Mechanization makes chili pepper transplanting more efficient in NW China's Xinjiang

Pepper seedling transplanter machines work in a field in Baoerhai village, Yanqi Hui Autonomous County, Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo/Que Hure)

Semi-automatic and automatic pepper seedling transplanter machines were recently seen working in a field in Baoerhai village, Yanqi Hui Autonomous County, Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

In recent years, the autonomous prefecture has introduced precision seeders, transplanters, and other types of new agricultural machines to improve the mechanization of the cultivation of cash crops, including chili peppers and tomatoes.

This year, seedlings of chili peppers grown in the autonomous prefecture for industrial use have been cultivated and transplanted by agricultural machines.

The use of agricultural machinery has helped address the problems of high labor intensity, low efficiency, and the high cost of traditional manual seedling transplanting in the autonomous prefecture, and pushed the development of the local chili pepper industry toward specialized, large-scale, and standardized production.

In Yanqi Hui Autonomous County alone, the planting area of chili peppers has reached around 100,000 mu (6,666 hectares).