According to Ren Yaping, Executive Vice Chairman of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the regional government has invested 37-40 billion yuan ($5.42-5.86 billion) in the program over the past 10 years.

Besides local governments, the sand industry has also played an important role in the control program, Ren said. Today, the sand industry is at the forefront of protecting the environment.

In order to promote the further development of the emerging industry, local governments have unveiled several new policies.

In 2005, Ordos City Government officials built a processing base for the sea buckthorn industry totaling 2.5 square km and with planned investments of 1 billion yuan ($146.41 million). To date, five businesses have settled in the area of southwest Inner Mongolia.

Sand products

Sea buckthorn, a deciduous shrub, is edible and medicinal. Sea buckthorn berries hold high levels of vitamin C, vitamin E, essential fatty acids and other healthful components.

Wangzhihe Group Ordos City Tianjiao Food Co. Ltd., under China's well-known Wangzhihe Food Group, is one of the companies that settled in the Ordos industrial area to process local sea buckthorns.

Li Yunfei, Executive President of Tianjiao Food Co. Ltd., said the company has developed five lines with 35 products, including vinegars, sauces, teas and drinks, all made of sea buckthorn. By the end of 2009, the company's output value will reach 320 million yuan ($46.85 million) and the company will pay 120 million yuan ($17.57 million) in taxes to the government, Li said. The company has attracted domestic and international customers. For example, sea buckthorn vinegar is being exported to overseas markets such as Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia.

Li said his company ensures supplies of the berries by providing technology to farmers and helping them plant sea buckthorns. The company then purchases sea buckthorns at high prices during the harvest season. Sea buckthorn fruits sell for 3,900 yuan ($571) a ton and their leaves fetch 1,500 yuan ($219.62) a ton. On average, every hectare of the plant can bring 6,000 yuan ($878.48) of income to farmers.

In the last two years, the Tianjiao Food Co. has paid 16 million yuan ($2.34 million) to buy sea buckthorns from farmers, helping 6,400 families earn 2,500 yuan ($366) each, Li said.

Willow power

Like sea buckthorn, sandlive willow is another kind of shrub that grows in the desert. It also plays an important role in controlling desertification.

Jia Jiliang, Deputy Director of the Ordos Forestry Bureau, said the sandlive willow industry started in the early 1990s. In recent years, under the government's help and guidance, more than 30 businesses in Ordos planted 390,000 hectares of the shrub.

"In the past, deserts surrounded the city of Ordos, but today they have been covered with sandlive willows," said Liu Caixia, Director of the Sand Industry Office of the Ordos Forestry Bureau.

Liu said sandlive willows not only help prevent desertification but can also be made into different products like paper.

Dongda Mongolia King Paper Co. Ltd. is a flagship papermaking enterprise in Inner Mongolia's Dalate Banner. The company was set up in 1995 and started the sandlive willow papermaking project in 2002. The company's sandlive willow papermaking technology received a national patent, and its annual output now reaches 100,000 tons.

Wu Xiangdong, Deputy Director of the Dalate Banner Forestry Bureau, said Dongda Mongolia King Paper Co. Ltd. has brought along 50,000 families of farmers to plant sandlive willows.

But paper isn't the only thing for which the plant can be used. Wu said that sandlive willows could be the fuel to produce electric power.

Inner Mongolia Maowusu Biomass Cogeneration Co. Ltd., which was set up in January 2006, is the world's first company to use sandlive shrubs to generate electric power. China Development Bank awarded the company 185 million yuan ($27.09 million) in long-term loans to start operations.

According to General Manager Li Jinglu, the company had invested 40 million yuan ($5.86 million) to plant 22,000 hectares of sandlive willows by the end of 2008. Since connecting to the Ordos power grid on November 16, 2008, the company has generated more than 30 million kwh of electricity and provided more than 5,000 jobs each year, helping local farmers make 60 million yuan ($8.78 million) in added income.