Workers to help harvest rice in S China

Thousands of workers have arrived in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region since July, kicking off an annual frenzy of rice harvesting that usually lasts about one month.

Guangxi has seen a harvest increase this year, with a sown acreage in the first half year of 23 million mu (1.53 million hectares), up by 160,000 mu from the same period last year, according to local government statistics.

Since early July, more than 5,000 harvesting machines from other provinces, such as Henan, Jiangsu, Hebei and Shandong, have arrived in Yulin, Guangxi to help secure the summer harvest.

Another 1,300 workers also participated in the harvest in Yulin, which is expected to be finished in late July, setting new records for the total harvest area of rice in the city.

A worker from Henan said every year his fellow workers will go to Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Sichuan, and then three provinces in Northeast China, to harvest rice and wheat.

Guangxi is hot and humid in summer, so they start working at 5 am and finish after it's dark.

During the harvest season, each harvesting machine can generate more than 100,000 yuan ($16,290) for the workers, but they often sleep on a mat laid over the floor or inside of the truck in order to save money for their family.

"The pay for the harvest ranges from 80 to 100 yuan every mu and each machine can complete over 30 mu every day," said a worker surnamed Zhou from Sichuan Province.

His wife helps measure the area of the rice field with a palm-sized GPS and another assistant is responsible for storing the rice reaped by the machine.

"Although it's hot, we have to make the best use of our time to work, otherwise we won't be able to repay the expenses for the machines," Zhou added.

In the afternoon it started raining, which was the last thing Zhou wanted, as his family had to stop working.

For harvesters, raining means no income, since they can't work during rainy days.