Liujiang District's High-Quality Sugar Industry Development: Cultivating a Sweet Endeavor, Fortifying Rural Revitalization Foundations

Liujiang District, a crucial sugarcane production hub in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is actively cultivating its "sweet endeavor" to lay a solid foundation for local agricultural development and rural revitalization. The sugar industry not only serves as a pillar of Liujiang's agriculture but also as a vital source of income for farmers, enabling them to achieve prosperity and a better life. In recent years, Liujiang District has leveraged its resource endowments, actively promoted industrial upgrading, strengthened technological support, and improved policy guarantees. This has led to the successful establishment of a new high-quality development framework for sugarcane, characterized by "stable cultivation, enhanced processing, extended industrial chains, and innovation-driven growth." It is estimated that this crushing season, the industrial yield of sugarcane in Liujiang will reach 5.5 tons per mu, with a total output projected to hit 1.4946 million tons. Based on last year's acquisition price of 540 yuan per ton, the value of raw sugarcane entering factories is expected to reach 807 million yuan, demonstrating the robust development momentum continuously released by the sweet industry. **Stable Cultivation Scale and Significant Achievements in Improved Varieties** The prosperity of an industry relies on a stable cultivation foundation. Liujiang District adheres to scientific planning and steadily expands its planting area. Sugarcane cultivation area has increased from 201,600 mu in 2021 to the current 260,100 mu, marking a 29.02% increase. Cultivation covers all eight towns in the district, with Chuan shan Town serving as the core area, planting 162,000 mu, accounting for over 60%. Bai peng, Jin de, Tu bo, and Li gao towns are also making concerted efforts, forming a favorable pattern of concentrated, continuous, and tiered development. Both output and value have seen significant growth; total sugarcane output increased from 855,800 tons in the 2020/2021 crushing season to 1.4946 million tons in the 2025/2026 crushing season, a 74.64% increase. Total output value also rose from 419 million yuan to 807 million yuan, an increase of 92.6%. This crushing season is expected to commence in late November 2025, with a daily crushing capacity of approximately 13,000 tons, and conclude in early April 2026, proceeding smoothly and orderly. Improved varieties are crucial for increasing yield and quality. Liujiang District continuously optimizes its variety structure, vigorously promoting high-sugar, high-yield varieties such as Guitang No. 44, Guitang No. 136, and Xintaitang 05136. Currently, the proportion of high-sugar, high-yield sugarcane cultivation has reached 98.23%, an increase of 1.77 percentage points compared to 2021. Furthermore, a 5,000-mu sugarcane demonstration base and an integrated water-fertilizer project were fully completed and put into operation by the end of 2025, setting a benchmark for standardized cultivation. **Accelerated Mechanization Upgrade and Improved Operation System** Seizing the opportunity of being designated a pilot county for comprehensive mechanized sugarcane production, Liujiang District formulated and implemented a three-year action plan for mechanized harvesting, clarifying its goals and tasks, effectively accelerating the upgrade of mechanized operations. The district strategically established 33 decentralized mechanized harvesting points and equipped them with 142 various decentralized harvesting machines, creating a service network that ensures "full coverage in core areas and no blind spots in surrounding regions." In key areas like the Emerging Industrial Park, large-scale impurity removal centers were built and equipped with 5 mobile impurity removal devices, increasing the cleanliness of mechanically harvested sugarcane to over 98% and covering an area of 132,100 mu. This effectively streamlines the entire chain from "harvesting—transportation—impurity removal—factory entry." This crushing season, the volume of mechanically harvested sugarcane entering factories reached 374,500 tons, with a mechanization rate of 22.47%. Digitalization has also injected new vitality into industrial development. Enterprises and agricultural machinery organizations connect through an online platform, establishing an integrated system for "order booking—intelligent dispatch—real-time monitoring—precise settlement." Through this platform, mechanically harvested sugarcane can enter the factory within 24 hours, reducing sugar loss by over 30%, effectively ensuring quality and improving efficiency. **Stable Processing Capacity and Smooth, Orderly Crushing Operations** Liujiang District is home to two enterprises, Liuxing Sugar and Liujiang Sugar, which together form a stable processing capacity. Liuxing Sugar has a daily crushing capacity of 10,000 tons. In recent years, it has invested a cumulative 50 million yuan in automation, digitalization, and intelligent transformation, upgrading systems for self-unloading and impurity removal, crushing transmission, intelligent sugar boiling, and automatic bagging, significantly enhancing processing efficiency and product quality. After adding a new evaporator, Liujiang Sugar's daily crushing capacity increased from 3,000 tons to 4,000 tons, reaching a new level of production capacity. This crushing season, Liuxing Sugar implemented a "fast entry, fast crushing, fast processing, fast boiling, fast screening" approach to maximize the retention of sugarcane sugar content. The entire district strictly adheres to the unchanged sugarcane acquisition price policy of 540 yuan per ton, implements a "three-day settlement" mechanism for sugarcane payments, and scientifically dispatches transportation resources, achieving efficient coordination among "farmers—transportation—processing." To date, 1.612 million tons of raw sugarcane have entered factories, placing Liujiang's processing scale and guarantee capabilities among the top in the region. **Deepened Farmer-Benefit Policies and Sweet Endeavor Empowering Rural Revitalization** The ultimate success of the sugar industry's development is reflected in the tangible benefits received by farmers. Liujiang District has deepened its policies to benefit farmers, increasing subsidies to allow more sugarcane growers to share in the industry's development dividends. The promotion of improved sugarcane varieties has been strengthened, with 119,700 mu of virus-free and healthy sugarcane seedlings promoted across the district, including 20,200 mu of virus-free seedlings and 99,500 mu of healthy seedlings. This exceeded the autonomous region's target of 78,700 mu, laying a solid foundation for localized seedling supply. This crushing season, the sugarcane planting area increased by 30,100 mu compared to the previous year, a 13.09% increase. The raw sugarcane entering factories is expected to increase by 564,800 tons compared to the last crushing season, a 60.74% increase, with a total output value reaching 807 million yuan, an increase of 307 million yuan from the previous season. Mechanization has not only liberated labor but also stimulated local employment. The number of decentralized mechanized harvesting points across the district increased from 12 to 33. This crushing season, 34 combined harvesters, 57 cutting and laying machines, 2 cutting and piling machines, 336 electronic shears, and 40 portable cutting and laying machines (mowers) were deployed, along with 33 impurity removal centers, creating employment for 660 people. Under the mechanized harvesting model, the comprehensive cost of "cutting—transporting—harvesting—crushing" is controlled at 130-140 yuan per ton, with no additional costs for farmers. This effectively addresses issues such as labor shortages and significant losses during cutting and transportation, truly achieving cost reduction and income increase. Fields of sugarcane carry the hope of rural revitalization, and each stalk of sugarcane sweetens the lives of countless farmers. Liujiang District will continue to uphold its original mission for the people, deeply cultivate the "sweet endeavor," constantly consolidate its planting foundation, enhance processing efficiency, extend industrial chains, and strengthen farmer engagement. This will ensure the sugar industry thrives even more, farmers live happier lives, and continuous sweet momentum is injected into Liujiang's agricultural modernization and comprehensive rural revitalization through practical actions.