(Yicai) Oct. 23 -- “Drones are the key to digital agriculture,” Gong Jiaqin, co-founder of Chinese agricultural drone maker XAG said in an interview with Yicai.

One day farmers will be able to attend to their crops remotely, he said, adding that all the necessary information will be available on their cellphones.

As well as drones, Guangzhou-based XAG develops agricultural equipment such as smart irrigation valves and driverless systems for farming machines. In Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, XAG's smart valves are being used in cotton fields, vineyards, and along the sand-prevention belt by the Taklamakan Desert border highway.

Photo: A view of the Taklamakan Desert prevention belt, including XAG's smart irrigation valves.

Farmers Ai Haipeng and Ling Lei, who were recently featured in a China Central Television report, told Yicai that thanks to modern agricultural technology, they can manage 3,000 mu (200 hectares) of cotton fields just by themselves.

Ai and Ling, both born between 1990 and 1999, reaped a harvest of 420 kilograms of cotton per mu last year, 20 percent more than nearby fields. They were also able to cut costs by 21 percent by outsourcing 25 percent of the work and using robots and AI to do the rest.

Photo: An XAG drone sprays pesticide.

Going Overseas

"XAG drones are priced starting at CNY40,000 (USD5,610) and can carry 70 kilograms, while drones from US vendors are priced at USD60,000 and can carry 20 kilograms," Gong pointed out.

XAG's overseas expansion is based on strong demand, he said. “Overseas dealers reached out to us after the release of XAG videos and photos, telling us that such products were needed in their countries," he added.

The company, founded in 2007, began expanding overseas in 2017, initially in Japan. Since then, it has entered 63 more countries and regions, and has now sold over 100,000 unmanned aerial vehicles abroad. Brazil has become XAG's biggest overseas market, where thousands of its drones are sold each year. 

The drones are also popular in Vietnam and Cambodia, as they not only increase agricultural production efficiency but have also eased the problem of aging rural populations by attracting young people into farming, Gong noted.

Photo: A Cambodian drone operator

XAG's revenue from its overseas business soared by 128 percent in 2022, according to the firm’s website. That year, year-on-year growth in Southeast Asia and Latin America reached 155 percent and 248 percent, respectively, along with a more than 100 percent increase in European and American markets.

Cost-efficiency is one of the key factors behind the successful overseas expansion of Chinese tech companies, Gong noted, adding that China's edge in technology and its quality labor force are also important. 

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Tom Litting