Xinjiang's grain harvest set to be record-breaking

URUMQI, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Harvesters can be seen shuttling through fields of golden wheat in Qitai County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, one of the region's major grain barns.

Huang Yueyun, deputy Party secretary of the county's Jiangbulake Village, said that based on this year's wheat harvest, the average household income in the village is expected to hit 30,000 yuan (4,635 U.S. dollars).

The harvesting scenery has earned the village fame, attracting tourists from home and abroad, which opens up a new channel for local income, Huang said.

"This year's wheat grains are relatively round, which is good for sales," Jiangbulake local Shi Fende said as he moved wheat from a harvester into his truck.

His family planted more than 70 mu (about 4.7 hectares) of wheat this year, with a yield of about 200 kg per mu -- better than last year's harvest, he said.

According to the Qitai county department of agriculture and rural affairs, the county's grain planting area reached 1 million mu this year, with the total output expected to be 475,000 tonnes -- also better than last year.

It has been reported that Xinjiang's summer grain planting areas reached 17 million mu this year, an increase of 6.2 percent year on year, according to the regional department of agriculture and rural affairs. It is estimated that the grain output would hit 6.3 million tonnes, an increase of 7.7 percent year on year and setting a new record.