CHONGQING, Jan 30 — Quadriplegic and bedridden in a prefabricated home, 36-year-old Li Xia can only move one finger and one toe—yet he runs a high-tech farm in southwestern...
Taken on December 16, 2025, this photo shows Li Qian caring for her brother Li Xia , who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, at their home in Chongqing, China. Despite being bedridden, the 36-year-old runs a high-tech farm using sensors and computers.
— AFP picand enjoy FREE RM10 & when you sign up using code VERSAMM10 with min. cash of RM100 today! T&Cs apply.CHONGQING, Jan 30 — Quadriplegic and bedridden in a prefabricated home, 36-year-old Li Xia can only move one finger and one toe—yet he runs a high-tech farm in southwestern China using sensors, cameras, and a computer. Li, who suffers from a genetic degenerative condition that progressively weakens muscles, relies on a ventilator permanently connected to his windpipe to breathe, but grows celery with the help of his 62-year-old mother. From his bed, he operates four greenhouses that lie 10 metres away via a programme he created and a computer screen hanging above him on an adjustable arm. “Through this microcomputer and the programme I developed, and a mobile app, I can monitor various data points from the farm, such as temperature, humidity, nutrient solution concentration, and pH levels,” Li told AFP.With the one finger he can move, he controls the on-screen cursor using a trackball. “To click, I use a flex sensor attached to my toe,” said Li from his home in Shiping village, near the southwestern city of Chongqing. Duchenne muscular dystrophy , which he suffers from, is an incurable genetic disease that affects almost exclusively males, at a rate of one in 5,000 births. Over the years, it causes muscles to weaken, increasing the risk of falls, before paralysis sets in, which can affect cardiac activity and breathing. Until the early 2000s, boys with the condition rarely lived beyond their teens. But with comprehensive care, survival into the 30s and even 40s is possible. Li, who was once able to get around in a wheelchair, experienced a sudden medical crisis in 2020 when he was 30 years old. He fell into a coma, became incontinent and quadriplegic.He discovered hydroponics, an innovative cultivation technique where vegetables are grown not in soil, but in a solution of water enriched with essential nutrients. Partially automated, it requires little manual labour, allows for crops to be precisely controlled and ensures good yields. “I grew up in the countryside, so I’ve always been in contact with seeds, soil and vegetables,” he said.Li taught himself computer programming and learned how to design a circuit board. His case is in many ways similar to others with severe neuromotor disorders, such as British physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking, who was confined to a wheelchair and could only communicate through a voice synthesiser. Or Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was paralysed after a stroke and authored his 1997 book “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” by blinking his left eye, the only movement he could still control.Li explains what needs to be done and supervises her work in the greenhouses via a video link to his smartphone.In addition to farm work, she provides for her son day and night, including cooking and cleaning the ventilation tube in his windpipe.Even with the help of her daughter, who regularly assists with bathing her brother, Wu only sleeps three to five hours a night. “But it’s worth it,” said Wu, who is divorced. “It may not seem like it, but our family is quite happy.”Li said he saw the high-tech farm as a “niche” with “great prospects”, and hoped to provide his family with a livelihood. “If I succeed, it would allow me to fulfil a dream, but also to earn money and improve our living conditions,” he said. They moved to a prefabricated portable home in 2022, and his celery is now sold to a local supermarket chain.“But my dream is to expand this farm, turn it into a successful business, produce more and earn more. ‘Didn’t expect it to get so big’: Johor man’s free Thaipusam giveaway of sacred ‘vel’ draws hundreds nationwide
Li Xia Hydroponics Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy High-Tech Farm Shiping Village
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