China's winter wheat harvest has surpassed the 40 percent mark, with 143 million mu (about 9.53 million hectares) already collected, as authorities intensify emergency machinery deployment to secure bumper harvests, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Wednesday.
Harvesting in the southwest and central China's Hubei Province has already concluded. The Huang-Huai-Hai main production region has now entered its peak harvest period, with mechanical harvesting exceeding 20 million mu (about 1.33 million hectares) on two consecutive days.
In Henan Province, 4 million sets of agricultural machinery have been mobilized to ensure timely wheat collection and prevent delays in summer planting.
In east China's Anhui Province, 792 emergency harvesting teams have been coordinated to form a preliminary one-hour emergency response network across the province.
More than 60 million mu (about 4 million hectares) of winter wheat in east China's Shandong Province is gradually maturing. Although over 80 percent of the local wheat was sown late last autumn due to autumn flooding, resulting in poor seedling conditions, timely field management has produced better-than-expected growth, and a bumper harvest is now in sight.
In Tancheng County, the area has been divided into 13 operational zones for staggered harvesting, ensuring all 680,000 mu (about 45,333 hectares) of wheat is collected within the optimal harvest window.
"This year, our county has mobilized over 11,000 sets of agricultural machinery for the 'Three Summers (summer harvest, summer planting and summer field management) production period. In response to possible rainy weather, we have prepared emergency equipment, including tracked harvesters and drying machinery," said Xu Jie, director of the Agricultural Machinery Technology Extension Center at Tancheng County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau in Linyi City, Shandong Province.
The Huang-Huai-Hai main production region has currently organized 1,792 regional agricultural emergency disaster relief centers and 4,976 regular agricultural machinery emergency service teams, mobilizing over 280,000 tracked harvesters and more than 70,000 dryers of various types. These resources are fully dedicated to ensuring mature wheat is harvested promptly and dried thoroughly.
"If disasters occur during the summer harvest period, we will promptly activate the inter-provincial mutual assistance and cooperation mechanism to coordinate agricultural machinery emergency disaster relief efforts. At present, the wheat harvest progress is advancing efficiently and in an orderly manner. We are striving to complete the remaining task of harvesting over 200 million mu (about 13.33 million hectares) of wheat within approximately 20 days," said Wang Jiayun, deputy director of the Agricultural Mechanization Management Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
China's wheat harvest tops 40 percent amid large-scale machinery deployment
