Hechi’s agricultural development in first three quarters of 2014

Hechi has been comprehensively deepening rural reform and energetically developing modern agriculture since this year.

By the end of September, Hechi has achieved a gross output value of 12.97 billion yuan ($2.12 billion), with a year-on-year growth of 4 percent. Of this figure, 4.65 billion yuan is the value of agricultural production, a year-on-year growth of 5.07 percent; 972 million yuan is the forestry value, a year-on-year growth of 5.52 percent; 6.67 billion yuan is the animal husbandry value, a year-on-year growth of 2.94 percent; 412 million yuan is in the fishery industry, with a year-on-year growth of 4.18 percent; and rural resident cash income per capita is 5,435 yuan, a year-on-year growth of 11.5 percent.

The cyclic utilization of the silkworm industry achieves an obvious effect. Hechi positively explores experiences in fields such as the harmless treatment of silkworm excrement and edible fungi of mulberry twigs. Its silkworm industry scale has stayed in first place in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. By the end of September, the area of Hechi’s mulberry field was 785,900 mu (52,393 hectares), and the output of fresh cocoons reached 84,000 tons, both of which remain the first among prefecture-level cities in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

As a city with many longevity villages, Hechi’s soil is rich in selenium. In counties such as Donglan, Bama, Fengshan, Nandan and Tian’e, local governments are striving to develop agricultural products rich in selenium. Donglan’s selenium enrichment black rice and Nandan’s selenium enrichment tea oil have entered into the high-end market, and their demand often exceeds supply.

Hechi also energetically develops leisure agriculture and rural tourism to cultivate new income origins for local peasants. “The Baise Uprising Red Tourism and Agricultural Leisure Wellness Tourism Route” was awarded as one of a 2014 China Top 10 Leisure Agriculture and Rural Tourism Route.

Hechi continues to carry out the “shopping basket” project in order to facilitate market stability. According to statistics, by Oct 23, the vegetable cultivation area of the whole city was 1.24 million mu, accomplishing 103.25 percent of the yearly task. The all-year vegetable base area reached 6,663 mu, 102.5 percent of the whole year’s scheduled task.

In addition, Hechi carries out the “clean field” activity in a deep way so as to decrease pollution and improve countryside ecological civilization. By the end of September, the whole city had promoted clearer production technology with an accumulative area of 4.14 million mu. All the counties (cities, districts) have set up 86 clean demonstration fields, 50 of which have been added in 2014.