Hechi bolsters spring agricultural production

Hechi has promoted agricultural production since February while also overcoming the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. As of April 14, the city has completed planting 1.79 million mu (119,333.33 hectares) in spring grain crops, an increase of 144,000 mu over the same period of 2019.

As of the end of March, Hechi has newly planted 22,400 mu in fruits and 21,600 mu in mulberry gardens, which exceeds the annual new planting task of 2020. It has added 37,900 mu in agricultural products bases.

In order to promote grain production, Hechi has implemented a subsidy policy for grain producers and business entities, carrying out the declaration, review, verification, and distribution of subsidy funds to entice farmers to plant grain.

Pan Guangjun, director of the Hechi agriculture and rural affairs bureau, said that the city has coordinated the financing of agriculture-related funds and loans to increase support for key industries, such as cattle, sheep, and tea oil. Hechi has given discount loans to cooperatives and large households with more than 50 cows or farmers with more than two cows, as well as demonstration bases for breeding with more than 500 sheep.

Hechi's agricultural sector has been running well in the first quarter of 2020. In the planting industry, its vegetables' output was 409,000 tons, an increase of 28.6 percent year-on-year. The number of cattle, goats, and poultry slaughtered were 45,000, 183,000, and 6,452,500, an increase of 7.3 percent, 2 percent, and 22.9 percent respectively.