After the Spring Festival, farmers in Shandong, Hubei and other places are now busy preparing for farming and raising seedlings, and the fields are full of vitality.
In a seedling greenhouse in Dingtao District, Heze City, Shandong Province, beds of celery seedlings, tomato seedlings, and pumpkin seedlings are neatly arranged, full of greenery. Dozens of workers shuttled among them, cutting and grafting seedlings.
Song Chenglin, head of the Heyan Seedling Planting Cooperative: We are now at the peak of seedling development, with an average of 50,000 seedlings a day, and the peak reaching 300,000 seedlings a day, which takes about a week.
With the arrival of the peak seedling season, seedling orders are also coming in one after another, which not only brings economic benefits to the seedling cooperatives, but also provides employment opportunities for surrounding people.
Wang Juan, a worker at the Heyan Seedlings and Planting Cooperative: What I do now is grafting cucumber seedlings. I can graft more than 4,000 cucumber seedlings a day and earn 200 to 300 yuan. It is close to home and it is more convenient to pick up and drop off my children. It is very good.
In recent years, Heze City has vigorously developed the seedling industry, adopting automated and mechanized management methods to increase the yield of vegetable seedlings and shorten the cultivation cycle. At present, the local area can raise seedlings for more than ten kinds of crops such as eggplant, cucumber, celery, and cauliflower, and supply them to markets inside and outside the province.
At the seedling market in Zhouxiang Town, Xiaochang County, Hubei Province, after the Spring Festival, various fruit tree seedlings here ushered in a peak trading period.
Placing orders, packing and shipping, this time of year is the busiest time for local growers. According to reports, Xiaochang County has a history of planting and selling seedlings for more than 40 years. It has planted more than 200 kinds of seedlings and flowers on more than 130,000 acres. In Zhouxiang Town alone, there are more than 10,000 farmers and more than 100 companies planting seedlings.
Zhou Lunjin, Secretary of the Party Branch of Lulin Village, Zhouxiang Town, Xiaochang County: Compared with the past, our seedling transaction volume has increased by 30%. The people's pockets are getting richer and the development momentum is getting stronger.
550,000 acres of wheat are sown in Ningxia
Currently, it is a critical period for spring plowing and production. Spring sowing in Ningxia has begun one after another. The local agricultural department has prepared and transported seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural materials in advance, and guided farmers to carry out land preparation and sowing according to soil moisture conditions.
At a fertilizer and agricultural input sales company in Yongning County, Yinchuan City, Ningxia, many growers and agricultural input dealers have been coming to purchase. At present, the company has reserved 33,000 tons of various chemical fertilizers needed for spring plowing.
Lei Jianning, the person in charge of a fertilizer and agricultural supplies sales company: We have about 10 vehicles every day and can deliver about 300 tons of goods.
In the fields, growers are already busy. A professional agricultural cooperative in Yongning County plans to plant 1,000 acres of spring wheat this year. In the past two days, growers have been spreading fertilizer, covering soil, and sowing seeds in the fields.
Pan Weiguo, head of a professional agricultural cooperative in Yongning County, Ningxia: Wheat must be planted early. It must have a period of dormancy in the land before it can grow upward and have better yields.
This year, Ningxia plans to sow 550,000 acres of spring wheat.
Qianjiang, Chongqing: Ensure the supply of fertilizers and prepare for spring plowing
Spring plowing is also the peak season for chemical fertilizer application, generally accounting for more than 40% of the annual chemical fertilizer application.
In Qianjiang District, Chongqing, more than 7,000 tons of various types of fertilizers were transported in advance and sent to grassroots agricultural supplies outlets to ensure that the supply of fertilizers was sufficient and prices were stable, so that spring plowing would not be missed.
After the rainy season, it is the critical period for spring plowing and fertilizer preparation. The reporter saw at the Agricultural Materials Reserve in Qianjiang District, Chongqing that as a new batch of guaranteed fertilizers arrived, the supply and marketing cooperative was arranging manpower to work overtime for transportation.
He Ningbo, deputy general manager of Chongqing Agricultural Materials Group Xinsuifeng Co., Ltd.: We have reserved 3,000 tons of fertilizers and have 4,000 tons of fertilizers in transit. These fertilizers will be put on the market in time according to the needs of farmers.
This year, Qianjiang District in Chongqing plans to sow 500,000 acres of grain and oil crops and 130,000 acres of vegetables in spring. The demand for chemical fertilizers has increased by about 10% compared with the same period last year.
Inner Mongolia copes with snowfall and temperature, prepares enough feed for lambing and care
Inner Mongolia is an important agricultural and livestock product production base in the country. At present, it is a critical period for lambing and conservation. All parts of Inner Mongolia are actively responding to the impact of snowfall and cooling weather on agriculture and animal husbandry to improve the survival rate of newborn lambs.
Affected by the cold air, the lowest temperature in Wushen Banner, Ordos, dropped to below minus 10 degrees Celsius. Local herders prepared enough forage and monitored the temperature of the sheep pen, lambing conditions and the health of newborn lambs in real time. The Etuoke Banner Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau organized 6 agricultural and animal husbandry technical teams and more than 50 social service teams to visit villages and households to provide technical guidance and services for lamb picking and conservation to ensure the survival rate of newborn lambs.
National Day of Arbas Sumu herdsmen in Etuoke Banner, Ordos City: Through the government's industrial guidance and participation in training, our scientific breeding level has been greatly improved, and we have received 200 lambs this year.
The reporter learned from the Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region that the survival rate of young livestock in the region is currently stable at more than 98%, and more than 11 million tons of forage have been purchased and stored, which can effectively ensure the feeding needs of more than 70 million livestock of all sizes through winter and spring.
(CCTV News Client)