Rice planting technology looks a lot like printing

The machine, introduced by Sinochem Agriculture Holdings in March last year, is 3 meters long, 1.1 meters wide, 1.1 meters high and weighs about 300 kilograms. Rice seeds are poured in from the top and fixed with rice paste to the paper on a conveyor belt coming out the machine, said Liang Jinlong, an agronomist at Sinochem.

He said farmers no longer need to do manual sowing but can simply lay down the evenly printed seed paper like a rug and cover it with plastic film. In normal conditions, the seeds sprout and grow, while the seed paper, which is made of straw pulp, decomposes in the field.

The seed germination rate is 97 percent, Liang said.