China Agriculture news, info, updates

[ahojunk]

Harvest of reform to modernize agriculture
2016-10-25 09:52 | China Daily | Editor: Feng Shuang

A reaper harvests paddy rice on the Daxing Farm in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province,
Oct. 10, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)​

Departments and ministries under the State Council, China's cabinet, have responded to a series of public concerns in the past week on agricultural modernization, civil service examinations, gas storage facility pricing and the quality of online trading goods.

The State Council recently issued a five-year plan for strategic agricultural modernization (2016-20) and according to Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu, the plan has clearly defined the importance of agricultural modernization.

The sector has a solid basis for modernization and is entering a development stage, Han said.

According to the plan, by 2020 food security will be effectively guaranteed, the quality and efficiency of the agricultural product supply system will be greatly increased, the sector's international competitiveness will be further enhanced and rural residents' livelihood will be improved.

Civil service examination applications for central government organizations, and subordinate agencies, will be stopped on Oct 24, 2017.

Although civil service posts are popular, there are still some posts that only a few, or even no, candidates applied for.

The State Administration of Civil Service has recently issued an announcement to the public, which summarizes the posts attracting few, or no qualified, candidates.

The administration reminds applicants to rationally choose posts.

It also reminds applicants to avoid peak times of application (often, just days before the deadline), in order to boost their chances of acceptance.

The National Development and Reform Commission issued an announcement to local departments and reform commissions, commodity price bureaus and petroleum and petrochemical companies to specify the pricing policy for gas storage facilities.

According to the NDRC, the gas storage price will be determined through negotiation of supply and demand, and urban gas companies are encouraged to invest in the construction of gas storage facilities.

The price of gas will be established through market competition.

The NDRC also requires related authorities and enterprises in local areas to jointly strive to guarantee stable operation of the gas market, enhance communication and negotiation of pricing as well as maintain market order and price supervision.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce in 2016 launched online trading commodity quality inspections.

According to officials of the administration, it pays great attention to quality supervision of commodities, including online trading commodities.

Quality inspection of goods traded online this time is routine for the administration's market supervision department to protect consumers' legal rights and interests.

The administration has launched quality inspections on goods trading on major e-business platforms in five provinces and regions, including Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

 

[AndrewJin]

China's "father Of Hybrid Rice", Yuan Longping Is Planning To Expand Production Of Sea-rice

At the World Life Science Conference in Beijing yesterday, Yuan Longing expressed his expectation for sea-rice in the future, 300kg per Mu (666m2)!

There is over 100 million Mu saline and alkaline land in China appropriate to potential sea-rice cultivation. Production of sea-rice could reach 30 billion kilograms, which equals the volume of rice production in Hunan Province.

Food security is the foundation of national security. That's why China’s No.1 Central Document has focused on agriculture for 13 consecutive year.

China's "father of hybrid rice", Yuan Longping, is planning to expand its production of sea-rice at a newly founded research center in Qingdao, a port city in the eastern province of Shandong, local sources said Saturday.

Within three years, the sea-rice research and development center, headed by Yuan Longping, is expected to expand the yield of sea-rice to 200 kilograms on each "mu," the Chinese unit equivalent to 666 square meters, according to local authorities in Qingdao's Licang District, where the new research body is located.

Wild sea-rice is sometimes found in saline-alkaline soil at the junctures where rivers join the sea. The plant is resistant to pests, diseases, salt and alkali and does not need fertilizer. But its unit output is only around 75 kg.

The Qingdao research center will use gene sequencing to cultivate new strains of sea-rice that will yield more rice and grow with saline water.

Once in full production, the sea-rice could feed 200 million people in China. [Photo: qingdaonews.com]

With start-up funding of 100 million yuan (14.86 million U.S. dollars), scientists will start their experiment on a 2-hectare saline-alkaline marsh land just north of the Jiaozhou Bay in April. The project will eventually draw an investment of 2 billion yuan.

Over the past decades, Chinese scientists, led by Yuan, have worked out new approaches to significantly increase the yield of rice, a staple food for 65 percent of the Chinese.


