Farmers work in a lavender field in Huocheng County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Sadat)

URUMQI, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Lavender planting has begun in earnest across Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, China's largest lavender production base, in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Farmers work in a lavender field in Huocheng County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Sadat)

Farmers work in a lavender field in Huocheng County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Sadat)

Lavender has been grown in the Ili River Valley, Xinjiang, since the 1960s. Today, more than 90 percent of all of China's lavender fields are in Ili. The prefecture's coverage is third globally behind Provence, France, and Furano, Japan.

Farmers work in a lavender field in Huocheng County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Sadat)

Farmers work in a lavender field in Huocheng County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Sadat)

Lavender has helped the people in the remote northwestern Chinese region improve their lives.