by Xinhua writer Zhang Yunlong
ZHENGZHOU, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- "People say a woman fears marrying the wrong man, while a man fears choosing the wrong trade. I definitely chose the wrong trade," Zhang Changxian, 59, said with a laugh.
When Zhang began developing a sugarcane harvester in 2008, he expected challenges. He did not expect it would take eight years to bring the machine to market.
For years, the engineer-turned-entrepreneur and his team spent harvest seasons testing and redesigning prototypes in cane fields in Chongzuo, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The city is about 1,600 km from his factory in Luoyang, central China's Henan Province.
During one field test, a steering linkage snapped in a muddy patch. In many others, the machine struggled with cane flattened by typhoons.
Today, machines made by his company, Luoyang Chenhan Agricultural Equipment Technology, account for about half of China's sugarcane harvester market by volume, the company says. They are also drawing buyers overseas, from Southeast Asia to Latin America.
The company's rise comes as China's sugar industry seeks to cut costs and improve competitiveness through mechanization.
China has long relied on imports to bridge a wide gap between domestic sugar output and demand. In the 2024/25 marketing year, the country produced about 11.2 million tonnes of sugar and consumed about 15.7 million tonnes, according to the Chinese Agriculture Outlook Committee under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Imports totaled about 4.6 million tonnes.
According to Zhang, major sugar-exporting countries such as Brazil generally enjoy lower production costs, with large-scale mechanized farming being one of the key factors.
Rising labor costs have added to the pressure on China's sugar industry. When Zhang entered the industry in 2008, a worker could harvest about one tonne of cane a day for 25 to 30 yuan (3.7 to 4.5 U.S. dollars). Today, the same work can cost 180 to 250 yuan, he said, while harvested cane sells for around 500 yuan a tonne.
As labor costs climb, demand for mechanized harvesting has grown. One Chenhan harvester, Zhang said, can now cut more than 100 tonnes of cane a day, roughly the work of 100 laborers.
When Zhang started, nearly all harvesters in China were imported. His team decided to develop equipment tailored to local conditions. But building a domestic harvester proved far harder than many had expected.
Unlike in Brazil and Australia, where cane is often grown on large plantations, China's major sugarcane regions typically have sloping terrain, with smaller and more fragmented fields.
Many major agricultural machinery makers focused on larger markets for wheat, corn and rice equipment, while sugarcane harvesting was a niche segment with significant technical challenges. With no established supply chains or mature domestic components for sugarcane harvesters at the time, Zhang's team had to design and test many critical systems themselves.
Each year offered only a narrow testing window because cane is harvested in a specific season, so a design flaw found in the field often meant waiting another year for large-scale trials.
After nearly three years without a breakthrough, Zhang put the project on hold for a while. Experts, including his former mentor, advised him to give up, he recalled.
A turning point came in 2011 when the team resumed work and shifted from an earlier whole-stalk harvesting approach to a chopped-cane system better suited to Chinese field conditions.
"At times we nearly ran out of money," Zhang said. To keep going, he used money set aside for his daughter's education and later mortgaged property to fund development.
Chenhan completed its first harvester in 2015. The machine entered the market a year later and sold more than 30 units in 2016, rising to more than 150 the following year.
Overseas expansion began in 2019. The company has since exported machines to countries including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Costa Rica and Venezuela. Exports account for about one-fifth of revenue and are growing steadily, Zhang said.
Many foreign buyers are drawn by lower prices and the company's willingness to customize equipment. Customers in the French overseas department of Reunion, for example, requested tracked harvesters able to work on volcanic soil. The company developed a specialized tracked machine to reduce ground pressure and optimized its cooling systems for the island's tropical climate.
Looking ahead, Zhang said the company is exploring smarter controls, hybrid power systems and lower fuel consumption.
"Many people told us Chinese companies couldn't make a sugarcane harvester," Zhang said, recalling the early doubts. "We made it, and now we're exporting it." ■