To ensure food security is the number one task of Chinese government

@long_ @rott @Dungeness @lonelyman @Kaptaan et al

 

[AndrewJin]

China does not have the most cultivated arable land in the world, so technology, modernisation and mechanisation are crucial to China's agricultural sector.

Saline land near Qinghai Lake

Land by the sea

@Mista @Two @terranMarine @AViet @Lure

 

[AndrewJin]

Of course, the emerging brands such as DJI drones and Huawei smart phones are great news for China.
But none of them is as important as the agricultural modernisation in 21st century.
There should be continued efforts in the agricultural sector though its GDP percentage is on the rapid decline.

Agriculture, rural community and farmer related issues are once again the topic of China’s "No. 1 Central Document" this year, the first policy document jointly released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on January 27, 2016.

China will apply its new concept of development to agricultural modernization to make the process more efficient, inclusive and environment-friendly.

The document vowed "marked progress" in agriculture by 2020 to ensure society becomes moderately prosperous.

Upholding an innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development concept, the authorities called for faster transformation of agricultural models.

The importance of innovation was also underscored and supply-side structural reform in the agriculture sector was emphasized.

After years of good harvests, China has grown out of a food shortage period, but structural problems remain unsolved: some produce is over-supplied and some in short supply.

Total grain output increased 2.4 percent year on year to 621 million tonnes in 2015, the 12th straight year of growth.

The document said grain output should be increased, and food security through the supply of major farm produce guaranteed.


Agricultural modernization

China will improve the quality and competitiveness of its agricultural products through high-quality farmland and professional farmers catering to the demands of modern agriculture.

At least 53 million hectares of high-quality farmland will be created by 2020, which will be highly productive to ensure stable yields, be cultivated in an environmentally-friendly manner and able to withstand floods and droughts.

Training for farmers, increased investment in technology, modernization of the seed sector and diverse business entities and models will increase the pace of change.

Production structure must meet diverse consumption demand with enterprises encouraged to "go overseas" to balance exports and imports.


Green agriculture

Sustainability will come through improved efficiency of resource use and environmental protection.

Policies and technological support will protect resources and raise efficiency, preventing resources from over-exploitation.

China will follow its "red-line" system and guarantee that land dedicated to farming never shrinks to less than 120 million hectares.

China will tighten water resource management, level of groundwater will be closed watched.

By 2020, woodland coverage will be above 23 percent and wetland acreage will be above 800 million mu (53.33 million hectares). More farmland will be turned into forests or pastures.

New national standards on food safety will be prioritized and standards on pesticides residues and veterinary drugs will reach the international standards by 2020.


Integrated development

China aims to increase farmers' incomes by pushing integrative development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural regions.

Technological innovation should advance the processing of agricultural products, thus, bringing more income to farmers. Specifically, the processing industry should develop its own equipment while outdated processing enterprises should be eliminated.

An unified, open, competitive market for modern agricultural products needs to be established to promote agricultural products. To this end, logistics cost will be reduced while rural e-commerce will be encouraged.

Officials also called for more promotion of rural destinations, as tourism could offer alternate income streams. The government will offer subsidies to infrastructure projects in key rural destinations while guiding private capital to projects that are beneficial for farmers.

In order to let rural households share the profits of every step of the industrial chain including production, processing, and sales, new mechanisms such as distributing shares of leading firms to farmers should be encouraged.

The income level of rural residents has seen steady growth in the past few years. In 2015, the rural per capita disposable income increased 8.9 percent year on year to 11,422 yuan (1,743 U.S. dollars), continuing from a 11.2-percent growth seen in 2014.


Better infrastructure and public services

The rural population can expect state-funded infrastructure construction to provide safer drinking water and home, access to electricity and roads, and better transportation.

Townships and cities with big inflows of rural migrant workers will be the priority for improved public services.

Preschool education will expand in rural areas, and compulsory education at primary and middle schools will be reinforced. High-school students who cannot afford them will be exempt from tuition fees. More teachers will be recruited.

Farmers will enjoy better subsidized access to the medical insurance system, while the old-age and child care systems will be improved.

The document expresses the objective of equal education and job opportunities for rural women and protection of their rights in seeking income from property and accessing financial resources.

Projects will be carried out in garbage treatment, tree planting and river cleaning to ensure a more livable environment for rural residents.


