Wheat harvest nearing completion in China's Henan

A harvester reaps wheat in a field in Zhangwangzhuang Village of Wenxian County, Jiaozuo City, central China's Henan Province, June 6, 2023. (Photo by Xu Hongxing/Xinhua)

ZHENGZHOU, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Large-scale harvest work of wheat in central China's Henan Province has been basically completed as of 5 p.m. Sunday, according to the province's bureau of agriculture and rural affairs.

The wheat machinery harvesting work in Henan commenced on May 30, with 216,000 combine harvesters put into operation, according to the bureau.

Previously, Henan experienced prolonged periods of rainy weather, which affected the wheat harvest. Timely efforts have been made to carry out agricultural machinery harvesting on the rain-hit wheat fields and drying the soggy grain to minimize losses in grain production.

Harvest is followed by planting. As of Sunday, the total sown area of summer grain in Henan has reached 78.02 million mu (around 5.2 million hectare), accounting for 85.7 percent of the estimated total sown area.

A main grain producing area in China, Henan has a sown area of wheat stable at more than 85 million mu and its wheat output accounts for a quarter of the country's total.