Xingbin District, Laibin, Guangxi: Cultivating a Sweet Industry, Farmers' Lives Flourish

Xingbin District in Laibin, Guangxi, stands as China's largest county-level sugarcane production base, contributing 11% of Guangxi's and 7% of the nation's sugar output, truly earning its title as a 'sugar jar'. In recent years, Xingbin District has embraced a development path focused on high-end, intelligent, and green practices. It is dedicated to stabilizing planting areas, boosting per-unit yields, strengthening mechanization, extending industrial chains, and enhancing economic benefits. These efforts are aimed at driving the transformation and upgrading of the sugarcane industry, improving quality and efficiency, and firmly safeguarding national sugar security. During the 2025/2026 crushing season, Xingbin District's sugarcane planting area reached 1.266 million mu, an increase of 59,000 mu compared to 2023. The total raw sugarcane delivered to mills hit a new decade high of 6.6972 million tons, with total sugar production reaching 865,800 tons. Xingbin District now ranks first among all counties nationwide in terms of planting area, sugarcane yield, and sugar output. The district supports over 81,700 sugarcane-growing households, benefiting more than 336,400 people. The average direct income from sugarcane cultivation per person is approximately 10,600 yuan, with sugarcane income forming a significant portion of farmers' total earnings, making their lives increasingly sweet. Huo Jiali, a sugarcane farmer from Fenghuang Town, happily shared, "In 2025, our family planted 16 mu of sugarcane, yielding a total of 107 tons and an income exceeding 50,000 yuan. Additionally, my husband and I work outside during the off-season, earning over 7,000 yuan per month. Our annual household income can reach more than 100,000 yuan, and our lives are becoming more prosperous." The secret behind the farmers' increasingly sweet lives lies in the construction of 'high-yield, high-sugar' (referred to as 'Shuanggao') sugarcane bases. The Huang'an Premium 'Shuanggao' Sugarcane Base is Laibin City's first village-wide 'Shuanggao' base. Through land leveling and transformation, previously scattered small plots have been consolidated into large-scale sugarcane fields, creating a modern agricultural landscape characterized by 'square fields, block plots, orderly rows of cane, interconnected irrigation channels, and linked roads.' Yu Caiku, the base manager, stated, "This base covers 13,000 mu and implements improved varieties, large-scale cultivation, irrigation, and mechanization. In 2025, the average sugarcane yield per mu was around 8 tons, with the highest reaching 12 tons, benefiting 25,000 sugarcane farmers and helping them prosper." Many farmers entrust their sugarcane fields to Yu Caiku's management while they work elsewhere, generating dual incomes. In 2025, villagers in Huang'an Village, Fenghuang Town, achieved an average annual income exceeding 25,000 yuan through sugarcane cultivation and off-farm work. Today, Huang'an Village boasts clean and bright streets, with modern villas featuring blue bricks and red tiles rising everywhere. Many villagers now live in 'sugarcane houses' and drive 'sugarcane cars.' To ensure the 'sugar jar' remains stable, Xingbin District has made significant efforts in seed industry revitalization. Leveraging the National Modern Agricultural Industrial Park and the National Regional Sugarcane Improved Variety Breeding Base, Xingbin District has established 29 first-, second-, and third-level sugarcane improved variety breeding bases, complemented by 15 virus-free seed cane processing plants. By cultivating and introducing over 20 new varieties, the district can supply more than 400,000 mu of seedlings to fields annually, with improved varieties covering over 99% of the area. Over 500,000 mu of virus-free healthy seedlings are promoted annually, combined with integrated technologies such as subsoiling, mulching, and green pest control, leading to a steady increase in sugarcane yield and sugar content, with an average yield increase of over 2 tons per mu. After addressing seed issues, water and fertilizer management became crucial. In 2023, the completion and operation of the 'Central Guangxi Drought Control' project enabled Xingbin District to construct drip irrigation facilities in rural areas and implement integrated water and fertilizer management, benefiting numerous sugarcane farmers. In recent years, the district has vigorously promoted drip irrigation and integrated water and fertilizer technologies, accelerating the construction of simple and intelligent integrated water and fertilizer bases. Currently, a total of 400,000 mu of sugarcane production bases with integrated water and fertilizer systems have been established. This has not only effectively overcome the challenge of 'relying on natural conditions for harvest' but also achieved a significant increase in efficiency, boosting yields by 2 to 3 tons per mu. Furthermore, Xingbin District is focused on reducing costs and increasing efficiency in sugarcane production, actively promoting the expansion of segmented mechanical harvesting points. In the 2025/2026 crushing season, 160 new segmented mechanical harvesting points were added, bringing the total to 247. The level of mechanical sugarcane harvesting has steadily improved, with the comprehensive mechanization rate reaching 26.18%. In Xingbin District, every stalk of sugarcane is 'fully utilized,' maximizing its value. From white sugar, rock sugar, brown sugar to rum and sugarcane beverages, and further to using bagasse for household paper and eco-friendly tableware, transforming molasses into yeast, and sugarcane leaves into feed, the circular economy industrial chain of sugarcane is continuously expanding. In the production workshop of Guangxi Green Union Biotechnology Co., Ltd., advanced intelligent systems efficiently convert bagasse into biodegradable eco-friendly tableware, achieving high-efficiency resource utilization and environmental upgrading. Laibin Baicheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd. transforms molasses, a byproduct of sugar production, into caramel color products widely used in the food industry through special processes, with products sold to over a dozen provinces. In recent years, Xingbin District has adhered to the strategy of 'strengthening sugar through industrial chains,' vigorously developing the sugar industry's circular economy chain. It has established five major comprehensive utilization industrial chains for sugar production, including refined processing of sucrose, comprehensive utilization of molasses, comprehensive utilization of bagasse, comprehensive utilization of sugarcane leaves, and comprehensive utilization of filter mud. In the 2025/2026 crushing season, the total output value of the entire sugar production and comprehensive utilization industrial chain reached 12.799 billion yuan. Today, Xingbin boasts greener sugarcane fields and sweeter sugar, with farmers' lives becoming more prosperous. This traditional characteristic industry is steadily moving towards higher quality and more sustainable development through intelligent and green transformation.