Rural workers

Rural workers will be given more support to better integrate into cities and find employment.

The government will encourage rural workers to find jobs or establish their own businesses in nearby regions.

The migrant rural labor force will be stabilized and expanded and rural workers will be offered support to start businesses in their hometowns.

County-level economies and rural service industries will be improved, while more training will be offered to rural workers.

Local funds should be established to support females working in the countryside, and they should have better access to small loans and training.

In addition, the document outlined that "hukou" (household registration) reforms, which will see 100 million rural workers secure urban residential status, must be expedited.

Basic public services should be expanded to cover all permanent residents in cities, it said, calling for education and housing benefits for migrant rural workers.

After they become registered urbanites, rural workers' land rights should be protected and support given to those who transfer their land rights.


Agricultural investment

China plans increased spending on agriculture to boost rural development.

The agricultural sector will be a key area for fixed-asset investment.

The government will channel more funds to poor farmers, construction of irrigation programs, industrial convergence in rural areas, and wholesale produce markets.

The central authorities pledged financial aid to key areas including farmland protection and the increase of grain production.

The government will also encourage financial institutions to make more loans to agriculture businesses.

Agriculture should not be the equivalent term for "poverty".
Economy at the county-level and village-level should be agriculture-based and be organically integrated with ecological tourism, food processing, small and medium enterprises and E-commerce & IoTs.

@TaiShang @Dungeness @eldarlmari @Two @Shotgunner51 @ahojunk et al

 

[TaiShang]

China does not have the most cultivated arable land in the world, so technology, modernisation and mechanisation are crucial to China's agricultural sector.

Saline land near Qinghai Lake
View attachment 348366
View attachment 348367

Land by the sea
View attachment 348368 View attachment 348369View attachment 348371

@Mista @Two @terranMarine @AViet @Lure

I once took HSR to Qingdao. There was 温室 as far as your eyes could see.

And here is an extra for your viewing pleasure -- The Yellow Sea.

 

[AndrewJin]

Health, agriculture and the environment!


Chinese premier calls for life sciences cooperation

Honor guests attend the opening ceremony of the World Life Science Conference in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2016. The three-day conference, sponsored by the China Association for Science and Technology, focuses on health, agriculture and the environment. It invites a dozen of Nobel laureates as well as representatives of scientific, technological and industry circles from 36 countries and regions to participate in. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called for global cooperation on life sciences to promote sustainable economic and social development in the world.

In a written message to World Life Sciences Conference, which kicked off in Beijing Tuesday, Li urged Chinese scientists and entrepreneurs to exchange with and learn from their foreign counterparts, to make breakthroughs and innovations in life sciences to deal with the challenges faced by humanity.

As China pursues an innovation-driven development strategy and strives to implement the "Healthy China 2030" plan, the country is vigorously pushing life sciences research and other related industries through technological innovations, said Li, adding that it plays an increasingly vital role in improving people's health and living standards as well as environmental protection.

The three-day conference, sponsored by the China Association for Science and Technology, focuses on health, agriculture and the environment. It invites a dozen of Nobel laureates as well as representatives of scientific, technological and industry circles from 36 countries and regions to participate in.

David Baltimore, chairman of the World Life Science Conference, addresses the opening ceremony in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2016. The three-day conference, sponsored by the China Association for Science and Technology, focuses on health, agriculture and the environment. It invites a dozen of Nobel laureates as well as representatives of scientific, technological and industry circles from 36 countries and regions to participate in. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong meets with famous scientists who are here to attend the World Life Sciences Conference in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2016. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

 

[AndrewJin]

I once took HSR to Qingdao. There was 温室 as far as your eyes could see.

View attachment 348398

View attachment 348399

And here is an extra for your viewing pleasure -- The Yellow Sea.

View attachment 348400

Yes, these carefully managed greenhouses are ideal for vegetable, fruit, Chinese medicine materials, etc.
It's high-yielding, natural disaster-proof and anti-season.
You can find them everywhere in China, in Shanghai, Tibet and Hainan Island.
It's more than agriculture. A greenhouse can be integrated with new-energy facilities.

http://jiangsu.china.com.cn/html/2016/gznews_0726/6615137.html
14 families in Pingzi Vilage in Hezhang County of China's poorest Guizhou Province, invested 800k yuan (400k yuan from special loans) and founded an agricultural cooperation. They now have 80 greenhouses for vegetables. 150 people from 50 families are provided jobs.

