A view of a sericulture centre in Pingguo City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, owned by a Pingguo-based subsidiary of an agricultural company that has been helping Guangxi upgrade its sericulture industry [Photo by Fu Huazhou / people.cn]

“This system enables us to observe conditions in farmers’ silkworm-rearing houses in real time,” explained Wei Yinjie, general manager of a Pingguo City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region-based subsidiary of an agricultural science company that has been helping local people upgrade their sericulture industry with its technology in its smart sericulture cloud platform control room in late 2023.

The GM also explained that his staff will promptly initiate voice or video calls with sericulturists if the cloud platform flags any problems in order to inform them of the situation and provide appropriate guidance so as to help minimise losses and maximise profit. Much more efficient than visiting silk farmers in person, which the company’s staff used to do in the past, the cloud platform makes it possible to save substantial amounts of time, money and labour.

One of Guangxi’s leading agricultural and demonstration enterprises, the company that has been assisting it with its sericulture industry is dedicated to the construction and operation of large-scale, intensified sericulture centres and has made many useful innovations in recent years, which has helped facilitate high-quality development in the area’s sericulture industry.

The company created the above-mentioned smart sericulture cloud platform, for example, in collaboration with an organisation known as the Guangxi Sericulture Technology Promotion Station and Hechi University. The platform’s backend control centre collects various data in real time throughout the entire production process using Internet of Things (IoT) devices that are installed in farmers’ mulberry groves and silkworm-rearing houses and maintains a large database of information. Technicians working for the company also discuss various issues with farmers in chat groups on the WeChat social media platform and at its demonstration centres from time to time and have compiled practical and standardised mulberry cultivation and sericulture specifications by combining big data that is generated from online technical assistance and inspections that are conducted in person and during other visitations. The company helps farmers get involved with the industry and extends and diversifies the mulberry and silk value chains as well.