On March 31, 2026, while conducting an interview at a plant protection unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) specialty store in the agricultural material sales area of the Tianshan Eastern Logistics Park in Qitai County, the reporter noticed a particularly eye-catching figure among the crowd. Amidst mostly male consultants, a middle-aged woman was inquiring about learning how to operate plant protection UAVs. Out of curiosity, the reporter immediately struck up a conversation with her.

"My name is Liu Jianhui. I'm 54 years old and a farmer," introduced Liu Jianhui during the conversation. She is a villager from Pingding Village, Qihu Township, Qitai County, of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture and cultivates over 600 mu (about 40 hectares) of wheat locally. Her capable and efficient demeanor left a deep impression during our talk.

Yang Jiangang, the sales manager nearby, chimed in, "This is the first time we've seen a woman of her age take the initiative to learn how to operate plant protection UAVs here!"

After carefully learning about the performance of plant protection UAVs, Liu Jianhui promptly signed up for training, preparing to obtain an agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle operator's certificate.

Liu Jianhui said that with only a junior high school education, she initially had doubts about her ability to learn such high-tech equipment. However, in the previous two months, she had successively obtained a high-horsepower tractor driver's license and a primary UAV pilot certificate, which gave her great confidence.

"Although I'm a woman, I don't think I'll be any worse than men at what they can do," Liu Jianhui said with a smile. "While others are scrolling through Douyin (a popular Chinese short-video platform), I'm doing practice questions. Once I decide to learn something, I'll focus wholeheartedly and not give up halfway."

Learning to operate plant protection UAVs was not just a momentary impulse on her part.

Group 2 of Pingding Village is located in the southern mountainous area of Qitai County. Liu Jianhui's family has been engaged in farming and grain cultivation for three generations. Among the local farms, hers has the steepest terrain. Thirty years ago, all the weeding and harvesting of the 30 to 40 mu (about 2-2.67 hectares) of wheat were done manually, and the transportation, threshing, and winnowing were carried out with the help of oxen and horses. After a year of hard work, the yield per mu was only 100 kilograms.

"Farming is too arduous, but we can't just endure such hardships all our lives. We must find a way to change!" Liu Jianhui, who lost her father at a young age, has been hardworking, resilient, and strong-willed since childhood. She is also bold and decisive in her actions.

In 1995, Liu Jianhui used the 13,000 yuan (about 1903.20 U.S. dollars) she had painstakingly saved over a year to buy a small four-wheeled tractor, which significantly eased the farm work. Since then, Liu Jianhui and her husband have lived frugally. With the support of national agricultural machinery purchase subsidies, whenever they had some extra money, the couple would discuss upgrading to more advanced and suitable agricultural machinery for mountainous and dryland operations. Later, her family took the lead in the local area in purchasing a high-horsepower tractor, followed by a seeder, a harvester, a forklift, and an excavator capable of operating on rugged slopes, completely transforming their hard life of "bent over the soil, toiling under the sky."

The popularization of agricultural machinery has made significant contributions to Liu Jianhui's family and has also made her truly appreciate the value of investing in modern agriculture. Over the past five years, she has transferred over 600 mu (about 40 hectares) of land each year and adhered to crop rotation every other year. With the fertile local soil and sufficient rainfall in some years, the wheat yield per mu on mountainous dryland can reach 300 kilograms.

Although agricultural machinery has greatly improved the efficiency of grain cultivation, sudden pest and disease outbreaks during hot weather remain Liu Jianhui's biggest concern. In 2020, over 3,000 mu (about 200 hectares) of wheat in the village were hit by pests and diseases, and her family's more than 100 mu (about 6.67 hectares) were not spared. The township government urgently hired 18 plant protection UAVs, which completed the aerial prevention and control operations in just one day, quickly bringing the disaster under control and minimizing the losses.

"For over 600 mu (about 40 hectares) of land, it would take six days to apply pesticides and fertilizers manually. By the time that was finished, the crops would be ruined." Early detection and timely prevention and control of pests and diseases are crucial. When faced with drought, Liu Jianhui could only watch helplessly and worry. She had the phone numbers of several professional aerial prevention and control teams in her contact list, but due to the difficult mountain roads and relatively high operational costs, she was repeatedly turned down after making numerous calls.

The repeated frustrations made Liu Jianhui determined to learn to operate plant protection UAVs herself and buy one!

She told the reporter that by learning to operate plant protection UAVs, she could save a considerable amount on aerial prevention and control service fees on one hand. She could also apply pesticides and herbicides and add foliar fertilizers in a timely manner according to the crop growth conditions, thereby increasing wheat yields. On the other hand, she could handle the fertilization and pesticide application work alone, allowing her husband to drive other agricultural machinery to work outside the village and earn an additional income.

"The national policies are truly excellent. There are subsidies for grain cultivation and for purchasing machinery. A plant protection UAV can be subsidized by 12,800 yuan (about 1873.92 U.S. dollars). I'll be the first to use it and then gradually encourage my neighbors to use it too." Around April 10, 2026, local spring sowing will begin, and Liu Jianhui has new hopes for this year's grain cultivation.

(The Media Convergence Center of Qitai County/ Reporters, Xie Tian and Yang Binwen)