High tech keeps farms running amid epidemic

People’s Daily Online

Modern technology has helped to ensure that agricultural production continues amid the pneumonia outbreak.

Heilongjiang province in northeast China has invited 17 experts and 480 scientists to teach farmers agricultural skills on growing soybean, rice, corn and so on via live broadcasts.

In Yutian county, Tangshan city of north China’s Hebei province, local agricultural cooperatives have introduced an application that allows farmers to buy services such as cultivation and management. They can also purchase agricultural supplies such as pesticides and fertilizers at low prices and have them delivered directly to farms.

Intelligent agricultural machinery, such as automatic fertilizer distributors and unmanned agricultural vehicles, has ensured the continuation of agricultural production amid the epidemic. In Nanning, capital city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, unmanned agricultural vehicles helped local farmers plough and sow seeds on about 6.7 square kilometers of sugarcane land in eight days.

Modern technology such as the Internet of Things and big data have also promoted intelligent agriculture. The Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a smart management system that can dynamically monitor soil, water and crop growth in fields and then send the information to farmers on their mobile phones.

Automatic equipment is used in seed germination farms in Zhoukou, Henan Province, largely mitigated the lack of labor power due to the COVID-19 quarantine measures. Photo by Gu Zhifang/People’s Daily