Featured industries boost Fujian's agricultural sector

East China's Fujian province has bolstered efforts to leverage its geographical strengths to develop characteristic agricultural industries over the past few years, which have played a bigger role in promoting Fujian's agricultural development and increasing farmers' incomes.

Relying on its rich and diversified agricultural resources, the province has cultivated 10 specialty agricultural industries, which are tea, vegetables, fruit, livestock and poultry, aquatic products, forestry, flower planting, edible mushrooms, rural tourism, as well as rural logistics.

Statistics show that the total output value of the whole industry chains of its 10 specialty agricultural industries reached 1.78 trillion yuan ($275.06 billion) in 2019, with the value expected to exceed 2 trillion yuan in 2020.

The provincial government has focused on the cluster development of agricultural industries suited to local conditions, with a number of counties with characteristic and advantageous industries developed, such as Wuyishan county's dahongpao rock tea, Ningde county's yellow croaker, as well as Fuding county's white tea.

Due to the local government's efforts, Wuyishan county was designated one of 10 pilot national parks in 2016. The tea planted in the county is made from leaves picked from trees that grow in rocky gullies, and is prized for its rich long-lasting aroma.

"We will ramp up efforts to set up a complete industrial chain for the development of our tea industry and an industrial base covering Wuyishan, Jian'ou, Jianyang, Shaxian, as well as Taining to drive the coordinated development of the tea industry. The total output of tea leaves is expected to reach 40,000 metric tons in 2022 worth more than 20 billion yuan," said Chen Mingwang, deputy director of the province's department of agriculture and rural affairs.

Additionally, Fujian has promoted the transformation, upgrading, and development of traditional agriculture, aiming to realize large-scale, mechanized, as well as modernized farming.

Advanced technologies like the internet of things, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence have been widely adopted in recent years, with a total of 39 modern and smart agricultural parks built across the province.