Every October, the blueberry planting area in Chengjiang, Yunnan enters the critical period of autumn management and protection. Pruning branches, applying base fertilizer, and laying drip irrigation belts are interrelated, directly affecting the fruit quality and yield of the following year. This year, more than 50 local blueberry growers took the lead in introducing specialized tractors designed specifically for dwarf blueberry orchards, completely changing the inefficient mode of traditional manual management. At the thousand acre blueberry plantation in Longjie Street, farmer Liu Mei is operating a compact tractor that shuttles through the fields.
The design of the tractor, with a width of only 1 meter, is perfectly suitable for blueberry clusters with a row spacing of 1.8 meters, avoiding the problem of traditional wide body agricultural machinery scratching branches. The intelligent fertilizer applicator pulled by the tractor locates the blueberry root system position through infrared sensing, and accurately buries the decomposed sheep manure and compound fertilizer mixed fertilizer 20 centimeters around the root system, with a fertilization depth error controlled within 2 centimeters. Previously, it took four people to bend down and work for a day to fertilize one acre of land. Not only was it so tiring that they couldn't straighten their backs, but the fertilizer was also spread unevenly. Some places had too much root burning, while others had too little and had no effect. Now this machine can complete six acres of land in one hour, saving 10% of fertilizer usage compared to before. The growth of the spring shoots will definitely be better next year, "Liu Mei wiped the sweat off her forehead and pointed to the homework data on the dashboard with a smile.
In addition to precise fertilization, this tractor can also quickly switch to matching agricultural tools: when equipped with a disc weeding machine, it can remove weeds from the ground without damaging blueberry roots; Hanging the drip irrigation tape laying device can simultaneously complete the three processes of trenching, pipe laying, and soil covering. According to the person in charge of the Agricultural Machinery Promotion Station of Chengjiang County Agriculture and Rural Bureau, this year the local government has introduced a subsidy policy for agricultural machinery purchases, guiding farmers to invest more than 400 blueberry specific tractors, covering 80000 acres of blueberry planting area in the entire county. According to calculations, mechanized management not only improves efficiency by 45% compared to manual labor, but also reduces labor costs by 350 yuan per mu of land.
At the same time, due to precise fertilization and timely weeding, it is expected that blueberry yields per mu can increase by 150 kilograms next year. Calculated at an average market price of 80 yuan per kilogram, the average annual income per planting household can reach 36000 yuan.
At present, the mechanized management and maintenance rate of blueberries in the county has jumped from 32% last year to 58%. In the future, there are plans to cooperate with agricultural machinery enterprises to develop the function of crushing branches and returning them to the field, further promoting the green and circular development of the blueberry industry.
