City in Ningxia has vision of milk — lots of it

Baitugang, a remote town in Lingwu, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, has a rural revitalization strategy that has so far attracted 55 livestock breeding companies and aims to transform itself into a Mecca of milk.

Xin'ao Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Co started things off in May 2019 by importing 2,000 milk cows from Australia.

"The vast sandy tracts here is an ideal place to raise cows where there has few possibility for cattle to suffer from diseases such as mastitis" said Yang Xian, general manager of the company. "And there is sufficient sunshine and fodder."

Thanks to the animal quarantine station built with money from the local government, Yang's cattle can be transported from Australia by air instead of by sea to Tianjin.

Ma Shaohua, the town's Party chief, said: "Having our own quarantine station can help the company save 15 days in transit and reduce the cost by 2,000 yuan ($282) per cow."

The local government has launched more preferential policies to support companies during the coronavirus epidemic.

Yang's company, which has more than 1,000 animals, to resume production.

Ma said that 10 years ago the town was a vast sandy place without access to clear water and electricity. When the breeding base opened in 2018, it was extremely difficult to attract investors because of the poor production environment.

"In the past two years, the government has invested 3.72 billion yuan to improve the infrastructure and managed to attract 55 companies, of which 32 specialize in cow breeding," Ma said.

Covering an area of 210,000 square meters, Ningxia Nongken Helan Mountains Dairy Co keeps 12,000 milk cows at its modern, standardized cattle farm.

Now that the town is equipped with a complete process chain, including a packaging house, sewage treatment plant, trade area, quarantine station and a number of dairy companies, more breeding enterprises will be attracted.

Mengniu Dairy Co, a Chinese dairy giant launched its milk processing operation in Lingwu in 2019 with an investment of 1.6 billion yuan.