This spring, Juungar Banner is engaged in the final battle to control the eastern section of the Kubuqi Desert. The central government has assigned a new yearly task of 223,800 mu, and the banner is exploring a "photovoltaic + desert control" model.
At a 600 MW photovoltaic plant, the site is surrounded by dense salix mongolica grids. The solar panels not only generate clean power but also provide shade for plants underneath, reducing evaporation.
The photovoltaic plant.[Photo/ Juungar Banner Integrated Media Center]
Moreover, local farmers and herders are no longer bystanders. The banner is promoting a work-for-relief program that involves village collective economic entities such as producers' cooperatives as active participants, while farmers and herders are prioritized as suppliers of machinery and raw materials. More than 60 percent of them directly benefit from the project.
This new model not only secures labor supply for desert control but also turns ecological development into a new growth driver for the rural economy. "In the past, the sand forced us to retreat. Now we go back to the desert, plant greenery, and earn money," said a villager who builds sand barriers for the project.
Locals work on site.[Photo/ Juungar Banner Integrated Media Center]
The Kubuqi Desert covers 922 square kilometers of Juungar Banner's territory, and this year's new approach is just one example of the banner's efforts to upgrade its desert control measures. From 2024 to 2025, Juungar Banner invested 129.87 million yuan and completed 386,000 mu of tasks assigned during the sixth phase of the "Three North" project. The combination of restoration, nurturing, and stubble elimination is a kind of refined treatment of the desert. Since the "Three North" project began in 1977, Juungar Banner has accomplished 2.726 million mu of tasks in the first five phases, with a success rate of over 75 percent.
For the rest of this year, Juungar Banner plans to make Dalu Town the core area for applying this new model and organize more than 1,000 people for compulsory planting. Meticulous efforts, such as scientific site selection and row spacing, will help achieve a high survival rate. All these efforts will show the resilience of the "Juungar solution".