Greenhouses are also popular tourist destinations for city dwellers.
E-commerce can help farmers sell their products with a much higher price than traditional sales systems.

CCTV 7 (Agriculture Channel) has a education program
to teach farmers technology and experiences everyday!

@Two @long_ @Place Of Space @ahojunk

 

[艹艹艹]

 

[AndrewJin]

Ensure fresh vegetable supply to Chinese in Dubai!

@long_ @eldarlmari @powastick

 

[TaiShang]

Hybrid rice 'could feed 70 million more people a year'
(Global Times) 09:18, November 07, 2016

Hybrid rice techniques could help feed 70 million more people worldwide every year, according to China's "father of hybrid rice" Yuan Longping, defying experts who question the quality of hybrid rice and ask whether quantity should take priority over quality.

Hybrid rice can enhance regular crop yields by about 20 percent, Yuan told the China-Central and Eastern Europe (CCEE) agriculture ministers' meeting on Saturday in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

"Rice is the staple food for more than half of the world's population," Yuan said, adding that rising populations mean the world will need to produce about 60 percent more rice by 2030 than it did in 1995 to feed them. Yuan said that a one-hectare rice field can currently sustain 27 people, a number which has to reach 43 by 2050 to meet the world's food needs.

At present, as much as 50 percent of China's total rice fields use Yuan's hybrid rice species, producing 60 percent of China's rice. China's total rice output rose from 5.69 billion tons in 1950 to 19.47 billion tons last year. This annual yield is enough to feed 60 million people, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

"Hybrid rice will play an important role in the new century in terms of food safety and the furtherance of world peace," Yuan said on Saturday.

Statistics from the official website of the UN's World Food Program showed that some 795 million, or about one in nine people globally, do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulation letter to the CCEE meeting on Saturday, in which he said that "China is willing to align its development strategies with the Central and Eastern European countries and share development experiences to further promote the level of agricultural cooperation and bring benefits to the people of all these countries."

According to Yuan, more than 4,000 agricultural technicians and officials from over 100 countries have received training from the China National Hybrid Rice R&D Centre in central Hunan Province, and they have popularized the knowledge of hybrid rice planting, as well as research and development technologies.

Experts sow concerns

In spite of developments in hybrid rice techniques and the expansion of hybrid rice's use globally, though, concerns have been raised by some experts over its quality.

"Increases in crop yield should not come at the expense of a plant's resistance to diseases, adversity or quality," Na Zhongyuan, a director with the Yunnan Institute for Ecological Agriculture, told the Global Times.

Na said that Yuan's hybrid rice needs more chemical fertilizers to maintain its high output, which could have a detrimental effect on the environment. In some regions, planting areas for hybrid rice have shrunk in recent years due to the high costs of seeds, fertilizer and manpower, Na added.

"In spite of its high yield, the low quality of hybrid rice limits its usage because of the relatively high requirements of pesticide and fertilizer," Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday. Li said some consumers complain that hybrid rice does not taste as good as regular rice and, despite a periodic surplus of rice yields in recent years, the quality of the product remains low.

To advance a more environmentally friendly development, "we should alter our strategies from only pursuing quantity to much better quality," Li said.

The combination of "high quality" and "high quantity" is very difficult, but not necessarily contradictory, Yuan said at the World Life Science Conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

***

Chinese investors show growing interest in Australian agriculture
(Xinhua) 11:18, November 07, 2016

CANBERRA, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese ownership of Australian farming land has climbed above three million hectares as an increasing number of Chinese investors show their interest in Australian agriculture.

A flurry of significant land sales in recent months, mostly in Western Australia (WA), has driven the amount of Australian agricultural land owned by Chinese investors to more than three million hectares, more than double the 1.46 million hectares reported by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in June.

