Hechi's characteristic agriculture boosts rural revitalization

Since the beginning of this year, the city of Hechi has increased people's income and boosted rural revitalization through developing characteristic agricultural industries such as silkworms, cattle and sheep breeding.

Nandan Yunshui Valley Beef Breeding Demonstration Zone has helped 88 local households develop cow breeding, and has increased more than 1,160 households' incomes, which is a vivid example of how the city is boosting rural revitalization.

According to statistics from the Hechi municipal bureau of agriculture and rural affairs, in the first half of this year, 118,200 cattle were bred in the city, a year-on-year increase of 6.77 percent, and 405,300 sheep were bred, an increase of 5.13 percent.

In the Dingli Silkworm Breeding Cooperative in Du'an Yao autonomous county, silkworm farmers stay busy feeding the young silkworms with mulberry leaves. Wei Honghao, head of the cooperative, said that now that the enthusiasm of silkworm farmers is increasing, the planting area is gradually expanding, and the income this year is expected to be better than last year.

In the first half of 2021, the city's silkworm cocoon output was 66,600 metric tons, with an output value of 3.5 billion yuan ($539 million). The average price of silkworm cocoons was 52.81 yuan per kilogram. Compared with the same period in 2020, the silkworm price showed a rebound.

In the future, Hechi will strengthen the development of modern characteristic agriculture, and expand the scale of agriculture and cultivate new types of agricultural operators. The city's agriculture will show a large-scale, industrialized and branded trend, and its quality, efficiency and competitiveness will be improved.