On September 18, reporters on the "Vibrant China Research Trip" visited the Yandengbao Smart Agriculture Demonstration Park in Zigui County, Yichang City. Agricultural drones were seen skimming low over the navel orange groves, conducting crop protection operations. "The drones are currently spraying low-toxicity biological pesticides," said Li Li, head of the Science, Education, and Information Technology Division of the Zigui County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau. The county now boasts 1,050 agricultural drones and over 2,600 drone pilots, most of whom are from the post-95 and post-2000 generations.

In the past, farmers in Zigui relied on shoulder poles and backpacks to haul oranges, with a 100-jin basket taking 40 minutes to carry down the mountain. Guo Xingcheng, born in 1987, took over his family's 30-acre orchard in 2011 and has since established an agricultural services company employing 10 pilots and a 40-person fruit-picking team. "A single drone can carry 200 jin per trip, completing a round trip in one minute and handling 50,000 to 60,000 jin per day," Guo explained. During peak season, pilots can earn 30,000 to 50,000 yuan per month, and his business has expanded to Fujian, Chongqing, and Sichuan, offering services like pomelo and pomegranate lifting, as well as plant protection.

What truly sets Zigui apart is not just the prevalence of drones, but how deeply digitalization has been integrated into its mountain orchards. In 2020, Zigui was among the first batch of counties selected for the national digital village pilot program, launching its digital agriculture 1.0 phase. At the Yandengbao base, automatic weather and soil moisture collection, pest monitoring, and integrated water-fertilizer systems are installed throughout the groves, allowing farmers to remotely irrigate and fertilize via smartphone.

Since 2023, Zigui has transitioned to the smart agriculture 2.0 phase. The key shift is that data has evolved from a supporting tool into a basis for decision-making. The county established the Three Gorges Citrus Industry Platform, assigning coded digital IDs to all 451,000 plots covering 397,000 mu of navel orange fields. Each orchard now has a digital identity card that includes altitude, slope, and tree age, generating soil-test-based fertilizer recommendations tailored to soil nutrients and crop varieties, telling growers when to fertilize, what to apply, and how much.

Currently, Zigui's navel orange cultivation spans 400,000 mu with an annual output exceeding 1 million tons and a comprehensive production value surpassing 25 billion yuan. The industry has nurtured 18 villages each generating over 100 million yuan, with orchard owners earning an average annual income exceeding 100,000 yuan. The Zigui navel orange brand value has reached 16.678 billion yuan.