Two of the largest properties, the 705,000-hectare Wollogorang and Wentworth station on the border of Queensland and the Northern Territory (NT) and the 639,500-hectare Balfour Downs and Wandanya station in WA, both owned by Chinese, almost accounting for the whole 1.46 million hectares reported by the register.

The soaring amount of Australian land owned by Chinese investors since June has largely been driven by Shanghai Zenith, the Australian arm of real estate developer Shanghai CRED.

Shanghai Zenith has settled on the purchases of the 200,000-hectare Mount Elizabeth cattle station and 189,000-hectare Yakka Munga station, both in WA, since June.

The developer has also attained approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to buy more than 400,000 hectares of pastoral land in WA's Goldfields region and is part of the likely-successful bid by Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest woman, to buy the nation's largest network of cattle stations, S Kidman and Co.

Shanghai Zhongfu, a rival real estate developer, purchased the 476,000-hectare Carlton Hill station in WA for 75 million U.S. dollars.

Danny Thomas, regional director of agribusiness with real estate consultant CBRE, said the boom in Chinese investment in Australia reflected the interest from foreign investors worldwide.

"The market is as active at the moment as I've seen it in my professional career," Thomas told Fairfax Media on Monday.

The new Chinese ownership figures came as a survey of China's richest people found many were planning to pour millions of dollars into Australia's real estate market.

The Hurun Report, released on Monday, found that 800,000 Chinese people worth more than 1.5 million U.S. dollars, planned to invest overseas, with property in Sydney and Melbourne a popular investment choice.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chief researcher for the Hurun Report, a monthly magazine best known for its "China Rich List", a ranking of the wealthiest individuals in China, said the depreciation of the yuan was partly responsible for the flow of capital from China into Australian property.

"As immigration and house-buying destinations, Australia is still very popular. Sydney and Melbourne are still very popular," he said.

"China currently has 1,340,000 high-net-worth individuals, defined as individuals with 1.5 million U.S. dollars, so that means we are looking at a massive 800,000 individuals who want to buy property overseas over the next three years."

 

[TaiShang]

China to promote new types of agribusiness
Xinhua, November 18, 2016

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said the government will increase policy support for new forms of agribusiness to bolster rural economy.

"Large-scale agricultural operations in new forms will lead agricultural modernization," Wang said when addressing a meeting held on Wednesday and Thursday in Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The meeting discusses cultivating new types of agribusiness and increasing the scale of agricultural operations.

Wang called for promoting the development of family farms, large and specialized agricultural operations, farming cooperatives and other emerging forms of agribusiness.

@AndrewJin , @ahojunk , @cirr

 

[JSCh]

Hybrid rice sets new world record in production
Source: Xinhua 2016-11-19 16:43:12

GUANGZHOU, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Yuan Longping, renowned Chinese developer of hybrid rice, has set a new world record.

A hybrid rice project headed by Yuan has achieved an annual yield of 1,537.78 kilograms of rice per mu (about 0.07 hectares) of farmland, authorities announced Saturday in Xingning City in south China's Guangdong Province.

The amount of the double-cropping rice is equal to that produced over three seasons in the past, marking a big breakthrough, said Luo Xiwen, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

"This is the fifth generation of hybrid rice technology," Yuan told Xinhua. "The quality of the rice is as good as Japan's renowned Koshihikari rice."

The project was launched in 2015.

Known as China's "father of hybrid rice," Yuan began theoretical research about 50 years ago and continued to set new records in the average yields of hybrid rice plots.

China's Ministry of Agriculture officially launched a hybrid rice breeding program in 1996. Four years later, a first-phase target of 10.5 tonnes per hectare was achieved by Yuan's research team. The fourth-phase target of 15.4 tonnes per hectare was reached in 2014.

About 65 percent of Chinese depend on rice as a staple food.

 

[TaiShang]

Hybrid rice sets new world record in production
(Xinhua) 09:46, November 20, 2016

Yuan Longping (2nd L), renowned Chinese developer of hybrid rice, in seen in a rice field in Longtian Township of Xingning, south China's Guangdong Province, Nov. 19, 2016. A hybrid rice project headed by Yuan has achieved an annual yield of 1,537.78 kilograms of rice per mu (about 0.07 hectares) of farmland, authorities announced Saturday. (Xinhua/Wu Tao)

Yuan Longping, renowned Chinese developer of hybrid rice, has set a new world record.

