Recently, the technology book "Green, Simple, and Efficient Production Techniques for Cotton" was published in Pakistan. This marks the first time that a cotton technology book from Anhui has been published in a Belt and Road participating country, and it is the first publication in a major cotton-producing country outside of China, offering a "Chinese solution" for cotton planting along the Belt and Road Initiative participating countries and regions.

According to reports, in terms of cotton planting area, Pakistan and India are the fourth and first largest cotton-producing countries in the world, with average annual planting areas of 32.55 million mu and 192.3 million mu, respectively, accounting for 6.7% and 39.5% of the global total over the past five years. However, their total cotton production only accounts for 4.7% and 23.5% of the global output, mainly due to lower yields, which are only 70.0% and 59.3% of the global average, and 28.0% and 23.7% of China's cotton yields during the same period.

"In recent years, by using green, simple, and efficient production techniques for cotton, our country has produced a quarter of the world's cotton using less than one-tenth of the world's cotton fields," said Zheng Shufeng, a member of the Cotton Expert Guidance Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and a researcher at the Anhui Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The book disseminates and analyzes new knowledge and concepts related to the greening and simplification of cotton production, green pest and weed control, reduction and efficiency of fertilizer use, and multifunctional utilization of cotton. It summarizes and introduces new achievements, technologies, varieties, products, and models for green, simple, and efficient cotton production in China's three major cotton regions. This book provides a "Chinese solution" for achieving green and sustainable development in cotton, aiming for "three reductions and three enhancements": reducing labor, reducing fertilizer use, and reducing chemical pesticide use, while enhancing mechanization rates, resource utilization rates, and cotton planting benefits.

Source: Anhui Daily