Technology helps flue-cured tobacco plant protection to jointly nurture golden hope
PART.01 Technology Empowers Lanjiang's Journey
Recently, Lanjiang Technology conducted field tests of tobacco plant protection machines at the Experimental Base of the Tobacco Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Xuancheng.
By planning the plots and setting the operating paths, the machines can autonomously operate in the tobacco fields without human intervention. In this test, the tobacco plant protection machine easily achieved in-field U-turns at the convergence of furrows, covering 3 to 5 rows of tobacco through inter-row operations. It can reach a speed of 3.6 km/h, with a maximum operational efficiency of 30 acres per hour.
With a tank capacity of 200 liters, the machine can operate continuously day and night, providing a range of atomization effects from 100 to 200 μm, covering both the top and bottom leaves.
PART.02 Cost Reduction, Income Increase, and Winning Development
In mid-May, the transplanting of tobacco seedlings in Xuancheng had just been completed. Subsequently, field plant protection and management work began.
Due to the contagious nature of diseases and pests in tobacco cultivation, large-scale prevention and control measures are necessary. If any field is neglected, it can lead to widespread diseases and pests, resulting in leaf damage and reduced yield, which affects the market price of tobacco.
On-site staff told us that traditional field plant protection management for tobacco mainly relied on manual spraying using backpack sprayers. The workers are often older, and when dealing with small fields of around ten acres, their efficiency is worrisome due to constant walking and spraying.
According to the staff, the cost of pesticides and fertilizers used in one acre of tobacco fields is around 300 to 400 yuan, with the largest expense being labor costs. By introducing agricultural machinery and replacing manual labor with mechanization in plant protection operations, both operational efficiency and cost reduction can be achieved, leading to increased income.
