Guizhou speeds up autumn cultivating amid pandemic

Bamboo mushrooms in Anshun city are ready to be harvested in the autumn. [Photo/ddcpc website]

With the autumn fast approaching, all the villages in Southwest China's Guizhou province are now busy harvesting and planting seasonal vegetables and fruit while preventing and controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Nanming town, in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, Guizhou's first unmanned paddy field was ready for harvesting on Sept 15. With the help of the Beidou satellite navigation system, unmanned harvesters can harvest quickly according to a planned route.

It takes about 10 minutes to finish the harvesting of a 1-mu (0.07 hectares) paddy field and the unmanned harvesters can theoretically work 24 hours non-stop.

Lianhuan township in the Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao autonomous prefecture encourages locals to plant Chinese chestnuts, which can protect the environment and increase incomes. Currently, the township's seven villages and one residential community have planted 12,000 mu of them.

More than 400 companies, cooperatives and farmers in Guiyang – the province's capital – and the nearby Guian New Area had planted more than 10,000 mu of fast-growing vegetables by Sept 16. The output of these vegetables is expected to top 8,000 metric tons in September and October.

As the autumn harvest of sorghum for baijiu-making was finished, Renhuai city started the crop rotation of vegetables. Based on its mountain agriculture, Renhuai is focusing on cultivating leaf mustard plants, which will be made into preserved pickles in the second half of the year.