Greening of the Silk Road - April 2009

By Kit Kitatani

Akiko and I led a group of Japanese senior citizens to China for one week in April. The project is located at Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, where the Loess Plateau and the Mao wusu Desert merge and where the Great Wall of China exposes its crumbling remains.

We promote "self-help" tree-planting activities by Chinese farmers based on their own volition and initiatives. We outsiders join them once a year to participate in their activities and provide the necessary support for securing seedlings and for the nurturing of planted trees so that they may survive.

Upon our arrival, we were told that no rain or snow had been reported since last October. It was also predicted that all planted trees would perish if it does no train within three months. We prayed for rain spontaneously on hearing this dire prediction. Lo and behold, our prayer was heard instantly - we were blessed with some rainfall that night and a thunder storm the following day.

We were happy to discover that the farmers were able to plant 135 hectares of land last fall, against a grant for 15 hectares by the National Land Afforestation Promotion Organization, Japan. The secret for this achievement was that the Chinese farmers had successfully negotiated with the local Water Management and Control Bureau to buy seedlings very cheaply. On assumption that this sort of support would continue in the future, it was agreed among all those concerned that at least three times as much land as planned for planting should be covered in the future. Another agreement was that the farmers should come up with their own nursery so that they may secure good quality seedlings without payment.

Though it was not possible for us to plant trees this time, all of us could visit and inspect all the planted sites, climbing up steep hills, covering about 10 miles a day. We also identified and agreed on certain action points with all the people concerned, which will lead to satisfactory operations in the future.

Upon my return home, I discovered to my delight that my physical coordination was much better and the circumference around my belly was one notch shorter by my belt.