Cotton planting area accounts for 80% of the national total, how is high yield achieved?

**Total cotton output has ranked first in the country for more than 20 consecutive years. A reporter learned from the ** Academy of Agricultural Sciences that ** cotton planting area reached more than 37 million mu in 2018, accounting for 80% of the national cotton planting area. In northern **, the average cotton yield is around 400 kg per mu, while in southern ** the average cotton yield is around 500 kg per mu, and the proportion of machine-picked cotton in northern ** accounts for more than 80%.

Mechanical harvesting of cotton in Manas County reaches 96% across 830,000 mu

There was once a time when, every cotton harvest season, the cotton fields around Changji, Shihezi and Kuitun in northern ** were full of armies of cotton pickers. In recent years, machine-picked cotton planting has been rapidly promoted in northern **. A reporter learned from the Manas County Agriculture Bureau that this year the county planted 830,000 mu of high-quality cotton, and mechanical harvesting will reach 96%.

In the cotton field of cotton farmer Cheng Zhengjiang in Sanchakou Village, Beiwucha Township, Manas County, 6 cotton harvesters shuttled back and forth, speeding up operations. Cheng Zhengjiang planted more than 300 mu of cotton in 2018. Thanks to scientific planting, the cotton grew better in 2018 than in previous years, “the yield per mu is estimated to be around 400 kg, and the good fields can reach 500 kg. In 2018 we all adopted machine picking here. Compared with manual picking, machine picking saves about 650 yuan per mu.”

It is reported that Beiwucha Township in Manas County has fully achieved machine-picked cotton. To promote machine-picked cotton on a large scale, in recent years Manas County launched agricultural supply-side structural reform, adjusted planting varieties, reduced the original more than twenty varieties to 3 planted varieties, planted efficient and high-quality machine-picked cotton, guided cotton growers to establish cooperatives, unified procurement, unified harvesting, and saved planting costs.

Li Xueming, a cotton grower in Beiwucha Township, Manas County, has planted cotton for 17 years. “In the past, when the cotton-picking season came, in order to recruit cotton pickers, we would squat all day at railway stations and long-distance bus stations, holding up signs and asking everywhere.”

In the past, cotton pickers were hard to recruit and their prices rose year after year. Li Xueming still remembers that in 2001 the price for picking cotton was only 5 jiao per kg, and by 2015 it had risen to as high as 2.2 yuan per kg. “If it kept rising like that, we really could not bear it. In 2016 I switched entirely to machine-picked cotton. Now cotton planting is almost fully mechanized. Our family plants 200 mu of cotton, and managing it is easy.” Li Xueming said.

It is reported that in recent years Manas County has been guiding cotton farmers toward intensive planting and scientific planting and management. “We need to integrate and apply precision cotton sowing technology, chemical topping technology and mechanical harvesting technology into cotton production to achieve full mechanization.” said Bao Yuqin, chief agricultural adviser of Manas County.

Machine-picked cotton planting area in northern ** has accounted for more than 80%

A reporter learned from the ** Academy of Agricultural Sciences that in recent years machine-picked cotton has been rapidly promoted in northern **, the machine-picked cotton planting area has accounted for more than 80%, and in some counties and cities it has exceeded 90%.

Shawan County planted 1.8 million mu of cotton in 2018. At present the cotton is maturing successively and mechanical harvesting has begun. In a cotton field in Songshenggong Village, Jingou Township, Shawan County, a John Deere CP690 self-propelled round module cotton picker of the Shawan County Agricultural Machinery Cooperative shuttled back and forth in the cotton field. According to Mu Jianzhong, director of the Hongji Agricultural Machinery Cooperative in Shawan County, since cotton picking began on September 22, 4 John Deere CP690 self-propelled round module cotton pickers have been deployed to serve the area around Shawan County, with a daily operating volume of more than 500 mu.

After the round module cotton picker drove into the cotton field, cotton bolls were quickly grabbed into the machine's “belly”, then compressed in the “belly”, and a large cylindrical cotton module was discharged from the rear of the machine. Compared with the more traditional basket-type cotton picker, the round module cotton picker achieves full mechanization of cotton harvesting and module packaging, can effectively prevent cotton from being contaminated by impurities during transfer, and greatly improves cotton quality.

A reporter learned from ** Tianshan Nongxin Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. that ** began selling round module cotton pickers in 2012. The first-generation 7760 was priced at 4.6 million yuan, and by 2015 the second-generation CP690 sold for 5.3 million yuan. “Now southern ** has seventy or eighty round module cotton pickers, mainly purchased by Shaya County, Yuli County and Regiment 2 of Division 1 of the Corps, while northern ** has nearly 200, mainly operating in the areas of Regiment 125, Regiment 121, Regiment 127, Wusu, Kuitun and Shihezi. One round module cotton picker operating continuously for a day and a night can harvest 680 mu of cotton, or conservatively 500 mu. One machine working for one day is equivalent to 2,000 laborers working for one day.” said Fu Quanwei, sales department manager of ** Tianshan Nongxin Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd.

Comparing planting benefits, growing machine-picked cotton brings higher income

It is reported that ** first promoted machine-picked cotton in the Corps. As early as the late 1990s, machine-picked cotton had already appeared in Division 1 of the Corps, and afterward machine-picked cotton began to be promoted in Division 8 of the Corps. But at that time manual cotton picking was cheap, and machine-picked cotton was not promoted very quickly.

By 2012, machine-picked cotton was rapidly promoted in northern **. “1.5 yuan/kg for cotton is a balance point of interest. Once manual cotton picking exceeds this price, it no longer has much advantage. Now the price for picking cotton has risen to 2.5 yuan/kg, and the returns from planting machine-picked cotton already hold an absolute advantage.” Fu Quanwei said.

According to estimates, in northern **, after machine-picked cotton is sold, the income per kg is about 9 jiao higher than that of manual cotton picking, and each mu generates about 360 yuan more income; in southern **, each mu generates about 450 yuan more income.

It is reported that in 2018 ** cotton picking began in early September, large-scale cotton picking began in southern ** in mid-September, and large-scale cotton picking began in northern ** in late September. ** Cotton picking can last about 50 days, and in northern ** harvesting will be completed by late October at the latest. At present, this is the busiest time for cotton harvesting.