Expanding agricultural mechanization makes farming more efficient in SW China’s Tibet

In recent years, Lhasa city, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, has made continuous efforts to improve the mechanization level of agricultural production and promote the development of modern agriculture, better guaranteeing the safety of and significantly improving efficiency in grain production.

In Lhunzhub county, which is known as “the granary of Lhasa,” the comprehensive mechanization rate of the ploughing, planting, and harvesting of major food crops reached around 83 percent, bringing intangible benefits to local farmers and herdsmen.

A villager in Lhunzhub county, Lhasa city, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, drives an agricultural tractor. (Photo/Ran Wenjuan)

“It used to take me a whole day to plough 4 mu (1 mu equals about 667 square meters) of farmland with livestock. Now I can finish the work within an hour using machinery,” said Danluo, a villager in Jiangjiao village, Lhunzhub county.

The villager is full of praise for the benefits of agricultural mechanization. According to him, his family has 22 mu of farmland, and all of them have been planted with highland barley, wheat, and oilseed rape with the help of agricultural machinery.

Before the popularization of agricultural machines, the villager and his wife both had to work in the fields. Now that the machines can save so much time and energy for them, his wife only needs to do the housework and take care of their livestock, while the villager himself is able to work in the county town, according to him.

The village where the man lives set up an agricultural machinery cooperative in 2008. It now owns a total of 20 agricultural machines of various types, including a harvester.

In Qugaqiang village of Lhunzhub county, farmers are busy sowing forage oats in the fields with machines.

Villagers in Lhunzhub county, Lhasa city, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, sow forage oats using agricultural machinery. (Photo/Ran Wenjuan)

“In the past, when we relied solely on the traditional farming pattern for agricultural production, our village had an extremely poor ability to withstand natural risks. In addition, our village didn’t have enough labor force for farm work, so most of the farmlands were left uncultivated,” said Yang Xianliang, first Party secretary of the village.

The village set up an agricultural machinery cooperative in 2018, and now it has 108 pieces of machinery, including a combine harvester, hay baler, and crop protection machine, according to Yang.

“As the mechanization level of farm work is improving constantly, villagers are more confident about the future,” said Yang, who disclosed that since the village started to use agricultural machinery, it has continuously expanded the planting area of forage grass, and now forage grass planting is a main channel for increasing the income of local people.   

Villagers in Lhunzhub county, Lhasa city, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, sow forage oats using agricultural machinery. (Photo/Ran Wenjuan)