Mechanization for Rapeseed Planting is Encouraged in Hubei Province

Hubei is the largest rapeseed planting province in China with planting area 1.141 million hectares and total yield 2.2 million tons in 2011. They occupied 14.3% of the total planting area and 6% of the total yield in the country. In 2013, it was reported that the general mechanization level in rapeseed production reached 50.6% in Hubei province. This level increased 20% compare with that in 2007 and ranked at the top in China.

The report showed that Hubei province used total 375,300 machines for rapeseed planting in 2013, about 989,000 hectares of rapeseed were ploughed by machine, 292,000 hectares be sowed by machines and 440,000 hectares be harvested by machines. They occupied 82.5%, 25.4% and 36.7% of the total.

Hubei province was greatly pushed the mechanization in rapeseed production in recent years and the mechanization of rapeseed played vital role in extend rapeseed planting. In last 5 years, total 316 workshops and training courses for rapeseed machine use were organized for 183,000 participants in Hubei province. Over 930 professional farming machine cooperative companies purchased machines for rapeseed planting and most of them obtained financial support from provincial government (total US$ 20.82 million).