In mid-August, the growth of peaches and capped peaches in various cotton areas in Xinjiang continues to accelerate (some cotton fields in eastern and southern Xinjiang have begun to spit out lint), and cotton picking gradually enters the countdown. Ginning plants and cotton-related enterprises are also stepping up their efforts. With machine maintenance, equipment debugging, loan application, fire protection and safety training and other tasks, the Xinjiang cotton industry as a whole has entered a state of preparation. Recently, several cotton seed companies, professional institutions, and cotton-related enterprises have gone to towns and villages in northern and southern Xinjiang to carry out the 2020 Xinjiang cotton production testing and estimation work.
Judging from farmers’ feedback and measured yields, the author believes that the overall yield level and total output of Xinjiang cotton in 2020/21 are expected to be slightly higher than the previous year (according to statistics, as of August 16, Xinjiang A total of 810 cotton processing companies submitted for inspection, with a cumulative inspection volume of 5.1315 million tons). The reasons are summarized as follows:
First, the cotton planting area in Xinjiang in 2020 is basically the same as that of the previous year. According to a survey by the National Cotton Market Monitoring System, the actual sown area of cotton nationwide in 2020 was 45.682 million acres, a year-on-year decrease of 4.7%; of which the actual sown area in Xinjiang was 35.326 million acres, basically the same as last year. Statistics from the Cotton Farmers Branch of the China Cotton Association, the Xinjiang region in 2020 The cotton planting area was 36.655 million acres, a year-on-year decrease of 0.59%, accounting for 79.4% of the country’s total area. Judging from the author’s surveys of farmers, farms, and cooperatives in Changji, Kuitun and other places in southern Xinjiang and northern Xinjiang, actual cotton sowing shows a flat or slightly increasing trend (the area changes in some areas are not obvious).
Second, the weather in most cotton areas in Xinjiang will be strong in 2020, and cotton growth and yield are expected to be the same as or slightly higher than the previous year. This year, disasters in various cotton areas in northern Xinjiang have been significantly reduced from April to August compared with previous years. The accumulated temperature and soil moisture are very suitable for cotton growth. There is a high probability that the yield of seed cotton will increase by 10-20 kg/mu. Except for a small number of cotton areas in Aksu and Kashgar in southern Xinjiang that encountered low-temperature precipitation in mid-to-late April, other time periods are conducive to the rapid development and growth of cotton, and the impact on yield and quality is negligible (cotton yields in Korla and Kashgar will be increased, And Aksu may remain flat). Therefore, judging from the current cotton growth situation and weather conditions in August and September, Xinjiang’s cotton yield is expected to increase slightly in 2020/21, perhaps by 2-3%.
The third is the improvement and promotion of random picking equipment, coupled with the continuous improvement of harvesting levels, the loss of cotton picked by machines continues to decrease, which is conducive to increasing cotton production and income. According to reports from some cotton ginning companies, farms and farmers in Aksu, Bachu, Korla and other places, the number of cotton pickers has been increasing in recent years (more models), coupled with the strong support of large-scale harvesting equipment at the regiment field of the Corps , the production capacity has not only been greatly increased, but also the manufacturers have made effective improvements to the machine-picked cotton varieties (Xinluzhong series), growth characteristics and terrain in southern Xinjiang, and cotton harvesting losses have been reduced. In addition, many ginning factories in southern Xinjiang have installed new dryers and new seed cotton cleaning machines, which not only reduce the content of impurities and foreign fibers, but also reduce ginning losses, which is beneficial to increasing cotton yields per unit area and total output. </p
