The world’s three largest lavender producing areas: Ili, China

Provence, France is famous for its lavender. In fact, there is also a vast world of lavender in the Ili River Valley in Xinjiang, China. The lavender harvester has become an important tool for harvesting. Because of lavender, many people know about Provence in France and Furano in Japan. However, even the Chinese themselves often don’t know that in the Ili Valley in the northwest, the equally magnificent sea of lavender flowers has been secretly fragrant for 50 years.

This seems incomprehensible. Because every summer as soon as you enter the Ili River Valley from Guozigou, the vast sea of purple flowers swaying in the wind and the fragrant fragrance break into the hearts of every visitor with overwhelming force. A set of numbers and names are enough to illustrate its domineering power – the lavender planting area is nearly 20,000 acres, making it the largest lavender production base in the country; during the harvest season, the sound of lavender harvesters can be heard everywhere. The annual output of lavender essential oil reaches about 100,000 kilograms, accounting for more than 95% of the country’s total output; this is the “Hometown of Chinese Lavender” named by the Ministry of Agriculture of China, and is known as one of the eight largest lavender producing areas in the world.

Over the past few decades, the development of lavender in Xinjiang has indeed been kept low-key and semi-secret for a long time. Public reports on planting area, essential oil production, etc. are rarely seen. Coupled with the remote location, it is nearly a thousand kilometers away from Urumqi and there is no train. Therefore, it was not until the 21st century that with the maturity of planting technology and the emergence of Multifunctional harvester machine. The lavender in the Ili Valley gradually unveiled its veil