A man takes care of vegetables in a greenhouse in Xihan village in Hunyuan county, Shanxi province, Jan 4. [Photo/Shanxi Economic Daily]

North China's Shanxi province issued a plan for developing controlled-environment agriculture in the current year, according to a statement released by the Shanxi Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Jan 11. 

In recent years, controlled-environment agriculture has developed steadily in Shanxi. By the end of 2019, the area given over to controlled-environment agriculture covered 476.67 square kilometers, with an annual output of 2.63 million metric tons. 

However, 366.67 sq km of vegetables planted in greenhouses only met about 44 percent of the province's vegetable demand in the off-season. 

This year, Shanxi plans to transform more than 1 sq km of old and spare greenhouses and add more than 33 sq km of greenhouses for planting vegetables, mushrooms and fruit. It will also establish more than 40,000 square meters of intensive vegetable nurseries and build pre-cooling warehouses and cold storage facilities covering over 500,000 cubic meters, as well as incubating and developing 10 controlled-environment agricultural brands.

The province will build and expand high-standard energy-saving greenhouses covering 6.67 sq km, as well as over 13.33 sq km of steel-frame greenhouses in Shuozhou, Xinzhou, and Taiyuan cities. 

Key counties involved in controlled-environment agriculture -- administered by Yuncheng, Linfen, Jinzhong and Taiyuan cities -- will be supported in developing 15 provincial-level greenhouse vegetable or mushroom demonstration parks, each covering at least 33,333 sq m. Each demonstration park will be granted a subsidy of 500,000 yuan ($77,334).

The province will also build three mechanization demonstration zones for controlled-environment agriculture in Taiyuan, Jinzhong, and Yuncheng cities, with each zone to be subsidized by 200,000 yuan.