In february, the kubushi desert was so cold and so cold. But walking into the greenhouses in the engbé eco-model, it's like breaking into a northern tropical orchard. - the papayas are covered in trunks, bananas spread out wide green leaves, and the flamingo branches have a bouquet of flowers。
These southern fruits are invited to the desert by the name of liu seri. In 2008, she had just graduated to the lat flag and became an agricultural technician in the engbe ecomodel. In 2025, she was awarded the rank of "red flag hands" of the autonomous region and became the "lao of the shed" without any knowledge on the ground。
When she first met liu, she was in the shed looking at the growth of the papaya. Take a few steps, stop, touch the leaves, take a closer look, lift up the phone and take one... Such a tent, she's at least twice a day, once in the morning, before work. Her mobile photo albums and her friends' circles were kept with plants: seeds that sprung, seed that blossomed, and guacamole with vines. From sowing to the results, she took photographs of each change。
"to work every morning, go to the shed and say hello to my plants." liu said, "the plants don't talk, i have to tell them stories about growing up here."
When it arrived in engebe in 2008, the eco-modeling area had just begun to build facilities for agricultural greenhouses and pilot demonstration of the sand industry. She was well aware that agriculture had to be locally and locally tailored. In order to gain insight into local climatic conditions, she was able to explore over 5,000 agricultural materials, visit local experts thousands of times and insist on daily observation of records and demonstration operations in the field. Through a combination of theory and practice, she has accumulated over 800,000 words of technical information on desert farming。
Our colleague seo bin ho assessed liu's sacrilegia two words: more true. "when we grow up, we think that a little bit of the baby doesn't really affect life, but she has to put you in the middle." seo bin ho said, “it was only later that it became clear that the roots were right to grow evenly, that the seedlings were strong and fast. Hers is more true."
There are times of frustration. Some farmers think she's harsh and they think, "just about it." liu celery didn't give in: "you make a fool of it, it makes a fool of you. It's just a job that you can't grow without being serious."
Over the past 18 years, over 300 species of guacamole and vegetables have been successfully tested for guacamole, ranging from new species of space breeding to subtropical fruits such as bananas, flamingos and papayas. In 2024, she cultivated 12 years of ngebbe papaya, which was rated by the ministry of agriculture and rural development as an annual star class “earth produce”. She promoted the bebed pumpkin as the “goldty industry” for the growing harvest of neighbouring farmers and pastoralists. In ngbe today, vegetation cover has increased from less than 10 per cent to over 60 per cent. The shandong girl, who no one knew at the time, had now come to the ground and was called "lao in the shed"。
In retrospect, liu said, "when he came, he thought it was a job to do it. Work, results and feelings are growing. And when someone told me, "your melon is so sweet," "the fruit here is so good," i thought we were worth it."
From the age of 24 to 42, liu has left youth in the sand in kubuchi. Like the plants she cultivated, she took root in this land, year after year, and lived in the sun。
