Since late April, the three major cotton areas of Kashgar, Aksu and Korla in southern Xinjiang have suffered from sandstorms, cooling and precipitation that lasted for about a week. Heavy rains or even torrential rains occurred in some areas for two consecutive days. Some cotton fields had difficulty in drainage and soil compaction, which caused cotton seeds. Disasters include mildew, low seedling emergence rate, cotton seedling root rot and blight. In northern Xinjiang, sunny to cloudy weather continues to prevail, with moderate winds. However, in the past week, persistent easterly winds and high temperatures have occurred in northern and eastern Xinjiang, causing rapid soil moisture loss in cotton fields in some major cotton-producing areas. Some farmers have reported that cotton growth has slowed down recently.
Since the end of April, the person in charge of the disaster-stricken cotton fields in the main cotton-producing areas of Kashgar and Aksu has carried out timely drainage of the cotton fields, cultivating and loosening the soil to prevent blight and insect pests. Low cotton fields should be replanted in a timely manner to minimize losses. In addition, in response to the situation where the temperature continues to rise and cotton seedlings are in urgent need of water, the XPCC farms and local areas have successively “opened the gates and released water”. Coupled with farmers’ timely addition of foliar fertilizers, the growth of cotton seedlings has gradually improved.
The autonomous region meteorological observatory predicts that the weather conditions this week will be basically favorable for the seedling growth of most spring sown crops in Xinjiang (except for rainfall in some mountainous areas). Therefore, drought resistance and seedling preservation in the northern Xinjiang cotton area have become the top priority. Due to the sudden rise in temperatures, farmers are worried about the worsening of pests and diseases. They have begun to actively purchase pesticides and have spraying equipment ready.
Overall, from the sowing of cotton this year to the present, the overall disaster-stricken situation in Xinjiang’s cotton areas is actually better than the same period last year. As farmers strengthen field management and the weather improves, cotton growth will be on track. The early weather is good for The impact on the output and quality of new cotton this year is temporarily negligible. </p
