Township in Xinjiang trials sugarcane cultivation in Taklimakan Desert

A township in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is experimenting with sugarcane cultivation in an effort to diversify its agricultural sector and boost rural incomes.

Kokyar township in Yutian county, located along the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert, has planted 24,000 sugarcane seedlings as part of a trial program aimed at addressing weak collective village finances and low returns from traditional crops.

Sugarcane is rarely grown in southern Xinjiang, where market supply has long depended on shipments from other regions, keeping prices and demand high. Local officials see the crop as a potentially lucrative new income source. The township government has helped to establish connections with the market, secure funding, and bring in professional planting techniques. Agronomists have been stationed to guide the process, from variety selection and water and fertilizer management to row spacing and environmentally safe pest control.

Locals are testing greenhouse and open-field cultivation to compare growth performance, sugar accumulation, and yield under different conditions, with the goal of developing a localized planting system suited to southern Xinjiang's climate.