Daqiao town, Qingshi town and Hetian township in Quzhou, Zhejiang province, were recently named among the first batch of national strong agricultural towns by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.

The towns have developed their leading industries based on local resources and characteristics.

A farm in Daqiao town, Jiangshan, a county-level city of Quzhou in East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/qz123.com]

The rice industry is the leading agricultural industry in Daqiao town with a rice planting area of 26,200 mu (1,746 hectares) and an annual output of about 12,500 metric tons in 2022. The town has been recognized as a rice demonstration area, a rice seed production base, a rice-fish integrated farming demonstration base, and a rice processing center in western Zhejiang.

Qingshi town in Changshan county, Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/qz123.com]

Qingshi town in Changshan county has a grapefruit planting area of over 20,000 mu and an annual output of about 35,000 tons, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total grapefruit output in the county.

An aerial view of the China Freshwater Fish Museum in Hetian township, Kaihua county, Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/qz123.com]

Hetian township was recently designated a national leisure fishing demonstration base and the most beautiful fishing village. It has built 115,000 square meters of standardized fish breeding bases, with an annual output of 1.9 million kilograms of freshwater fish.

The township has also attracted a total of more than 10 million yuan ($1.37 million) in investment to integrate the freshwater fish industry and rural leisure tourism. Last year, the township received more than 300,000 tourists, generating nearly 175 million yuan in recreational fishing income.