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Chao Kong

A demonstration wheat plot in China’s vast Taklamakan Desert has produced a harvest nearly double the national average yield recorded in 2025, according to a project announcement.
The wheat, known as Jingmai 189, was developed by the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences to withstand drought, saline soil and nutrient-poor land.
The trial on a managed, heavily saline plot produced a harvest of 768kg per mu (about 11.5 tonnes per hectare or 10,278lbs per acre) compared with the national average wheat yield of 399.2kg per mu recorded last year, the academy’s Institute of Hybrid Wheat Research said in a statement on June 23.
“It was totally beyond our expectations,” an institute spokesman said of the project on June 26.
“The variety’s breeding technology was internationally competitive and trial cultivation has already begun in Belt and Road [Initiative] countries, such as Pakistan and Uzbekistan.”
The announcement comes as countries worldwide search for new ways to expand food production amid shrinking arable land, accelerating desertification and climate change. If deserts can be turned into productive farmland, even on a limited scale, the implications could extend well beyond western China.

The result is particularly notable because it was achieved in Makit county, deep inside the Taklamakan Desert. Surrounded by sand on three sides, the county is China’s only administrative region embedded within a major desert.
Annual rainfall is less than 100mm (3.9 inches) while evaporation exceeds 2,000mm. Heavy soil salinity, shifting sands and persistent winds create one of China’s most challenging environments for crop cultivation.
Jingmai 189 was independently developed by the institute and received national approval in 2022 as one of China’s first officially certified salt-tolerant wheat varieties. According to the spokesman, the breeding programme took about five years from initial selection to large-scale demonstration.
“A new variety must be evaluated over multiple growing seasons under different climatic conditions to confirm that its performance is stable,” he said.
Jingmai 189 had previously been planted in nearby Shache county, also known as Yarkant, on moderately saline land, where average yields exceeded 650kg per mu.
Cultivating the variety on heavily saline desert soils, however, had never been tried before.
Researchers attribute the performance not only to the variety’s genetics but also to its interaction with the desert environment. Its extensive root system helps stabilise loose sand, while its long growing season – from late September to June – provides winter ground cover that reduces wind erosion.
After harvest, the straw is returned to the field, adding organic matter that supports microbial activity to gradually improve soil quality, according to the team.
“It is not only about producing grain,” said senior agronomist Ren Liping, of the Institute of Hybrid Wheat Research. “It is also about controlling desertification.”
Conventional wheat varieties in the area typically yield only about 200kg per mu in favourable conditions, with production falling sharply on saline sandy soils, according to a report on the project by Beijing Daily.
During the project’s first planting season last winter, researchers expected Jingmai 189 to produce more than 350kg per mu – about 50kg more than competing varieties. The latest harvest greatly exceeded those expectations, reaching 768kg per mu despite the demonstration field having an average soil salinity of 8.6 parts per thousand, a level classified as heavily saline.
While the institute’s spokesman said Jingmai 189 had entered trial programmes in central and southern Asia, large-scale commercial cultivation overseas would depend on individual countries’ variety approval process.


Once approved, the wheat might be marketed under a different local name, he said, adding that researchers were still assessing its performance under various environmental conditions.
Chinese-developed high-yield wheat varieties have also become a leading choice for reclaimed farmland around Beijing, including sites in Fangshan and Shunyi, where poor-quality soil and reclaimed industrial land are among challenges for growers of conventional wheat varieties.
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‘Totally unexpected’: China’s trial Taklamakan Desert wheat yield doubles national average

The results of the Jingmai 189 harvest are encouraging, according to an expert group assessing the crop. Photo: Institute of Hybrid Wheat Research 

Soil salinity is a big problem in the research area. Photo: Institute of Hybrid Wheat Research

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A team led by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography say they genetically modified cotton for resistance to “cotton cancer”. Photo: Xinhua

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Chinese farmers have grown wheat in the country’s largest desert, Taklamakan, amid ongoing efforts to turn arid deserts into fertile soil and the drive to strengthen food security.
Photo: Weibo

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News

China

Researchers attribute the performance of Jingmai 189 variety not only to genetics but also its interaction with desert environment


Researchers attribute the performance of Jingmai 189 variety not only to genetics but also its interaction with desert environment.


Uzbekistan

Pakistan

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

‘Totally unexpected’: China’s trial Taklamakan Desert wheat yield doubles national average

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Researchers attribute the performance of Jingmai 189 variety not only to genetics but also its interaction with desert environment

Researchers attribute the performance of Jingmai 189 variety not only to genetics but also its interaction with desert environment