South China Sea: is this vegetable patch the answer to the Chinese navy’s food supply problem?
- Military says it has harvested hundreds of kilograms of produce from a stretch of beach on Woody Island by mixing the sand with a cellulose solution
- The technique is cheap and easy to apply, and might also be used to revegetate other areas in the contested waters, researcher says
In a report posted on its official microblog account on the weekend, the navy said it had harvested more than 750kg (1,650lbs) of vegetables from a 2,000 square metre (half an acre) sandy plot on Woody Island, also known as Yongxing Island in China, in the disputed Paracels.
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But it has been a challenge to supply those troops with provisions such as fresh food and water because of the vast distances involved.
“This signals China has made initial success in growing vegetables on beaches in the Paracel Islands,” the report said, adding the technique could help solve vegetable shortages confronting the troops stationed in the South China Sea.
To grow the crop, the troops mixed a cellulose solution with the sand, building on research carried out in Chongqing and Inner Mongolia by scientists at Chongqing Jiaotong University, the report said.
One of the university researchers, Zhao Chaohua, was quoted as saying that the technique was cheap and easy to apply.