STORY: Smart cotton planting in China's Xinjiang
SHOOTING TIME: April 16-20, 2024
DATELINE: April 29, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:19
LOCATION: URUMQI, China
CATEGORY: SOCIETY/TECHNOLOGY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of farmers working in the fields
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): YEMEK AMEN, Cotton farmer
3. SOUNDBTIE 2 (Chinese): MA JINYUN, Cotton farmer
4. SOUNDBTIE 3 (Chinese): LI WEIGUO, Cotton farmer
5. various of cotton fields

STORYLINE:

April marks the busiest planting season for cotton farmers in northwest China's Xinjiang. With the wide application of mechanization and unmanned technology, farmers embrace easier farm working. 

SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): YEMEK AMEN, Cotton farmer
"We have started the busy season since mid-March with plowing, leveling the ground, harrowing, and sowing. We use agricultural drones to spray pesticides.
With modern science and technology, we have used unmanned vehicles and full automatic agricultural machinery, which are easy to operate."

SOUNDBTIE 2 (Chinese): MA JINYUN, Cotton farmer
"To plant 800 mu (53.3 hectares) of land, we only need four to five people to operate the machinery and irrigation system."

SOUNDBTIE 3 (Chinese): LI WEIGUO, Cotton farmer
"In our village, it takes the villagers at most 20 days to finish sowing more than 10,000 mu (666.67 hectares) of land.
This was unimaginable in the past. We used to plant until about May 20. Now, we usually finish in late April, or by May 1."

About 90 percent of China's total cotton output comes from Xinjiang.
   
According to the region's agriculture and rural affairs authorities, about 90 pct of cotton cultivation and harvesting is carried out by machines.

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