The Sown Area Has Been Reduced And The Yield Has Hit A New High. Why Does Xinjiang Cotton Enjoy A Good Harvest?

According to the national cotton output data recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the total cotton output in 2022 will be 5.977 million tons, an increase of 246000 tons or 4.3% over 2021. Among them, Xinjiang's cotton output was 5.391 million tons, 262000 tons more than that in 2021, an increase of 5.1%, accounting for 90.2% of the national total. In 2022, the national cotton planting area will be 45004000 mu, a decrease of 418000 mu or 0.9% compared with 2021. Among them, the cotton planting area in Xinjiang is 37.454 million mu, which is 13.9 million mu less than that in 2021, accounting for 83.2% of the national cotton planting area.

Although the cotton planting area in Xinjiang in 2022 will be slightly reduced compared with that in 2021, the yield will eventually increase by virtue of the improvement of per unit yield, and the yield will hit a new record. In addition, according to the data of China Fiber Quality Monitoring Center, the six indicators of cotton public inspection quality of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps are higher than the national level in the same period. So, what is the reason why Xinjiang's cotton quality and yield will reach a higher level in 2022?

Optimize cotton planting layout

Promote advanced technology

Referring to the bumper harvest of cotton in Xinjiang in the past year, Su Xuhong, deputy secretary-general of Xinjiang Cotton Association, said: "In 2022, the overall weather in Xinjiang cotton region will be sunny, with sufficient heat, appropriate rainfall, and good growth of cotton. Although the cotton planting area will be slightly reduced, the yield per unit area will be further improved."

The Party committee and government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have always attached great importance to the development of cotton industry. Su Xuhong introduced that Xinjiang cotton has always been on the road of high-quality development, regardless of the main varieties, planting layout and cotton planting technology.

In terms of cotton planting layout, cotton production in Xinjiang has continued to concentrate in the dominant production areas in the past two years, and the cotton output of 25 major production counties accounts for more than 90% of the total cotton output in Xinjiang. In 2022, Xinjiang will optimize the regional distribution of cotton, further subdivide cotton planting areas and suitable cotton planting areas according to climate and market conditions, and form a regional distribution of reasonable distribution of long staple cotton and fine staple cotton.

In terms of variety optimization, the main cotton varieties in Xinjiang are controlled within 40 at present, and the problem of many and disorderly varieties has been effectively improved. "We hope to select high-quality cotton varieties with strong regional adaptability as the main varieties, implement centralized production of one variety in one region, and improve the consistency of cotton fiber Discuss the development of organic cotton. At the same time, according to the downstream production needs, vigorously promote order planting, accurately serve the cotton spinning needs of enterprises to develop special cotton, and create a cotton production base for different purposes. " Su Xuhong said.

In terms of cotton planting technology, the advanced and applicable technology of cotton planting in Xinjiang is constantly being promoted, and the green prevention and control disposal rate of pests has reached more than 96%. The popularization area of "dry sowing and wet out" technology has reached 18.72 million mu, and the mechanized recovery rate of cotton has greatly increased. It is understood that the "dry seeding and wet seeding" technology can directly sow without spring irrigation, which not only saves a lot of water resources, but also can effectively improve the cotton seedling emergence rate. This year, Awati County has widely promoted the application of "dry sowing and wet out" technology in cotton planting.

In order to further improve the quality of cotton in Xinjiang and better meet the production needs of textile enterprises, Su Xuhong introduced that in 2022, the government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region formulated the Notice on Quality Control in Cotton Harvesting Period, and continued to implement quality control measures in key links such as cotton defoliant spraying, standard operation of cotton pickers, and new and old "three silk" management, To improve cotton quality from the source, we also revised the Implementation Plan of the Autonomous Region's Pilot Program for Linking Target Price Subsidies to Quality in Cotton. We continued to promote the work of linking price subsidies to quality in 328 enterprises in 18 cotton planting counties (cities) in 6 prefectures, summarized the experience of pilot operation, optimized supporting measures, highlighted the accurate guidance of quality data, and promoted the implementation of the policy of "optimizing cotton prices and quality subsidies".

Improve cotton quality

Stable cotton planting intention

　　 "Although Xinjiang's cotton planting in China has unique geographical advantages and the yield per unit area is also rising, we should also see that compared with India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and other countries, the cost advantage of China's cotton industry needs to be improved, which forces the production areas to speed up high-quality development, constantly improve cotton quality, and resolve various problems with 'target price+scale effect+quality advantage' Risk. " Talking about the development direction of Xinjiang's cotton industry, Cao Huiqing, chairman of the Cotton Farmers' Branch of China Cotton Association, said.

