Nyima Tashi is Tibet Autonomous Region’s (TAR’s) chief scientist in highland barley cultivation, whose team has cultivated Zangqing 2,000 (a highland barleyspecies) with a record-breaking output of 350kg per mu (one mu equals to about 667 square meters).
As of now, Zangqing 2,000 has been planted for over one million mu, benefitting over one million Tibetan farmers.
Nyima’s hometown is Chagyoi Village, Dranang County, Shannan City, TAR, where cultivatable land is insufficient and barren and water is inadequate.
Highland barley’s output there was only 75kg per mu in bad quality. Villagers had to trade grain in Chongye County.This was quite inconvenient, due to the poor traffic.
“I grew up in the hope that highland barley in my hometown could grow well with high yield. So my father and elder brother could stay around rather than trade grain afar.
Nyima entered Northwest A&F University to study agronomy to achieve his childhood dream. On his graduation in 1984, he started his scientific research on highland barley.
First of all, based on the existed materials, Nyima systematically studied 1,513 highland barley species, which laid a solid foundation for his further research.
He spent several years studying highland barley in the fields and became an expert on it. He cultivated Zangqing 148 in the 1990s, which once was the main highland barley species planted in Tibet.
He continued to adjust cultivation goals and succeeded in cultivating over 20 highland barley species.
Afterwards, Nyima and his team devoted 19 years to selecting and cultivating the new highland barley species, Zangqing 2,000.
Zangqing 2,000 is characterized by high yield, high grass output, etc. It passed variety certification in 2013 and has been planted for over 100,000 mu in the same year with an output increasing by 26kg per mu.
Now, wherever Nyima is, he would introduce the merits of highland barley, such as high protein, high fiber, high vitamin, low fat, low sugar, etc.
“Highland barley is Tibetan people’s contribution to the world. I hope that all people will know it and like it.”NyimaTashi said.
