China: Peony, an unlikely desert plant
"Ordinary desert plants like willow and date trees are effective to curb erosion and fight sandstorms, but it is difficult to make money from them, so we decided to nurture plants that have both economic and environmental gains," said Zhang Shengren, a peony specialist and manager of the field.
The Great Wall company started planting peonies in the desert in 2015 but efforts had failed until Zhang came to the company in 2016. Zhang had spent 10 years studying peony plants in Japan.
The Great Wall company plans to expand the peony field by five-fold. This year the company will sell 400,000 small peony plants, with each plant around 2 yuan (30 U.S. cents).
The cost for growing peonies is about twice that of other desert plants, but the returns are expected to be higher.
"Peony petals can be made into tea, seeds are used to extract oil, and the roots are a type of traditional Chinese medicine," he said.
Read more at Xinhua