Insight Focus
- In this series, we’re following farmers around the world.
- We’ll look at what they’re up to on the farm, hear their concerns, and celebrate their triumphs.
- Here’s the link to the farmer bios in case you missed them.
What Have You Been Up To, Xiaoqing?
We’ve spent most of April loosening the soil and applying fertiliser to our cane.
Our cane fields have cane rows between 1.2 and 1.8 metres. The 1.8 metres has proven themselves too wide for the small harvesters, resulting in serious ridging. We’ve had to turn the soil for replanting.
Our cane growth looks good at present. Some of our cane was harvested before the Spring Festival and the sprouts are not in very good condition. Those from cane harvested after the Spring Festival have fared better as rainfall has improved.
What Are Your Main Concerns at Present?
It was very dry in the first half of April. This was really stressing me out but, fortunately, the rains have come at last.
We’ve had two years of dry weather, and everyone is afraid of another drought! As soon as the rain stopped, we started to repair the irrigation system.
Another hike in fertiliser prices is also a worry, especially when the quality is not as good as before. We have no choice but to reduce fertiliser input. The consolation is that Po also tried to help with the weeding…how sweet?!
What Are You Doing Differently This Year?
We recycled the cane transport bucket discarded by the sugar mill and converted it into a fertiliser cache and transportation platform, which saved us a lot of work.
Also, in China, cane is usually a three-year crop, and many farms are less than one hectare in size due to their hilly topography. We therefore want to consolidate the land into big fields and grow cane for more than three years.
Other Insights That May Be of Interest…
Will Record Wheat Prices Incentivise Chinese Expansion?
China’s Sugar Self-Sufficiency Drives Hits Eucalyptus
Explainers That May Be of Interest…
