More than a decade ago, grain crops dominated Xizang's sown area to an overwhelming degree, while the share of cash crops and forage was limited. The region's protected agriculture sector was still small, and supplying fresh vegetables in winter to remote farming and pastoral areas was no easy task.

The turning point began to accelerate ten years ago. In 2018, Xizang allocated 575 million yuan to build 19 vegetable bases. In 2019, 20 million yuan from the "Vegetable Basket" project was directed to Shannan City and Xigaze City. In 2020, 8 million yuan of special funds was used for high-quality and high-efficiency cash crop development.

By 2025, Xizang's vegetable sown area had reached 32,910 hectares,with total output exceeding 1,015,800 tonnes, and the variety of fruits and vegetables had expanded to more than 130 kinds. The self-sufficiency rate of vegetables in Lhasa and other major towns during both off-seasons and peak seasons climbed steadily, reaching 68 percent in off-seasons and 88 percent in peak seasons.

From a single grain-crop structure dominated by qingke(highland barley), wheat, peas and rapeseed to a diversified pattern in which vegetables, fruits and cash crops advance together, the transformation of cropping patterns has not only reshaped the plateau's dining tables and economy, but has also quietly changed the thinking and destinies of farmers and herders.

Over the past 20 years, as protected agriculture extended into remote farming and pastoral areas, winter fresh vegetable supplies have long ceased to be a luxury. In Bainang County, 55 fruit and vegetable varieties have enriched people's dining tables. In Qonggyai County, more than 20 new varieties, including fruit corn and cherry tomatoes, have filled gaps in the market. In Zhanang County, organic asparagus has been sold as far away as Shanghai, Chengdu and Changsha, and in 2025 was trial-marketed in Hong Kong for the first time. The plateau's "fruit plate" has also become increasingly diverse."Linzhi Apple" has received national geographical indication certification, and Namcha apples have been exported to Nepal in more than 800 tonnes, earning 1 million U.S. dollars in foreign exchange.

At the same time, a diversified benefit-sharing mechanism featuring "rent + wages + dividends + orders" has become widespread across the plateau, and income is the most powerful proof. At the vegetable base in Qonggyai County, local people achieve "dual incomes" through land transfers, employment at the base and contracted operations. In Sangri County's grape industry, through a "company + base + farmers" mechanism, workers' wages, land transfers, machinery leasing and online sales have advanced side by side, with a cumulative 90,000 person-times of employment and more than 1,200 local people helped into nearby jobs. Last year alone, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in Linzhi City reached 29,484 yuan, ranking firstin the region, while Xigaze reached 21,231 yuan, with the fastest-growing in the region. Besides, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in Shannan reached 24,990 yuan, up 7 percent year on year. The role of specialty planting and protected agriculture in boosting incomes has become increasingly prominent.

A more profound change than those at the dining table and in incomes has taken place in the way farmers and herders think. In Hongxing Village, Jixiong Town of Gonggar County, when the national agricultural development project was launched in 2004, many villagers did not even recognize vegetable seedlings. Technicians were stationed there year-round, and by 2011, the village had become the first in the town with a per capita income exceeding 10,000 yuan.

In addition, changes in organization are also shaping a new generation. Dangen Village in RiwoqeTown has built a model of "coordinated overall planning by the village work team, technical guidance by the municipal agricultural science institute, entrepreneurial operation by returning college graduates, and broad participation by villagers," revitalizing eight idle greenhouse sheds. Pana Town in Amdo County has implemented a "work-point system for labor input," recording 5 points for each hour worked, with points redeemable for cash or vegetables, and eligible for year-end dividends. Herding households that once moved only between tents and pastures now actively embrace the market and calculate work-hour accounts and dividend accounts.

Reporter: Sun Kaiyuan, Song Haiyan

Translator: Tenzin Seldron, Zhi Xinghua

Reviewer: Hu Rongguo, Drakpa Wangchen