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Workers in northwest China try to contain the moving sand dunes. (PHOTO: XINHUA) |
Chinese scientists have developed a kind of "glue" to improve the quality of desert sand, which can directly transform large areas of desert into fertile farmland.
Chinese scientists extracted a fiber bonding material from plants that could melt into the sand like glue. After putting the material into the sand and mixing it with water, the sand can become as sticky as soil, instead of being loose grains. This not only allows plants to take root, but also enables the sand to firmly lock in the water and avoids evaporation under the hot sun.
With no doubt that there are many other methods in the world that can transform sand into soil, most research faces the same major problem, which is the cost. The cost of transforming one hectare of land often runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which even a rich country like Saudi Arabia can't afford.
However, the cost of using this glue to improve the sand quality, is minimal and the transformation could be permanent. Thus it is very suitable for a worldwide promotion. Moreover, this plant glue can both maintain the characteristics of soil permeability and will not pollute the environment, so the transformed desert can be used not only for planting trees, but also as agricultural land, for planting cash crops like watermelon.