A hybrid rice project headed by Yuan has achieved an annual yield of 1,537.78 kilograms of rice per mu (about 0.07 hectares) of farmland, authorities announced Saturday in Xingning City in south China's Guangdong Province.

The amount of the double-cropping rice is equal to that produced over three seasons in the past, marking a big breakthrough, said Luo Xiwen, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

"This is the fifth generation of hybrid rice technology," Yuan told Xinhua. "The quality of the rice is as good as Japan's renowned Koshihikari rice."

The project was launched in 2015.

Known as China's "father of hybrid rice," Yuan began theoretical research about 50 years ago and continued to set new records in the average yields of hybrid rice plots.

China's Ministry of Agriculture officially launched a hybrid rice breeding program in 1996. Four years later, a first-phase target of 10.5 tonnes per hectare was achieved by Yuan's research team. The fourth-phase target of 15.4 tonnes per hectare was reached in 2014.

About 65 percent of Chinese depend on rice as a staple food.

 

[CHN Bamboo]

China's grain output dips over shrinking planting area and per unit area yield in 2016

BEIJING - China's grain output dipped in 2016 as its planting area shrank and per unit yield edged down, official data showed Thursday.

National grain output stood at about 616 million tons in 2016, down by about 5.2 million tons, about 0.8 percent, compared with last year, according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Grain planting area has shrunk by 315,000 hectares, while the per unit yield dropped by 30.7 kilograms per hectare.

Facing unbalanced supply and demand among grain varieties, many areas reduced corn planting in favor of soy and used the grain for feedstuff and oil, according to Huang Bingxin, a senior statistician with NBS.

The reduction in the planting area impacted high-yield grain, and severe national extreme weather such as drought and heavy rain also dented grain productivity, Huang added.

**
2015

Corn:5891.9 kilo per hectare
Rice:6892.5 kilo per hectare
Wheat:5392.7 kilo per hectare

2016

Corn:5988.8 kilo per hectare
Rice:6860.7 kilo per hectare
Wheat:5327.4 kilo per hectare

2014 Data from FAO

 

[TaiShang]

Rice farmers go on home-buying spree, driven by rising profits
(People's Daily Online) December 08, 2016

After selling their own paddy rice, many farmers in Wuchang, Heilongjiang province have begun buying homes in the city.

“I have bought a home, and I am accompanying my relative to buy a home. Over 50 percent of the people in my village have bought homes in the city,” a local villager told CCTV.

To enjoy better education, medical resources and transportation, well-off farmers are increasingly investing in homes in urban centers. The large-scale phenomenon has taken many by surprise, including real estate developers.

According to Liu Zifu, vice general manager of Mingjian Real Estate, 70 to 80 percent of the company's home-buyers this year have been farmers.

Wuchang is a famous rice production area in northeastern China. Its unique location and atmosphere are especially suitable for growing high-quality rice. The rice grown in Wuchang is known for its excellent aroma and pure taste.

Dong Dianjiu, a farmer in the village of Chang'an, planted 40 mu (1 mu is equal to 667 square meters) of rice this year. He is confident that the rice will bring him a higher income next year. His confidence originates from a plan of the local government, which aims to increase the value of the local rice industry from 18 billion RMB to 50 billion RMB in five years. If the plan is successful, Dong is in for a raise of approximately 40,000 to 50,000 RMB.

Dong noted that the government has implemented a series of measures to ensure the authenticity and quality of Wuchang rice. Government authorities have instituted a monitoring system that oversees every stage of rice production. Farmers are only allowed to buy authentic rice seeds using their own ID cards, and chemical fertilizers and high-residue pesticides are banned.

Yi Yanchen, head of the local agriculture bureau, said they even appplied for a sort of national trademark for Wuchang rice. In addition, 10 million RMB has been invested in building a traceability system for the rice.

This year, the purchasing price for rice produced in Wuchang increased to 5 RMB per kilogram, twice that of ordinary rice. The purchasing price for organic rice is 8 to 10 RMB per kilogram. With these prices, local farmers can earn over 3,000 RMB for one mu of paddy rice.