FuturaGene Plc began trials in Northwest China of the potential of using woody crops and shrubs to reclaim desert to help boost the economy for local farmers.

The company is working on four field trials in Gansu province to study whether the plants can fight desertification, enable soil regeneration and be used as biomass and in biofuel, the Sao Paulo-based FuturaGene said on Thursday. The trials will run for four years.

"We're dealing with very poor communities with very degraded agricultural land," FuturaGene CEO Stanley Hirsch said in London. "Farming practice in these places is very simple, and it's very difficult for these communities to actually derive a livelihood from agricultural land."

Desertification of land caused by factors such as wind and water erosion is a "major ecological" problem in China, with as much as 30 percent of land affected.

Vegetation in affected areas in northern China requires "significant improvement" to boost the local ecosystem and bring economic benefits, Hirsch said.

China Daily-Agencies