Spring farming goes high-tech to ensure food security

HEFEI/HARBIN－Luo Yingdi, 50, has been busy spraying pesticide in wheat fields for over a month, covering about 67 hectares of land per day with the help of his agricultural spraying tractors.

"I have six agricultural sprayers and two drones to spray pesticides and herbicides. Seven employees from my agricultural service company do the spraying work," said Luo, who has been farming for 21 years in Yingshang county, Anhui province. Besides looking after his 53 hectares of farmland, he also provides spraying services to other farmers.

Spring equinox, or chunfen in the Chinese lunar calendar, fell on March 20 this year. After spring equinox the days get longer, the weather warms up and crops grow fast.

On and around spring equinox, a major season for farming in China, agricultural activities are in full swing across the country, from the north to the south.

In Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, Li Fuqiang, 38, has stored enough fertilizer and soybean seeds for spring plowing. Li, who was awarded the title of "Soybean Master" in the province in 2018 for planting quality soybeans, plans to sow 3,333 hectares of non-GMO quality soybean this year.

Heilongjiang is China's largest soybean-producing region, accounting for about half the country's total soybean acreage. The acreage in the province exceeded 4.66 million hectares in 2020 and will remain stable this year, according to the provincial department of agriculture and rural affairs.