By Sun Xingwei, Zhang Liang

BEIJING, Mar. 25 -- The Logistic Support Department of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) has recently made arrangements to improve the production and management level of the military non-staple food supply. It is required for various troops to organize the subsidiary foodstuff production flexibly according to combat-readiness training tasks and local environment and climate features. Sources said that self-sufficient farming of non-staple food based on local conditions is an inherited glorious tradition of the Chinese PLA.

The requirements are specified as follows:

First, troops are encouraged to introduce and promote new plant varieties, new technologies, new facilities and new materials, and to make farming more technological .

Second, for troops stationed in the areas of plateaus at an altitude of over 3,000 meters, offshore reefs, as well as Gobi deserts, the artificial-lighting vegetable factories should be widely applied, reasonably making use of different types of energy such as photovoltaic power, wind energy, and diesel power. Such arrangements aim to explore advanced technologies for continuous production of vegetable all year around irrespective of natural limits, so as to ensure that the troops in remote and deprived areas can eat fresh vegetables throughout the year.

Third, troops should pay attention on introducing more modern agricultural technologies to speed up the upgrading of production facilities such as greenhouses, livestock and poultry shelters, fish ponds and vegetable plots.

Fourth, troops are also required to actively conduct civil-military technical cooperation to realize resources sharing, for example, inviting local agricultural technicians to impart scientific breeding experience to troops by on-site instruction, selecting core personnel to visit and study at local agricultural institutes and enterprises, and cultivating stable military expert force.