Modern agriculture industry

The modern agricultural sector in Jiangsu province has made great progress since the implementation of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), making contributions to the province's economic development.

The total grain output in 2015 was 35.61 million metric tons, 3.26 million tons more than in 2010. Vegetable production increased by nearly 50 percent, while the scale of breeding livestock was greatly extended and the output of meat, eggs and milk steadily grew. Farmers' incomes in 2015 increased to 16,257 yuan ($2,356), which is 1.78 times that of 2010.

Besides, Jiangsu's open agriculture, mechanization of farming, and agricultural industrialization also reached new stages, which could accelerate the transformation of the province's traditional agriculture to modern agriculture and improve its quality and competitiveness.

To speed up the development of its open agriculture, Jiangsu has been building international agricultural cooperation platforms and demonstration zones in line with its agricultural development strategy.

The total import and export volume of agricultural products increased from $11.64 billion in 2010 to $14.84 billion in 2015, with average annual growth of 5 percent, which also ranked in the top six among all the cities in China.  

With preferential policies to promote mechanization, including policy-based insurances, credit financing and subsidies, the mechanization of farming has sustained rapid and sound development in Jiangsu.

The total financial input by the Jiangsu government into the mechanization of farming during the 12th Five-Year Plan reached 30.26 billion yuan, including a subsidy of 6.14 billion yuan for buying agricultural machinery. The purchase value of machines by farmers also increased from 2 billion yuan in 2010 to 4.2 billion yuan in 2015.

The agricultural mechanization level of Jiangsu in 2015 reached 81 percent and the area of mechanically transplanting rice seedlings expanded to 1.64 million hectares. The mechanization level of primary processing of agricultural products, forestry, the fruit industry, horticulture, animal husbandry and fishery averaged 49 percent.

As an important part of the development of modern agriculture, the industrialization of agriculture in Jiangsu relies on leading enterprises by giving full play to their guiding role.

The number of leading agricultural enterprises at or above the county level reached 6,158 by the end of 2015, including 698 at the national/provincial level. Those enterprises achieved total sales of 692.74 billion yuan and benefited 12.18 million households.

The capacity for scientific and technological innovation in agricultural industrialization also continues to strengthening. The 698 leading enterprises put investment of 7.12 billion yuan into scientific and technological research and development, an increase of 3.86 percent year-on-year.

The number of characteristic industries with an annual output value above 1 billion yuan in Jiangsu totaled 162, including 12 with an annual output value exceeding 10 billion yuan.