Agricultural machinery helps farmers plant sugarcane efficiently in S China's Guangxi

Agricultural machines work simultaneously in a sugarcane field in Shangsi county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

With spring gradually bringing warmer weather, farmers in the sugarcane producing areas of Shangsi county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, are racing against the clock to start their "sweet business" in the new year.

"I'm going to plant 80 mu (about 5.33 hectares) of sugarcane this year. I've booked mechanized farming services from an agricultural machinery cooperative for the ploughing and sowing. It saves both time and energy for me," Wei Zhuxi, a sugarcane grower in Yihe village, Shangsi county, told People's Daily Online.

Four large agricultural machines helped Wei finish ploughing and sowing 20 mu of farmland with sugarcane in about half a day, while machines spread fertilizers in the fields.

Guangxi accounts for two-thirds of the sugar produced in China, and Shangsi county is one of the major sugarcane producing areas in Guangxi.

With its 450,000 mu of sugarcane, Shangsi county supplies about 2 million tonnes of sugarcane to sugar companies every year.

In recent years, the county has intensified efforts to promote the application of agricultural machinery and relevant technologies, greatly reducing agricultural production costs and boosting sugarcane farmers' confidence in the industry.  

(Photos by Peng Yuanhe, Wei Shixian, Huang Haizhu)