With summer sowing and field management in full swing across China, Chinese farmers are using advanced agricultural technologies and machinery to improve planting efficiency and increase yields.
In northwestern province of Shaanxi, local authorities have collaborated to advance the laying of drip irrigation tapes and precise sowing simultaneously, anticipating a bountiful autumn grain harvest.
In Weinan City, the largest grain producing area in Shaanxi, integrated fertilizer planters have greatly improved the corn sowing efficiency for farmers.
"Our cooperative now grows 4,060 mu (about 270.7 hectares) of corns. We now have 10 machines working in the field. They can sow seeds for 1,300 to 1,400 mu of land per day. The entire process can be completed in just three days," said Lei Fan, director of a specialized farmers' cooperative in Dali County.
This year, the total area of summer sowing in Dali County exceeds 34,667 hectares. Local agricultural department has dispatched more than 1,900 planters to promote the scientific, standardized and rationalized summer sowing.
With the completion of the corn sowing, the soybean planting and strip intercropping are underway in the county and are expected to be fully accomplished by the end of June.
Meanwhile, in a demonstration field in Weinan's Huazhou District, farmers use seeders to dig ditches, sow seeds, lay drip irrigation tapes and cover the soil. They can complete the operation of one mu (approximately 0.067 hectares) of farmland within 10 minutes
"Up to 40 percent of water can be saved. If I adopt flood irrigation, it may take half a month [to water my fields]. But now that the drip irrigation tapes have been laid, the irrigation of these 150 mu of land can be completed in at most one week," said Liu Ziyang, owner of a family farm.
Up to now, some 2,000 hectares of farmland have been equipped with drip irrigation tapes in Huazhou District of Weinan. Agricultural technicians have also provided guidance services to facilitate the orderly progress of local summer sowing work.
Luliang County of southwest China's Yunnan Province serves as a major supplier of high-quality vegetables in the country. Technical guidance and technological protection have been carried out throughout the county as part of the ongoing summer management of aquatic vegetable fields.
In the core production area Sanchahe Town, agricultural technicians visited the mushroom fields to advise farmers on scientific prevention and control of pest and disease. Plant protection drones have also been used to help farmers spread fertilizers.
"I have 29 mu (about 1.93 hectares) of fields. In the past, it took two or three days to spray pesticides manually, but now with drones, it only takes two or three hours," said Zhu Langsheng, a local farmer.
Advanced agricultural technologies, machinery facilitate summer farming in China
