STORY: Sci-tech development empowers China's rural transformation
SHOOTING TIME: Feb. 10/ March 17/18, 2024
DATELINE: March 19, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:52
LOCATION: Beijing
CATEGORY: AGRICULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of agriculture in China
2. various of Du Xiaoyi working
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): DU XIAOYI, Hebei Kelier Seed Industry Co., Ltd
4. various of a smart farm in Jinzhong of north China's Shanxi Province
5. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WU ZHUOHANG, Project leader of Jinzhong National Agricultural High-tech Zone Smart Farm (JD Farm)
6. various of China's Guizhou Province
7. SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): TAN LI, Vlogger
8. various of agriculture in China

STORYLINE:

The Chinese idiom "face to the soil and back to the sky" has been used to describe the agricultural toil of farmers for thousands of years.

Today, thanks to the development of science and technology, farmers' work is easier with harvest bumper and earnings higher.

Du Xiaoyi is the founder of a seed company in north China's Hebei Province.

As a computer science graduate, the 33-year-old hopes to apply what he learned in college to the farmlands in his hometown to help empower local farmers.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): DU XIAOYI, Hebei Kelier Seed Industry Co., Ltd
"Farming used to heavily depend on climate. Now it more depends on technology. On all my 1,000 mu (66.7 hectares) of wheat fields, I use 5G technology for production management. In the past, a person could plant up to 20-30 mu (1.3-2 hectares) of crops. Now, through digital management, we only need a few people to manage 1,000 mu (66.7 hectares) of wheat fields. Through digital management, our planting is more scientific, with cost reduced, efficiency increased, and yield higher."

Just like changing people's social lives, smartphones are changing modern farming too.

At a smart farm in Jinzhong of north China's Shanxi Province, smartphones are used to control the growth of strawberries.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WU ZHUOHANG, Project leader of Jinzhong National Agricultural High-tech Zone Smart Farm (JD Farm)
"On the phone, we can manage the ventilation, adjust the proportion of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in liquid fertilizer, and control and monitor the PH value and temperatures in greenhouses in real-time. With our equipment and system, the yield per unit is 1.5 times higher than that of traditional farming."

Apart from controlling farming, rural residents in China are increasingly using smartphones to sell their products.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Chinese): TAN LI, Vlogger
"After I made short videos and opened an online shop to sell our products, we set up a collective cooperative. It issues annual dividends to every household as every family is a shareholder. Some of my products were even sold to Singapore. I was so excited. I hope we can incubate more such accounts to do more for our hometown."

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress exceeded 62 percent in 2022, with the overall mechanization rate of crop cultivation and harvesting reaching 73 percent.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing.
(XHTV)