Fourteen demonstration zones lead the way in modern agricultural development
Economic Daily, Beijing, August 21 (Reporter Qiao Jinliang) Learned from the Ministry of Agriculture: The Office of the Leading Group for the Construction of Modern Agricultural Demonstration Zones of the Ministry of Agriculture recently released the "2013 Monitoring and Evaluation Report on the Construction Level of National Modern Agricultural Demonstration Zones." This is China's first nationwide evaluation of modern agricultural construction.
The report shows that in 2012, among the 153 national modern agricultural demonstration zones, 14 counties (cities, districts, and reclamation areas) ranked near the top in modern agricultural construction level, including Shunyi District of Beijing, Pudong New Area of Shanghai, Taicang City, Kunshan City, Wuxi City, Dongtai City, Pei County, Tongshan District of Xuzhou City, and Xiangcheng District of Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province, Cixi City in Zhejiang Province, Hutubi County in Xinjiang, as well as Heilongjiang Reclamation Area, Ningxia Reclamation Area, and Wujiaqu Reclamation Area of the Sixth Agricultural Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. According to the assessment under the "Measures for Monitoring and Evaluating the Construction Level of National Modern Agricultural Demonstration Zones (Trial)," they have already taken the lead in entering the stage of basically realizing agricultural modernization, becoming the “leading sheep” of China's modern agricultural development.
The report holds that national modern agricultural demonstration zones play a prominent role in China's agricultural modernization. In 2012, the 153 demonstration zones had a total cultivated land area of 246 million mu, a total grain output of 245 billion jin, and a value added of agriculture, animal husbandry, and fisheries of 774.8 billion yuan, producing 20.8% of the grain with 13.1% of the country's cultivated land; the average grain yield per mu in the demonstration zones was 468 kg, and the per capita net income of farmers was 11,000 yuan, respectively 32.4% and 34.1% higher than the national average, leading the country in improving land output rate, resource utilization rate, and labor productivity.
The report shows that the transformation of traditional agriculture in national modern agricultural demonstration zones has achieved notable results, modern agricultural production factors are being accelerated into the agricultural sector, and important progress has been made in agricultural modernization. In 2012, the proportion of farmland with guaranteed yields despite drought or excessive rain in the demonstration zones reached 51.5%, and the comprehensive mechanization level of crop cultivation, planting, and harvesting reached 72.5%, 15.3 percentage points higher than the national average. Agricultural production methods have mainly relied on modern facilities and mechanical operations, and the conditions of material equipment are improving at an accelerated pace.