Cotton planting area accounts for 80% of the national total, so how can high yields be 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 the ** cotton planting area reached more than 37 million mu in 2018, accounting for 80% of the country's cotton planting area. In northern **, the average cotton yield is about 400 kg per mu, while in southern ** the average cotton yield is about 500 kg per mu, and machine-picked cotton accounts for more than 80% in northern **.

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

There was once a time when, every cotton harvest season, the cotton fields in the Changji, Shihezi and Kuitun areas of 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 the county planted 830,000 mu of high-quality cotton this year, and mechanical harvesting will reach 96%.

In the cotton field of Cheng Zhengjiang, a cotton farmer in Sanchakou Village, Beiwucha Town, Manas County, 6 cotton harvesters shuttled back and forth, hurrying through their work. 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 harvesting here. Compared with manual picking, machine harvesting saves about 650 yuan per mu.”

It is reported that Beiwucha Town in Manas County has fully achieved machine-picked cotton. To promote machine-picked cotton on a large scale, Manas County has launched agricultural supply-side structural reform in recent years, adjusted planting varieties, reduced the original more than 20 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 Town, Manas County, has grown 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 signs and asking around.”

In the past, cotton pickers were hard to recruit and their wages 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, so 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 onto the path of intensive planting, scientific planting and scientific management. “It is necessary to integrate and apply precision sowing technology, chemical topping technology and mechanical harvesting technology in cotton production to achieve full mechanization.” said Bao Yuqin, chief agricultural consultant of Manas County.

Machine-picked cotton planting area in northern ** has already 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 already 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 one after another, and mechanical harvesting has begun. In a cotton field in Songshenggong Village, Jingou Town, Shawan County, a John Deere CP690 self-propelled round module builder cotton harvester from the Shawan County Agricultural Machinery Cooperative shuttled back and forth in the cotton field. According to Mu Jianzhong, director of the Shawan County Hongji Agricultural Machinery Cooperative, since cotton harvesting began on September 22, 4 John Deere CP690 self-propelled round module builder cotton harvesters have been dispatched to serve the area around Shawan County, with a daily workload of more than 500 mu.

As soon as the round module builder cotton harvester 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 spit out from the rear of the machine. Compared with the more traditional basket-type cotton harvester, the round module builder cotton harvester achieves full mechanization of cotton harvesting and baling, 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 builder cotton harvesters 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 70 to 80 round module builder cotton harvesters, mainly purchased by Shaya County, Yuli County, and the 2nd Regiment of the First Division of the Corps, while northern ** has nearly 200, mainly distributed in the areas of the 125th Regiment, 121st Regiment, 127th Regiment of the Corps, Wusu, Kuitun and Shihezi. One round module builder cotton harvester operating continuously for a day and a night can harvest 680 mu of cotton, or conservatively 500 mu. One machine doing one day's work is equivalent to 2,000 laborers doing one day's work.” 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 the First Division of the Corps, and afterward machine-picked cotton began to be promoted in the Eighth Division of the Corps. But at that time manual cotton picking was cheap, so 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 for manually picked cotton, and each mu brings about 360 yuan more income; in southern **, each mu brings about 450 yuan more income.

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