A hydraulic tomato harvester jointly developed by Shihezi University and a Wuhan high-tech company made its debut at an agricultural machinery expo in the autonomous region's capital Urumqi last week.

The proprietary machine with more than 10 patents - the first of its kind in the country - can harvest 30 to 40 tons of tomatoes an hour, equivalent to the work of 300 to 400 skilled farm workers, according to its inventors.

Priced at 1.5 million yuan), the China-made machine is more competitive in the market than imports, they said.

(Source: China Daily)