Farmers busy picking early-maturing red dates during harvest season in China’s Xinjiang

A farmer harvests early-maturing red dates in Toksun county, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo/People’s Daily Online)

Red dates farmers in Toksun county, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, have kept themselves busy with the harvest season as the fruit has gradually ripened. Known as the "hometown for early-maturing red dates in China," Toksun county boasts a planting area of more than 110,000 mu (about 7,333.3 hectares) and an annual yield of over 40,000 tonnes of red dates.

In recent years, Toksun county has made continuous efforts to optimize the structures of its agricultural and husbandry industries while vigorously boosting the development of characteristic agriculture in the locality. It has built demonstration bases and taken various measures, including optimizing plant varieties, standardizing production processes, upgrading packaging practices, improving quality traceability, and accelerating the development of cold-chain logistics and transportation, all in an attempt to promote the high-quality development of the locality’s forest and fruit industries.