According to official statistics, western China is home to the majority of the 36 million people who live below the national poverty line. Poor agricultural conditions and the resultant food deficiency are the main causes for the economic destitution and backwardness across the region.

As was the case in Dingxi, experts say potatoes and corn cultivation could play a major role in relieving poverty in the rest of west China.

Various provinces and autonomous regions including Shaanxi, Qinghai, Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia, are now promoting potato cultivation. Some cities are even competing with Dingxi for becoming China's potato production base.

New corn technology has also seen a quick expansion in China's arid west. In Gansu province alone, it produced bumper harvests across 700,000 hectares of corn fields even during years of drought, said Yang.

Even now, officials and experts in west China are experimenting with new species and technologies that can turn barren lands into productive farms.To them, the key to success lies in overcoming the old mentality of growing merely what the locals eat and in shifting attention to what suits local conditions.

Qi Junqing says he still prefers wheat as a staple, though nearly three-quarters of his 1.3-hectare farms is used to cultivate corn.

"In the past, we grew wheat, but the flour supply was never enough; now we grow corn but we can buy plenty of flour," said Qi.