A retired elderly couple made North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region their home for the last 19 years. They have been fighting to survive in the rough desert area by planting hundreds of hectares of drought-resistant plants.
Seventy-year-old Tububatu and his wife Taoshengchagan live in a village on the edge of Badain Jaran, China’s third-largest desert. Through plants, they fight the advancement of the desert. Tububatu started out with 50 trees but kept doubling his efforts to the point where he now plants thousands of saplings a year. Now, his small desert oasis spans over 266 hectares and numbers tens of thousands of drought-resistant trees. They mostly plant drought-resistant species like sacsaoul trees (Haloxylon) and desert distance. Despite that, the couple still makes sure to water them at least once a day.
Their village is almost 100 kilometers away from the nearest town. Their children have tried to get them to move to a more hospitable home but they insisted on staying. Even got ridiculed by members of their own community who believe their efforts as futile. But still, they persevered.
It was a difficult journey for them. Tutubatu relied on his motorbike to carry the water for the plant which means eight bottles for each trip. They need hundreds of bottles per day. But he later upgraded to a four-wheeler. This means he can now take up to 40 bottles per trip.
Tububatu is also making a living off of selling one of his plants, the desert cistanche. It is a popular medicinal plant that can sell for up to 100 yuan (RM63.34) per kilogram.
China Daily reports that Tububatu and his wife have so far planted over 70,000 trees and spent more than 1 million yuan (RM633,635.84) of their savings in the process. Despite their health condition, they started to battle against the desert.
Tububatu and Taoshengchagan have received several awards and recognition for their efforts over the years. They are also an inspiration for environmentalists all over the world.
Source: Oddity Central, SCMP
