According to him, the seedlings his company provides for other greenhouses is 10 to 15 percent cheaper than the market price.
The intelligent glass greenhouse is a center for the promotion of agricultural technologies in the facility agriculture base, which offers training for farmers in the base and agricultural students and workers in the entire township, said deputy Party head of Ahu township Guo Yanwu.
Focusing on the intelligent glass greenhouse, the base will work to reinforce its whole-industrial chain operation from seedling to sales, so as to blaze a new trail of high-quality development for local facility agriculture, Guo noted.
By Fabian Apechihin
The 2026 Constitution Amendment Bill has moved to the state level following its consideration by the National Assembly, paving the way for state legislatures to consider the proposed amendments.
The development comes amid renewed attention on constitutional reform and ongoing discussions over proposed changes to Nigeria’s governing framework.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has defended FCT Minister Nyesom Wike over allegations surrounding borrowing by the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
House spokesperson Akin Rotimi Agbese, speaking in an interview with Channels Television, rejected claims that Wike had undertaken borrowing without the knowledge or approval of the National Assembly.
Agbese said the FCT minister could not independently create a sovereign borrowing obligation, stressing that public borrowing is subject to constitutional, statutory and administrative procedures.
“Wike has committed no infraction in borrowings. There is no basis for the allegation that he has been borrowing money behind the back of the National Assembly,” Agbese said.
He explained that borrowing to finance infrastructure was not unlawful where the required approvals and procedures had been followed.
“Borrowing for infrastructure development is not unlawful in itself, provided the prescribed approvals and procedures are followed,” he added.
The House spokesperson further argued that an increase in the FCT’s debt profile should not automatically be interpreted as evidence of illegal borrowing, citing the scale of infrastructure projects being undertaken in Abuja under Wike.
According to Agbese, the key issue is whether the appropriate approvals were obtained for specific borrowing transactions, rather than simply whether the FCT’s overall debt profile has increased.
The comments come as scrutiny continues over public borrowing, infrastructure financing and the legal procedures governing government debt at both the federal and sub-national levels.
By Fabian Apechihin
The 2026 Constitution Amendment Bill has moved to the state level following its consideration by the National Assembly, paving the way for state legislatures to consider the proposed amendments.
The development comes amid renewed attention on constitutional reform and ongoing discussions over proposed changes to Nigeria’s governing framework.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has defended FCT Minister Nyesom Wike over allegations surrounding borrowing by the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
House spokesperson Akin Rotimi Agbese, speaking in an interview with Channels Television, rejected claims that Wike had undertaken borrowing without the knowledge or approval of the National Assembly.
Agbese said the FCT minister could not independently create a sovereign borrowing obligation, stressing that public borrowing is subject to constitutional, statutory and administrative procedures.
“Wike has committed no infraction in borrowings. There is no basis for the allegation that he has been borrowing money behind the back of the National Assembly,” Agbese said.
He explained that borrowing to finance infrastructure was not unlawful where the required approvals and procedures had been followed.
“Borrowing for infrastructure development is not unlawful in itself, provided the prescribed approvals and procedures are followed,” he added.
The House spokesperson further argued that an increase in the FCT’s debt profile should not automatically be interpreted as evidence of illegal borrowing, citing the scale of infrastructure projects being undertaken in Abuja under Wike.
According to Agbese, the key issue is whether the appropriate approvals were obtained for specific borrowing transactions, rather than simply whether the FCT’s overall debt profile has increased.
The comments come as scrutiny continues over public borrowing, infrastructure financing and the legal procedures governing government debt at both the federal and sub-national levels.
By Fabian Apechihin
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reaffirmed its intention to contest the 2027 presidential election despite the decision of Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid.
The party said Wike’s decision was personal and did not alter its position to participate in the presidential election with its candidate, Senator Sandy Onor. PDP National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, made the clarification on Wednesday.
According to the party, a recent conversation between Wike and Onor should not be interpreted as a political negotiation between the minister and the PDP.
“He told Nigerians that Sandy is his friend. And they only had a friendly discussion within the umbrella of friendship. So, that is just a personal discussion between him and his friend,” Mohammed said.
He added that Wike’s support for Tinubu did not prevent the PDP from fielding candidates for the presidential, governorship and legislative elections.
Wike had earlier clarified that his support in 2027 was specifically for Tinubu’s presidential re-election and did not amount to an agreement that the PDP would withdraw from other electoral contests. He also said he never promised that the PDP would abandon its candidates for governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections.
“I said I will support the President from day one. I never told Mr President I will join APC,” Wike said.
The minister also maintained that his proposed Rainbow Coalition was not an arrangement with the All Progressives Congress (APC), but rather a platform through which politicians from different parties could mobilise support for Tinubu’s re-election.
The issue has generated disagreement with some APC governors, who have expressed concern about a political arrangement that could affect the party’s candidates at other levels.
APC Progressive Governors’ Forum Chairman, Hope Uzodinma, said the governors would not support any alliance or arrangement that could weaken the APC or adversely affect its candidates.
Meanwhile, APC presidential campaign council spokesperson Ima Niboro has urged Wike and APC governors to end their public exchanges and concentrate on political mobilisation.
“When I said tone down the rhetoric, I do not mean stop working. Stop talking, go and work,” Niboro said.
He urged political leaders to strengthen their grassroots structures and engage directly with voters rather than continue exchanging statements in the media.
“All this shouting is not taking anybody anywhere. Go and work. Go and establish your authority on your political base,” he said.
2026 Constitution Amendment Bill Moves to States
2026 Constitution Amendment Bill Moves to States
2027: PDP Insists on Presidential Contest Despite Wike’s Support for Tinubu
-
Uncategorized6 years agoFG, states urged to harness flooding for ranching, others with technology – Agbaje
-
Headlines11 years agoBreaking: EFCC seals Borno House of Assembly, as Hon members take to their heels
-
News12 years agoNigeria Security Operatives Stage Manhunt For Homosexual Perpetrator
-
News10 years agoHow 21-year-old Girl fled community over accusation of lesbianism
-
News11 years agoYobe Gov Moves Against Deputy
-
Opinion7 years ago7 signs she has friend zoned you
-
Technology5 years ago
Online job placement company headhunts women
-
Headlines10 years agoBorno Dep Gov Abducts Another Church Leader