Xinjiang achieves China’s highest winter wheat unit yields for 2024

China’s Xinjiang has so far achieved the highest winter wheat unit yields nationally for 2024, recent data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed.

The ample yields of the staple crop help bolster the country’s food security. Currently, the summer grain harvest in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has reached 70-percent completion.

Experts from the ministry measured winter wheat yields in Huocheng County of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, finding 11,937 kg and 11,343 kg per hectare in fields of 33 hectares and 80 hectares, respectively.

“This year, the unit yield in fields ranging from 100 to 1,000 mu (about 6 to 66 hectares) has exceeded last year’s record. Additionally, we carried out our first harvest in fields ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 mu (about 66 to 666 hectares) and fields of more than 10,000 mu in this region, aiming to gain experience to enhance unit yields in the future,” said Zhang Rui, a professor at the Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University.

In Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County, the yield of winter wheat per hectare reached 10,812 kg in a demonstration field exceeding 666 hectares, achieving the highest winter wheat unit yield nationally for fields of this size in 2024, according to the ministry.

Tags: winter wheat, yields, crop, food security, China