Cao Huiqing believed that to achieve the healthy development of Xinjiang's cotton industry, the first thing to do is to change the concept, and all the main players in the industrial chain need to pay more attention to cotton quality. In the past, under the background of target price, cotton farmers pursued output and lint percentage, and ginning mills charged according to processing volume, which was not very active in improving cotton quality. Today, the quality requirements of all parties on cotton have been significantly improved, but there is still room for efforts to truly achieve high-quality development of the cotton industry.

"In addition, the whole cotton industry chain in Xinjiang needs to be further improved." Su Xuhong said that in recent years, with the deepening of Xinjiang cotton target price reform, the development of the cotton industry has been improved, but the current market driving mechanism of Xinjiang cotton industry needs to be improved, and the level of industrial development needs to be further improved.

At the same time, cotton planting costs have continued to rise in the past two years, which has also affected the enthusiasm of cotton farmers. The survey data shows that in 2022, the cotton land circulation cost and physical and chemical cost in Xinjiang will increase by 600 yuan/mu, and the cotton production cost has exceeded 3000 yuan/mu. "Affected by planting costs and cotton prices, cotton farmers are still hesitating and waiting to see their cotton planting intentions in 2023." Cao Huiqing said that he hoped that the cotton subsidy price in 2022 and the new round of Xinjiang cotton target price policy in 2023 would be implemented as soon as possible to reassure cotton farmers, clarify their planting intentions and cultivation preparation direction, and stabilize the cotton planting area in Xinjiang. We will expand the scope of cotton quality subsidy retroactive pilot projects, lower the threshold for participation, and allow more farmers to enjoy the benefits of "high quality and good price", thus driving and improving cotton quality in Xinjiang.

Based on superior resources

Improve the industrial chain

"In the future, the development of the cotton industry should still be based on the unique advantages of Xinjiang's cotton resources, continue to consolidate the strategic position of Xinjiang's main cotton producing areas, and promote the high-quality development of the cotton industry. It is necessary to further unify policies, planning, supervision, and market, and jointly expand and strengthen the cotton industry in Xinjiang." Combining the actual situation of Xinjiang's cotton development, Su Xuhong put forward suggestions for industrial development from various aspects.

The year 2022/2023 is the last year for the implementation of this round of cotton target price policy. Su Xuhong suggested to continue to promote the implementation of this policy, actively explore new benefit guarantee modes such as "futures+pilot", "quality and subsidy linked", and gradually establish a more perfect cotton production income guarantee and green development subsidy system by implementing major stability and minor adjustment.

In recent years, the cotton planting cost in Xinjiang has continued to rise, and the target price of Xinjiang cotton is 18600 yuan/ton, which has been implemented for seven years. Su Xuhong suggested that when formulating a new round of cotton target price reform policy, the objective situation of cotton planting cost growth should be fully considered, and the target price level should be appropriately raised according to the principle of "cotton planting cost+reasonable income", so as to ensure that cotton farmers can obtain stable cotton planting income.

There are 22 ginning plants jointly operated by subsidiaries of Shuifa Agricultural Group. To promote the high-quality development of Xinjiang's cotton industry, Liu Daoying, General Manager of Shuifa Group, suggested that we should increase the cotton science and technology innovation system, integrate cotton resources, establish a market-oriented cotton science and technology innovation system in Xinjiang, strengthen the construction of cotton innovation laboratories and experimental bases, accelerate the construction of big data platforms, and introduce information-based management methods into cotton production Acquisition, processing and sales data will be collected into a unified database to form a big data processing platform and management platform for production and realize the whole process quality control on the cotton industry chain. At the same time, we should formulate our own cotton industry standards to effectively maintain the Chinese cotton brand. On this basis, we will improve the cotton industry chain, closely cooperate with the upstream and downstream of the industry chain, and strive to create a development model of the whole cotton industry chain. Liu Daoying believed that it is necessary to build a financial service system of the whole agricultural industry chain integrating land consolidation, financial mutual assistance, rural areas, technical support, and warehousing and logistics, break the traditional layout between the industry chain segments, and recycle the whole cotton industry chain to adapt to the current development situation.

"Xinjiang cotton has very good price and quality advantages. In the future, we should speed up the integration of cotton prices, quality and standards with the international market," Liu Daoying said.

(Source: Wei Shiwen, author of China Textile News)