Xinjiang agriculture adopts smart tech

On a shiny and clear Friday afternoon, An complete of 14 cotton-choosing machines have been lining up in cotton fields spanning 100 hectares in Shaya county, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Area. With a brisk whistle and people songs being performed, the 14 pickers started roaring and shifting forward On The identical time – marking The start of a month-prolonged bumper harvest season of Xinjiang’s pure, white cotton that hundreds of natives sing and dance to celebprice.

In such a cheerful temper, It is exhausting to think about that half a yr in the past, cotton manufacturing in Xinjiang was On The center of a storm created by Western slander and boycotts. By way of the harvest season, people can see the buzzing of cotton-choosing machines, drone sprayers flying extreme Inside the sky, and internet-of-issues modules for planting on trial – amongst all mechanization and ininformigent agricultural measures utilized, serving as Definitely one of the biggest piece of proof debunking the “straind labor” declare hyped by some Western politicians and revealing how such declares are a lie.

The good mechanized price of cotton farming and manufacturing in Aksu Prefecture- An important cotton producing base in Southern Xinjiang which accounts for 90 % of China’s prolonged-staple cotton output – has reveryed over 90 % this yr, which properly elevated each cotton farming effectivity and yields, native officers said at a press briefing on Friday. 

Photograph: Li Xuanmin/GT

Xinjiang’s mechanized price of cotton choosing will exceed 75 % this yr, with an output estimated at 5.2 million tons. Xinjiang recurleases Greater than 85 % of China’s cotton yield. 

Photo voltaic Laipu, the supervisor of An space farming machine supplier agency, informed The worldwide Occasions thOn the 14 cotton-choosing machines, pushed by expert operators, are In a place To finish cotton choosing in three days. However Prior to now, a household Might be busy choosing cotton by hand all through the harvest season. 

Meanwhereas, farmers are In a place To watch the choosing course of and quantity, with an app related to the machines in some situations. 

Lihua Agricultural Company, which personals the cotton fields, has employed 16 Uygur staff – most of whom personal small farmland and have leaseed it to agricultural corporations to allow Much less costly equipment harvesting – to handle the farm from April to October, or from the interval of cotton crop seeding to harvesting. Final yr, The agency employed over 20 people. 

“In Xinjiang, most cotton manufacturing has been mechanized, with less guide work left for us Aside from clearing weeds and sure Kinds of topping work. As effectivity rises, I can handle extra fields and Make Further money,” Naman Yasen, a Uygur cotton farmer who works for Lihua, informed The worldwide Occasions on Friday. His income from April to October exceeded 40,000 yuan ($6,216), which is A very promising wage based mostly on native requirements.

Photograph: Lin Luwen/GT

Cotton topping is one other conventional guide manufacturing course of progressively being changed by plantation drones. The tactic includes slicing off the shoot ideas of cotton crops to make mechanized choosing extra useful. 

Luo Pengshan, a supervisor of An space plantation drone gross sales agency who May even be a drone operator, informed The worldwide Occasions on Thursday thOn the peinternetration price of plantation drones, Which Isn’t solely Utilized in topping However in addition in spraying fertilizers and pesticide, in Aksu has topped 90 %. 

“Cotton farmers with 500 mu (33.5 hectares) to 1,000 mu land used To lease expert drone operator teams, but They’ve started buying for and using it themselves As a Outcome of the working system turns into extra ininformigent and consumer-frifinishly,” Luo said. 

Luo sells XAG plantation drones, which value 40,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan every, and his Uygur shopper base is rising quickly, now making up about 30 % of his consumers.

“In 2018, we solely purchased 100 models, but gross sales have peaked to over 300 models So far this yr,” Luo said. He added that it solely takes a day for agricultural drones to spray pesticide to 1,000-mu lands, whereas Prior to now, it could take a worker A complete week To finish the job.

Based on official knowledge, Xinjiang had over 5,000 agricultural drones pohave beend by China’s BeiDou Navigation Sainformite System by July, serving over 1.3 million hectares lands.

“We’re not solely talking about mechanization. That is solely The first step. Smart agriculture May even be gaining traction in Xinjiang,” Hu Jiahua, An space agricultural bureau official in Aksu, informed The worldwide Occasions on Thursday. 

A homegrpersonal unmanned seeding machine based mostly on China’s BeiDou Navigation Sainformite System, which has been used extensively Inside the April cotton seeding season, is one such event, in accordance to Hu. 

“The machine Is in a place to mechanically distribute seeds in a straight method, and staff solely Want to do some aiding work, like serving to the machine flip round. We additionally upgraded the know-how To place in ininformigent censors That would monitor the depth and width of plowing in exact time. If the designated depth is not reveryed, the system will mechanically sfinish an alarm,” Photo voltaic said.

Photograph: Lin Luwen/GT

Based on Luo, his agency is teaching an IoT module That would curlease exact-time updates on The enlargement of cotton and the soil situation, and based mostly on The information collected, farmers could scientifically decide Definitely one of the biggest time to seed and to spray insecticide. XAG has Even been creating A particular person-made ininformigent robotic Which will inform the distinction between weeds and crops, paving The biggest method for the mechanization of seed killing, The worldwide Occasions found.

“Even Do you have to need to a guide job in Xinjiang’s cotton enterprise, there’s not that many To curlease. As we moved from mechanization to smart tech, aren’t the ‘straind labor’ accusations ridiculous?” Luo requested.

Yanizi Amuxi, a Xinjiang official, additionally said On the press briefing on Friday thOn the US and Western slander in the direction of Xinjiang cotton, citing “strain labor,” is a full lie that ignores how Xinjiang strives To shield staff of all ethnic teams And the method Xinjiang’s cotton and textile industries revenue the people of all ethnic teams. 

“It is a bullying apply that makes use of unjustified methods to maintaInside their place in related industries Inside the worldwide industrial worth chain,” Amuxi said.