He Xiqing, 72, attends to his citrus tree in Wanzhou, Chongqing by the Yangtze River earlier this month. TAN YINGZI/CHINA DAILY To protect the ecosystem, farmers living on the banks of the Yangtze River have begun to dramatically reduce the use of chemicals and adopt biological pest control methods. Orange farmer Ran Xiaoli's orchard of navel oranges on the south bank of the river is a good example. In addition to insect-trapping balls, solar-powered lamps and sticky cards, a special type of mite has been introduced to kill pests. One of the predatory mites, the size of a sesame seed, can eat an insect, such as a red spider, that's two or three times its size. A bag of 1,500 mites can kill all the pests on a citrus tree. Ran, 37, is also director of Huolong, a community in Chongqing's Yunyang county. In 2005, she was the first in the area to plant orange trees and promote the idea of green agriculture. Many fields had been abandoned, as young farmers left to work in the cities. Left-behind seniors grew traditional crops such as corn and rice. Some planted peach and plum trees. Different crops and fruit trees need different types of pesticides and fertilizer, Ran said. The total amount of chemicals used by the farmers was huge, which severely damaged the soil and water. After some research, she decided to try growing oranges using as few chemicals as possible. Her success encouraged people in the community. Now, about 80 percent of the residents have joined her. In the past, we spread pesticide five times a year, she said. Now we use it only once or twice a year. The world's third-longest river, the Yangtze stretches 6,300 kilometers from the glaciers of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau eastward through Chongqing, Wuhan and Nanjing before reaching the East China Sea at Shanghai. More than 400 million people get their drinking water from the Yangtze, and water security has become a major issue in China's development. President Xi Jinping has attached great importance to restoring the river's ecology, and urged officials from provinces along the river to concentrate on restoration and protection, and to avoid large-scale development. Chongqing, located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze, is among the 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, a key national development strategy that has made ecological protection its most important mission. Orange farming has become popular in Chongqing and the Three Gorges Reservoir area. Wanzhou district in northeast Chongqing began building a national agricultural park to demonstrate the green agriculture concept in 2017. It can help reduce the use of pesticides and improve air quality, said Wang Xiaowei, who works in the fruit tree department of the Wanzhou Agricultural Commission. Farmers also make more money from those organic products. cheap silicone wristbands for fundraisingmiscarriage awareness silicone braceletsembossed-wristband24 hour silicone wristbandsembossed printed wristbandcheap silicone wristbands canadarubber band braceletscheap silicone wristbands free shippingsilicone wristband usb flash driveprinted wristbandsplain black silicone wristbands
GUANGZHOU -- Wu Jianchong, 25, hoped to find a job in Shenzhen, 200 km from his hometown, and he could not wait for Spring Festival to end and his job hunt to begin.I want a stable, nine-to-five job, he said.From Jieshi Township, notorious for illegal trade in old clothes smuggled from overseas, from his high school days, Wu helped his parents collect, clean and sell such clothes.In July, the government banned imports of 24 categories of waste, including textiles. Jieshi bore the brunt of the crackdowns on smuggling that followed.Now, like Wu, many villagers who were involved in the trade have switched or plan to switch to other jobs.?CAST-OFF HEAVENWith a population of 260,000, Jieshi had over 5,000 clothing shops, with up to 50,000 people involved.The business began shortly after reform and opening up, as Jieshi locals working in Hong Kong and Macao brought cast-off garments back to their hometown.For more than 30 years, used clothes were smuggled to Jieshi, welcomed by locals, since the business required little capital or technology.Wu Zhijian made more than 200 yuan (31.5 U.S. dollars) a day, with each garment priced at two or three yuan, but the days of villages brimming with second-hand clothing wholesalers are a thing of the past.In 2017, 3,279 shops and 3,017 sorting site were closed, and more than 9,000 tonnes of textiles seized, according to Chen Qinghe, an official in Lufeng City, which administers Jieshi.Customs officers claimed that, from unknown sources and without proper disinfection or quarantine, the old clothes are pollutants and a health hazard health.Villagers handling the waste clothing are vulnerable to respiratory diseases, said Lin Kunlian, head of Jieshi government. We must end the business.NEW JOBS FOR OLDAs the old moneymaker crumbled, the local government offered help, organizing three job fairs for villagers. Participating companies, including the leading new energy vehicle maker BYD, have recruited more than 600 people and shown interest in more than 1,900 others.The government plans to building a food mall and a hardware industrial park, according to Xu Weiming, mayor of Lufeng.In addition, a local middle school will be transformed into a vocational school to prepare job seekers.Now, Wu Zhijian works as a carpenter. He and his wife, a supermarket employee, can earn more than 4,000 yuan a month.Sure, there is dust when I work with wood, but it is not as choking as the dust I breathed when unfolding the waste clothes, he said.
