Xinjiang cotton seedlings thrive, output set at 5.6m tons

Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Liu Yi) news: According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region: cotton seedlings across Xinjiang are showing strong growth, and the region's total annual output is expected to stabilize at around 5.6 million metric tons. As of recently, cotton sowing for 2026 has been largely completed, with overall progress outpacing the same period last year.

Photo shows a precision seeder equipped with the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System operates along a preset route at a high-standard cotton planting base in Tongguzibashi Village, Tamutuogelake Township, Xinhe County, Aksu Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in April 2026. (Photo provided by the Media Convergence Center of Aksu Prefecture)

This year, Xinjiang will continue to consolidate its dominant position in cotton production, steadily optimize the production structure, and guide cotton cultivation toward advantage-producing areas. During the spring sowing period, major cotton-growing regions seized the farming season, prepared agricultural inputs and serviced machinery in advance, and dispatched agro-technical personnel to the front lines to promptly resolve production challenges and ensure smooth progress in cotton sowing.

"Precision sowing with one seed per hole is not only fast but also cost-saving — it saves over 100 yuan per mu (about 0.07 hectares) in seed costs," said Wang Guocheng, a cotton grower from Weijiachang Village, Beiwucha Town, Manas County. With advanced technology and equipment, he noted, cost reduction and efficiency gains in cotton production have become much more achievable.

The tangible experience of ordinary farmers is a vivid reflection of the transformation and upgrading of Xinjiang's cotton production philosophy. This year, Xinjiang will leverage science, technology, and industrial support to drive cost-effective cotton production. Based on their respective resource endowments and climatic conditions, localities are establishing cultivation techniques suited to machine-harvested cotton, vigorously promoting dry-seeding-with-wet-emergence, fine land preparation, and integrated water-fertilizer management. Efforts are also being intensified to strengthen the cotton "production, procurement, storage, processing, and sales" system, actively implement the new round of cotton target price subsidy policies, and promote premium pricing for quality cotton and targeted subsidies for superior cotton.

Meanwhile, localities are following the working principle of "maintaining overall stability, making minor adjustments, optimizing layout, and improving quality" to further refine the cotton production layout. While preserving a reasonable planting scale, they are taking into account resource endowments, industrial development, and farmers' income growth to progressively guide non-advantage areas and low-yield cotton zones to reduce cotton acreage. Localities are adopting tailored, category-specific policies — using policy guidance and structural adjustment to rationally optimize cotton planting areas, safeguarding the interests of basic-level farmers and village collectives, and ensuring that cotton growers "reduce cotton without reducing income."

In recent years, Xinjiang has actively promoted a suite of advanced production technologies, including BeiDou-guided precision sowing and integrated water-fertilizer drip irrigation, further enhancing its comprehensive cotton production capacity. In 2025, Xinjiang's total cotton output reached 6.165 million metric tons, with both total output and yield per unit area ranking first in China for 32 consecutive years, further consolidating the region's position as a major national base for high-quality commercial cotton.

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