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China Makes Breakthrough in Comprehensive Development of Agriculture
China's strategy of developing agriculture in a comprehensive way has proved successful, with the pilot zones of the project recording far higher development than other areas, according to officials and experts attending an on- going national conference on the matter in Beijing on Wednesday.
China launched the project to boost agricultural development in 1988, when the country was facing a serious shortage of farmland and water resources, and its middle- and low-yield land accounted for two-thirds of the country's total. Meanwhile, the country had a weak agricultural infrastructure and no means of popularizing agro-technology.
Over the past 12 years, China has spent huge sums on the project, which focused on improving the middle- and low-yield farmland, spreading information on agricultural technology, and building up the agricultural infrastructure, and established pilot zones in more than 1,500 counties nationwide.
By the end of 1999, 20 million hectares of farmland had been improved and 28 million hectares of improved irrigated land added, which increased grain production capacity by more than 53 million tons a year. Added to that, farmers in the pilot zones saw their annual net income grow by 260 yuan, a significant rise over earnings in other areas.
Funding for the project has come mainly from the central and local governments, who have divided their investment equally, along with some bank loans and overseas contributions.
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