China’s efforts to become self-reliant on feeding its 1.4 billion population also depends on the quality of forage used in raising livestock. Communities in the northern part of northwest China’s Xinjiang region are welcoming a surplus of animal feed known as corn silage.
China Harvest Season, New machineries and improved nutrients have enabled this season’s bumper crop. Meng Qingsheng reports. About one hundred kilometers north of the Xinjiang region’s capital of Urumqi, farmers in Changji prefecture are combing through the field to process quality corn silage. Made from fresh corn plants, corn silage is an important source of feed for ruminant animals such as cows. It’s high in energy and easily digested. The feed is also suitable to mechanization. Manasi County Corn Silage Cooperative, Changji, Xinjiang “Judging from today’s harvest, the yield is very good this year. It’s around 60 tons per hectare. Based on current market price, it’s about 45 hundred US dollars per hectare. After deducting expenses, we can earn 20 dollars per hectare.”
China Harvest Season, Local communities have set up cooperatives to manage the planting and selling. They have also adopted quality control measures, to ensure the best corn silage and have invested in new machinery to facilitate harvest. Manasi County Corn Silage Cooperative, Changji, Xinjiang “Previously, we could only harvest around ten hectares of crops a day. But now, with improved machineries, we can cover 20 hectares. Harvesting has become faster, and mechanization also helped cut our costs.” In the city of Tacheng, some 500 kilometers north of Changji prefecture, farmers receive support from agriculture authorities in the form of machinery and ways to improve the nutrient balance of corn silage. China Harvest Season, PAN KUN Resident, Tacheng City, Xinjiang “The departments have helped coordinate harvesters and ten transporting vehicles. It has made our life and work more convenient. My family has about 12 hectares of corn silage, and we are able to harvest the fields within one and half days.” Statistics show that around two-thirds of corn silage in China is used as animal feed and less than one-third as raw material for industrial processing. The start of the harvest season is expected to alleviate demand for corn silage in the country.
Source: This news is originally published by cgtn