STORY: Satellite positioning aids in sugarcane planting in S China
SHOOTING TIME: March 12 and March 13, 2024
DATELINE: March 21, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:32
LOCATION: NANNING, China
CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY/AGRICULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of driverless tractors guided by BeiDou Navigation Satellite System
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): WU QIHUI, Director of Wuxuan Bosheng Agricultural Machinery Specialized Cooperative
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WU QIHUI, Director of Wuxuan Bosheng Agricultural Machinery Specialized Cooperative

STORYLINE:

BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has turned out to be a real game changer for the sugarcane planting in Wuxuan County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which makes the seeding process of sugarcane ten times more efficient than before.

In sugarcane field in Shangtang village of Wuxuan County, several unmanned sugarcane tractors move straight forward guided by the BDS, and farmers sit behind the tractors to drop sugarcane seeds. With the help of the driverless tractors, the process of planting, fertilizing, and mulching can be completed in one go.
   
SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): WU QIHUI, Director of Wuxuan Bosheng Agricultural Machinery Specialized Cooperative
"This machine is a BDS supported unmanned sugarcane planting tractor. BDS can help design the route for the machine in advance. So in the process of operation, it will follow the planned route to work. With the help of the machine, we can control the deviation of the straight lines within two centimeters, as well as control the distance within 5 centimeters between each line, which can benefit photosynthesis and the absorption of nutrient and oxygen in sugarcane. Also, ventilation is very good. It is beneficial to help sugarcane achieve high yield."
   
SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WU QIHUI, Director of Wuxuan Bosheng Agricultural Machinery Specialized Cooperative
"The cooperative has a total of over 30 unmanned planting machines, each day a machine can plant 25-30 mu (about 1.6-2 hectares) of sugarcane, ten times more efficient than manual planting."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Nanning, China.
(XHTV)