Anhui Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Aerial shot of farmland
2. Various of seeder working in field

Jiangxi Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
3. Aerial shot of paddy fields
4. Various of rice transplanting machines working in fields

Suining City, Sichuan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
5. Rice transplanting machines working in fields

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
6. Various of seeder sowing maize

Liaoning Province, northeast China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Various of seeders working in fields

Dongchangfu District, Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
8. Aerial shots of irrigation canal
9. Various of water flowing
10. Meters measuring water flow
11. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Xu Ke, deputy head, Dongchangfu District irrigation and drainage engineering service center (ending with shots 12-13):
"The inflow of Yellow River water is gradually increasing, and the water levels of No. 1 and No. 3 irrigation canals continue to rise. Now, the daily average number of machines operating at the pumping station has reached 30, and the drought in our district is being quickly eased."
12. Various of facilities at pumping station
13. Various of rain gun watering farmland
14. Various of tractor driven water pumps, pipes
15. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhu Jinyou, farmer (ending with shots 16-18):
"Now, the water flow is quite high. Farmers are vying to water their fields and then plant maize and soybeans. We are reassured and believe the seeds will grow well."
16. Various of tractor driven water pump
17. Water flowing
18. Various of seedlings, water in fields

Laizhou City, Yantai City, Shandong Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
19. Various of drip irrigation facilities, seedling
20. Various of farmers watering fields

Yingshang County, Fuyang City, Anhui Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
21. Various of air seeders working in fields
22. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Luo Yinggan, farmer (ending with shot 23):
"Using traditional methods, we can plant no more than 20 hectares of fields a day. Now, with the air seeders, we don't have to plow or fertilize anymore, saving both time and labor. We can plant three to five times the amount of land over traditional methods per day. Using air seeders can also lift the yield by 10 percent."
23. Various of air seeders working in fields
24. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Feng, senior agronomist, Yingshang County Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (starting with shot 23/ending with shot 25):
"In order to make up for the delay, we chose high-yield varieties with flexible growth periods. In terms of machinery, we chose advanced air seeders to ensure all the sown seeds can grow into strong seedlings."
25. Aerial shot of air seeders working in fields
26. Various of experts instructing farmers
27. Air seeders working in fields

China's farmers have sown 23.7 million hectares, or 76.2 percent, of summer crops to date, 1 percentage point faster than the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The primary crops sown during the summer season include middle season rice sown mainly in east China's Jiangsu Province and southwest China's Sichuan Province, maize sown mainly in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and east China's Shandong Province, and soybeans sown mainly in east China's Anhui Province, Sichuan and Shandong.

So far, 80 percent of middle season rice has been sown, with 1.8 million hectares still to be planted.

Summer maize sowing has effectively come to an end, with 97.1 percent done and 390,000 hectares left, while summer soybean sowing is falling behind, with 73.5 percent done and more than 600,000 hectares left. This progress is 2.6 percentage points slower than last year.

The slow progress is mainly because of the drought in the Huanghuaihai Plain, which incorporates five provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Henan and Hebei, and two municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin.

After two valuable rainy days in most areas of Jiangsu, Anhui and Henan on Friday and Saturday, the drought there has been further eased, allowing farmers to ramp up summer sowing.

According to official data, 2.16 million hectares of farmland in the Huanghuaihai region are now suffering drought, down 4.05 million hectares from the most severe period. The remaining drought-hit areas in the region are mainly in Hebei and Shandong.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has provided technical guidance for the Huanghuaihai region on fighting drought and delayed summer sowing, and advised local farmers to switch crops in areas where the land is too dry to grow traditional crops.

In Shandong, the average precipitation this June is only 20.4 millimeters, less than half of the normal level, with major grain production bases in the province, such as Liaocheng and Dezhou cities, struggling with the conditions.

Local authorities have unified the distribution of water resources to ensure smooth summer sowing and field management, and hopefully guarantee another bumper autumn harvest.

Many local governments in Shandong have initiated emergency responses for drought, with water resources departments channeling 590 million cubic meters of Yellow River water to drought-hit areas such as Liaocheng, Dongying, Binzhou and Jinan.

The daily average amount of Yellow River water diverted to the areas has been raised from 9 million cubic meters to the current 89.19 million cubic meters.

"The inflow of Yellow River water is gradually increasing, and the water levels of No. 1 and No. 3 irrigation canals continue to rise. Now, the daily average number of machines operating at the pumping station has reached 30, and the drought in our district is being quickly eased," said Xu Ke, deputy head of the irrigation and drainage engineering service center of Dongchangfu District of Liaocheng.

"Now, the water flow is quite high. Farmers are vying to water their fields and then plant maize and soybeans. We are reassured and believe the seeds will grow well," said Zhu Jinyou, a local farmer.

In Laizhou, a county-level city under Yantai City in Shandong, local farmers have adopted drip irrigation during summer sowing of maize and soybeans to improve water efficiency.

So far, Shandong has put in 414 million yuan (about 57 million U.S. dollars) for drought relief, ensuring enough water for more than 4 million hectares of seedlings across the province.

In northern Anhui, local farmers have also started summer sowing after rains in the past few days eased the drought in the area.

The villagers in Jintang Village, Yingshang County of Anhui are using air seeders installed with BeiDou Navigation Satellite System to plant maize. The modern machinery can plow, sow and fertilize at one time, greatly raising the efficiency.

"Using traditional methods, we can plant no more than 20 hectares of fields a day. Now, with the air seeders, we don't have to plow or fertilize anymore, saving both time and labor. We can plant three to five times the amount of land over traditional methods per day. Using air seeders can also lift the yield by 10 percent," said Luo Yinggan, a local farmer.

The sowing of maize and soybeans in Yingshang has been postponed by a week due to drought, which lasted until heavy rain hit the county last Friday. Local farmers began large-scale planting in their 29,000 hectares of maize fields and 18,000 hectares of soybeans fields on Sunday, and the work is expected to finish in two days.

"In order to make up for the delay, we chose high-yield varieties with flexible growth periods. In terms of machinery, we chose advanced air seeders to ensure all the sown seeds can grow into strong seedlings," said Wang Feng, a senior agronomist of Yingshang County's Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Currently, 36 rural service organizations in Yingshang have deployed a total of 632 seeders of different kinds. All the county's soybeans and maize are planted by machinery.

The county has also sent nearly 300 agricultural technicians and more than 310 experts to provide on-site instructions for farmers.