Cangxi County, known as China's "Hometown of Snow Pears," boasts 165,000 mu (about 11,000 hectares) of snow pear orchards. Currently, the pears are in a critical stage of fruit expansion, which also coincides with a peak period for pests and diseases. Across the major orchards, a "timely tech shower" is underway, employing high-tech solutions to address the pain points of traditional fruit tree management and safeguard a bountiful harvest in the pear-growing region.

[Photo: A fruit-tree plant-protection drone conducting pesticide spraying operations]

In a pear orchard at Huishui Community, Lingjiang Town, Cangxi County, a Jimu fruit-tree plant-protection drone shuttles back and forth. Accompanied by the whir of its rotors, fine mist of pesticide droplets precisely adheres to the pear tree leaves.

According to Li Dengming, technical director of Cangxi County Wotian Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd., this fruit-tree drone is equipped with high-precision positioning and variable-rate spraying technology. It can automatically plan operation routes based on field shapes and the actual growth of the pear trees, thoroughly solving the problems of uneven and insufficient coverage that plagued traditional manual spraying. Yan Bin, a resident of Huishui Community, remarked, "In the past, manual spraying was tiring and slow, and we could never reach the high branches properly. Now the drone finishes the job in half a day—it's so much more convenient."

[Photo: Technicians operating the drone]

With high efficiency, superior quality, and low cost, the use of drones has significantly eased the current shortage of rural labor. To date, this "aerial application" service has been implemented across townships in Cangxi County, covering a total area of over 10,000 mu (about 667 hectares).

Li Dengming noted that a single drone can now cover over 100 mu (about 6.7 hectares) per day—30 times the efficiency of manual labor—while reducing pesticide usage by 20% to 30%. This truly achieves precision application, cost savings, and efficiency gains.

From "carrying tanks on shoulders" to "flying in the sky," from "laborious and time-consuming" to "precise and efficient"—technology is lifting the revitalization dream of Cangxi's pear industry. It is enabling smart agriculture to take root in the pear-growing heartland, promising a dual increase in both yield and quality for this year's Cangxi snow pears.(By Liu Min and Zhan Lei)