In Kunyu city, located on the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert in northwest China’s Xinjiang, the 5,000 mu (about 333 hectares) of rice has recently entered the annual harvest season, with local farmers seizing the window of fine weather to get in the crops.

These days, several large harvesters have been working in shifts across the desert rice fields. The machines can harvest and thresh in one integrated process, with processed rice immediately loaded onto trucks for transfer — efficient, orderly mechanized operations.

“Two large harvesters work every day, harvesting 150 to 160 mu (about 10 hectares) a day. The yield is about 500 kilograms per mu (7,500 kilograms per hectare). We’ve calculated that, after deducting all costs, the income is about 1,000 yuan per mu (about 2,250 U.S. dollars) per hectare),” said Zhang Zhengqian, a local rice grower.

In addition, the straw left after harvesting can be processed into livestock feed, bringing an extra income of more than 100 yuan per mu (about 225 U.S. dollars per hectare).

Kunyu City lies in the desert at the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains, where the soil is highly saline-alkaline, the land is poor and water is scarce. Since 2020, local authorities have kept organizing resources to improve the soil and reduce salinity through measures including applying more organic fertilizer, building drainage ditches and installing efficient water-saving irrigation facilities, easing water shortages and gradually turning desert wasteland into high-quality farmland.

Published Date: November 10, 2026