When people arrive at Beiting Village on Yangjiang's Hailing Island, it's hard not to be drawn to the lush rice fields cultivated by the seashore.
It is a local experimental project called "Tinghai Gengtian" (meaning listening to the sea and cultivating the fields), which has successfully transformed saline-alkali land into fertile fields.
According to Wu Shengwei, the General Manager of Yangjiang Tinghai Gengtian Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd., the project came to the village in 2022 through a government investment initiative.
"This place used to be located by the sea. It yields little harvest when planting ordinary crops and can even lead to complete crop failure," he said.
In 2022, through village collective land transfer, the company leased about 21.3 hectares of land in the village to conduct experiments and plant sea rice. "Now, we can grow two crops of rice a year. The current yield is about 300 to 350 kg per mu (about 0.07 hectares)," Wu added.
Bernada Maciel Aline Agnes, a Brazilian vlogger, was particularly fond of a sea rice-based drink. "The one I like the most is the drink made from rice. It is really thick," she said.
Piotr Lukasz Blaszak, a Polish vlogger, was amazed by the positive impact on farmers, saying, "For farmers whose land is not usable, they can rent it out to another party. In that case, farmers also earn their share. So it's a very good business model. I think this could be implemented around the world, not just in coastal areas."
In addition to agricultural innovation, there are plans to further develop the area to attract more tourists by organizing adoption or study-tour activities. "We all know Yangjiang is a very attractive destination for travelers from all around China. So I think if they use these lands to attract more people to visit and enjoy, it's going to be an awesome idea and project," said Rafael Saavedra, a Venezuelan vlogger.
Reporter | Chen Jinxia
Photo & Video | Xu Xiaoxin
Editor | Hu Nan, James Campion, Shen He
