Digital platforms boost agri incomes in Xinjiang

Digital and intelligent technologies are transforming agriculture and animal husbandry in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, cutting costs, boosting yields and improving quality while helping farmers and herders increase their incomes.

At Fangqun Farm in Manas county, Changji Hui autonomous prefecture, Chen Jun grows about 347 hectares of cotton with only two employees.

Using the Huifengshou mobile app, Chen and his colleagues monitor soil moisture, fertility and cotton growth and remotely manage drip fertigation, which applies water-soluble fertilizer through irrigation water.

The 800-hectare farm is home to one of the national digital planting industry innovation and application bases. Its integrated digital system combines satellite remote sensing, drone inspections, field sensors and a "digital twin" of cotton fields to monitor crops, soil and weather around the clock.

Data is analyzed on a big data platform, with algorithms generating recommendations on fertigation and field management, as well as warnings about pests and diseases. Growers can then take action through the Huifengshou app.

The system has reduced reliance on traditional approaches based largely on farmers' accumulated experience. Chen said digital technologies have saved labor, reduced water use, significantly increased yields and nearly doubled net income.

According to Wang Qiang, who is in charge of digital agriculture at the Manas county's agriculture and rural affairs bureau, the initiative has expanded to about 46,667 hectares since the county began large-scale digital agriculture trials in 2022.

Manas planted 54,000 hectares of cotton in 2024, with an average yield of 6,990 kilograms per hectare. In 2025, cotton acreage reached 59,333 hectares, with a yield of about 7,500 kg per hectare.

Rural residents' per capita disposable income rose from 34,920 yuan ($5,207) in 2024 to 37,197 yuan in 2025, ranking first among counties in Xinjiang for two consecutive years.

Digital technologies are also being used to improve the management of animal husbandry across Xinjiang.

A big data platform run by the husbandry and veterinary bureau under the Xinjiang regional agriculture and rural affairs department integrates the entire animal husbandry chain, covering breeding, epidemic prevention, quarantine, transportation, slaughter and sales. It creates a digital ID and archive for every animal.

Frontline epidemic prevention workers can upload immunization records via mobile phones, while regulators can access real-time data to support decision-making.

According to Zhang Runqi, a manager at a Karamay-based company, which developed and provides technical support for the platform, it now aggregates information from more than 2.2 million animal farms and breeding households across Xinjiang and connects around 12,000 village-level epidemic prevention workers.

Since its launch in 2019, the platform has recorded the growth, vaccination and sales of more than 8.3 million cattle, 43 million sheep and 55 million poultry.

Working with the China Animal Disease Control Center, the research and development team has also developed VetTalk, a national intelligent animal disease diagnosis and treatment platform that brings together licensed veterinarians for online consultations and provides AI-assisted interviews covering about 670 animal diseases.

Available in both Mandarin and ethnic languages, the platform allows herders to describe abnormal conditions through text, voice or images.

Project manager Yu Jianghua said that since its release in April, Vet-Talk has attracted around 140,000 users nationwide, including more than 50,000 in Xinjiang.

According to Xie Yingzhou, head of Xinjiang's agriculture department, the region will implement a smart agriculture initiative during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), further promoting intelligent equipment such as drones, the internet of things and robots, expanding digital technology applications across the entire agricultural chain and various agricultural sectors, and cultivating smart farms for crops, livestock and fisheries.