China: Drones revolutionize agricultural product transportation in mountainous areas in Sichuan.

Drones are transforming the transport of agricultural products in southwest China's Sichuan Province, speeding deliveries of cherries and timber from mountain areas while cutting costs and reducing losses. In Hanyuan County, famed as China's "hometown of sweet cherries," the delicate fruit now reaches consumers far faster, preserving its mountain freshness. The use of drones have become a game‑changer for cherry growers. Instead of jolting down mountain roads, the fruit is now flown straight out of the orchards, which is faster, steadier and minimizes damage. The CGTN team placed a small bouquet of flowers inside one of the drone cargo boxes. The next morning, after traveling more than 230 kilometers to Chengdu, the flowers were still intact and fresh, just like the cherries. In Yingjing County, the south gateway to the Giant Panda National Park, farmers once hauled timber by hand or along twisting mountain roads. Now drones lift it out efficiently, cutting labor and speeding delivery. Villages are increasingly opting to fly goods out by drone rather than build new mountain roads, cutting costs and avoiding environmental damage. The impact extends beyond efficiency as drones reduce the need for new roads, helping protect the environment while keeping mountain industries running. Shotlist: Sichuan Province, southwest China - Recent: 1. Various of drone transporting goods, flying above mountainous areas; 2. Various of cherry orchard; 3. Cherries; 4. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Cheng Xiaoyi, cherry grower (ending with shot 5): "We used to transport everything down the mountain by motorcycle. The shaking would damage the cherries even though the road might look flat. The loss rate was around 10 to 15 percent."; 5. Various of farmer, deliveryman walking to trees, picking cherries; 6. Various of farmers packaging cherries; 7. Mountain road; 8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhang Wei, director, Hanyuan Highway Transportation Management Office (starting with shot 7/ending with shot 9): "Low-altitude drone transport helps reduce logistics costs and provides a smoother delivery process. It can also lower fruit damage rates to around 3 percent."; 9. Various of road, cherry orchard, drone transporting cherries; 10. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Xian Yinli, team manager of cherry project in Sichuan-Xizang region, JD Logistics (ending with shot 11): "We adapted to Hanyuan's high-altitude, complex terrain, where vehicles often struggle to pass and built a stable aerial transport corridor. Now, a one-way drone delivery takes about 10 minutes. Efficiency has improved by 90 percent. For major cities, delivery can be as fast as the next day."; 11. Various of mountainous areas; 12. Box of cherries being loaded into drone; 13. Drone flaying; 14. Various of drone landing, deliveryman getting box out of drone; 15. Various of boxes of cherries on conveyor belt; 16. Various of packaged cherries; opened box with cherries, decorated with small bouquet; 17. Various of mountainous areas, forest; 18. Various of farmer operating drone; drone transporting timber; farmer putting timber in place; 19. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Shuhua, local farmer: "If we had to move everything by hand, there would be almost no profit. A drone can do in one day what takes people ten."; 20. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Haojie, hoisting operations manager, Sichuan Changfei Smart Agriculture Technology (ending with shot 21): "Without drones, transporting these logs simply wouldn't be worth it. Labor costs would be higher than the timber itself. Now farmers can earn around 200 yuan per ton. And one drone can transport more than 200 tons a month."; 21. Various of drone locating timber; screen showing drone carrying timber; drone flying; 22. Various of farmer fixing timber to drone, drone flying; 23. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Tong Chuan, Party branch secretary, Dali Village (ending with shot 24): "Opening up private paths for timber transportation could damage farmland, but with drones, they don't need to do that. At first, many farmers thought it would be too expensive. Now the village has over 1,000 households, and about one third of them have already started using drone transport."; 24. Various of drone flying; forest, mountainous areas. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]