XAG (极飞科技), a drone and agtech equipment maker, released its 2022 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report on March 30, the third consecutive year the company has disclosed its achievements in sustainable agriculture.
The report was compiled under the auspices of Institute for Sustainable Development Goals, Tsinghua University and a journal on sustainable development economics affiliated with China’s Ministry of Commerce.
The CSR report details XAG’s efforts to lift agricultural revenue, ensure food security, aid female agricultural entrepreneurs, reinvigorate the rural economy, nurture talent in smart agriculture, promote carbon neutrality in farming, among others.
As of December 31, 2022, XAG had around 110,000 unmanned agricultural robotic devices in operation, serving farmers an aggregate 194 million times and operating on a combined 1.45 billion mu, or 96.66 million hectares, of land.
At the same time, XAG’s agtech products are distributed in 57 countries and regions across the globe, spanning multiple scenarios in the farming sector.
In recent years, recurrent natural disasters and pest outbreaks posed a severe threat to farmers, putting global food production and quality under greater pressure. More efficient responses to climate change are thus called for to make agricultural production more resilient and guarantee food supply.
According to the report, XAG’s autonomous drones helped farmers overcome meteorological and geographic limits and take effective precautionary measures.
As of December last year, XAG joined hands with its users to cut agricultural losses by 15.41 million tons, enough to feed 30.81 million people for a year.
The report pointed out that with the world’s population now exceeding 8 billion, rising demand for food worldwide has exacerbated ecological degradation and the depletion of natural resources.
Against this backdrop, XAG has actively reduced use of pesticide, conserved water, cut carbon emissions and preserved biodiversity — all the while boosting agricultural output.
Owing to innovative technologies in autonomous driving as well as precision-targeted spraying and spreading, XAG has helped global agricultural workers cut back on use of pesticide and fertilizer, in a bid to advance agricultural sustainability.
The report reveals that XAG helped save 49.08 million tons of water for agricultural use, equivalent to the amount of water consumed by 680,000 residents in a year.
In addition to replacing traditional agricultural machinery with electricity-powered gadgets, XAG also has given a facelift to tractors and harvesters.
This included installing assistive self-driving modules, enabling the machinery to perform precision-guided tasks in the field.
And by reducing the dependence of agriculture on fossil fuels, XAG slashed a cumulative 1.4 millions tons of carbon emissions, roughly equal to the amount of carbon captured by 78.02 million trees during a year.
Talent is key to the transition of traditional agriculture to a tech-driven industry. And that’s where XAG has made its impact most acutely felt, the report indicated.
XAG built a knowledge-sharing platform to offer online tutorials, disseminate agricultural knowledge and impart skills. To date, the startup has trained 5,007 tutors and 122,206 unmanned agricultural robot operators.
Apart from encouraging more individuals to dedicate themselves to agriculture, XAG has actively championed gender equality in rural areas.
For instance, it helped female entrepreneurs in Brazil to found their own ventures and supply coaching and plant protection services to clients.
Amid a campaign of rural revitalization, XAG’s digital solutions not just lowered the barriers to and costs of using smart gadgets.
They also increased the income of small-time farmers and created more decent job opportunities, making it possible for people of all ages and backgrounds to realize self-development in rural areas.
Commenting on XAG’s contributions, Zhu Xufeng, managing director of the Institute for Sustainable Development Goals, Tsinghua University said that XAG’s continued innovation and efforts in sustainable development kept pushing the boundary of CSR while optimizing smart agricultural technologies for a mass market.
“The adoption of XAG’s core technologies at scale has provided users more concrete commercial value,” he observed.
The full copy of the CSR report can be accessed here.
