Ruian reaps the benefits of new agriculture system

The county-level city of Ruian, administered by Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang province, is expected to reap the benefits of a new agricultural cooperation system that was initiated in 2006, with construction work now almost complete on a national agriculture industrial park.

The system aims to promote cooperation between farmers, strengthen ties between the supply and marketing sectors, and provide easy access to credit.

The national modern agricultural park in the village of Jiangcun, in Mayu, is an example of the system.

The park covers the Tianjingyang area of Mayu and Caocun and the surrounding 48 administrative villages, with a total area of about 3,900 hectares, is breeding 20 key projects and 61 subprojects.

Shiyang Lake Island in Ruian. [Photo/WeChat account: ruianfabu]

The broccoli breeding research center is one of the key projects. It will be equipped with various facilities: 845 square meters of glass greenhouses, 13,000 sq m of plastic greenhouses, 10,000 sq m of mobile nursery ponds, as well as a track-type sprinkler, automatic high-pressure spray, and seeding assembly line.

Once completed, it will be able to grow 18 to 42 million seedlings in a year – enough to meet the vegetable production demand of 1,333 hectares, with an annual sales income of 10 million yuan ($1.57 billion).

An artist's impression of the broccoli breeding research center. [Photo/WeChat account: ruianfabu]

"The research center makes traditional agriculture smarter by exerting its digital value," said Tang Xiaochun, project manager of Zhejiang QingYi Seedlings Ltd.

In addition, the park will build an industrial chain that integrates agricultural production, processing, purchasing, storage, logistics, and sales.