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US sanctions push Xinjiang cotton farmers toward mechanized harvest
A technician in Awati county described how manual planting could take up to three hours per mu before mechanization expanded to cover over 90% of regional cotton harvests.
South China Morning Post reports that fields in Xinjiang’s Awati county, a cotton hub targeted by US sanctions, were nearly ready for the October harvest as local growers and villages adapt their operations.
The outlet cites Yusup Molamaiti, a technician in the region, describing how manual planting required up to three hours for a single mu with two people laying plastic film by hand, and how harvesting would keep his family in year-round labor.
He said manual yields were just 250 to 300 kilograms per mu, and he recalled that harvesting labor effectively trapped households in continuous work.
SCMP also notes that, region-wide, China’s cotton association says more than 90% of cotton is now harvested by machine in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.