Introduction of Agricultural and Rural Work of Shaoguan City
Shaoguan City has a vast territory and rich mountain and cultivated land resources, with per capita land resources and cultivated land resources ranking first in the province.The city covers a land area of 18,500 square kilometers, forest area of 21.28 million mu(a mu being roughly one-sixth of an acre), cultivated land resources of 3.35 million mu, cultivated land of 1.95 million mu. It has a rural population of 2.083 million.
In recent years, based on its resource advantages, Shaoguan has identified six major products namely high-quality rice, vegetables, bamboo, fruits, livestock and poultry, and high-quality fish as the leading industries of the city, while tea, camellia oil, Chinese herbal, flowers, sericulture and tobacco leaves as the six featured products of different counties (districts). Wengyuan County is known as the "Hometown of Orchids", "Hometown of Sanhua Plum" and "Hometown of Jiuxian Peach". Shixing County has been named as the “Hometown of Loquat Fruit”, “Hometown of Waxberry” and “Hometown of Dendrobium”. Nanxiong County is called the “Hometown of Tobacco Leaves” (the production of tobacco leaves accounts for half of Guangdong Province’s output), “Hometown of Ginkgo”, “Hometown of Dinosaurs” and “Characteristic Town of Bamboo”.
In 2018, the added value of agriculture was 15.6 billion yuan, with an increase of 5%. The growth rate of value added ranked sixth in the province, which was the biggest increase in recent years.The disposable income per capita of rural residents was 1,5433.7 yuan, with an increase of 9.4%, ranking 1st among the 5 cities in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong.
The city’s characteristic agricultural industries have seen a rapid growth in recent years. By the end of 2018, the city has 144 municipal-level leading agricultural enterprises, including one national-level leading enterprise (Fanling Fodder Co., Ltd.) and 48 provincial-level key leading enterprises.There are 1889 registered family farms and 3,374 Farmers Cooperatives in Shaoguan.
The quality of the city’s agricultural products is fully recognized, with 257 products certified as pollution-free, green and organic products, 13 products under the protection of China Geographical Indications, 1 national Agricultural Geographical Indication and 111 well-known provincial agricultural brands. The city has designated 3 towns and 7 villages as national models of “One Village, One Product”; 27 provincial vegetable bases, 7 provincial agricultural products export bases; 17 agricultural export bases for Hongkong and abroad, including 2 vegetable bases, 1 edible fungus base, 9 vegetable bases for Hongkong, 4 pigs raising bases, 1 chicken plant.
Shaoguan City actively develops leisure agriculture, a business that combines sightseeing, tourism and recreation. In recent years, 2 counties were given awards as national pioneering "Leisure County", 4 villages were certified as “Beautiful Village for Leisure”, 13 towns were awarded as “Leisure Town”, and 28 sites were given awards as “Leisure Tourism Site”. Yaotang New Village in Renhua County was selected into the first batch of national key rural tourism spots in 2019. Lingtan Village of Zhuji Town in Nanxiong County was named as “Top Ten Beautiful Villages in Guangdong”. Orchids Plantation Base in Wengyuan County and Danxia Moutain in Renhua County were rated as “Beautiful Guangdong Village Tourism Route”. The following villages were all rated as “Well-known Guangdong Characteristic Villages”, including Lianxi Village of Jiangwei Town in Wengyuan County, Wangwu Village of Maba Town in Qujiang District, Yaotang New Village in Renhua County, Xiapu Village of Shatian Town in Xinfeng County, Qingyun Village of Longxian Town in Wengyuan County, and Diaozitang Village of Dongping Town in Ruyuan County.
Shaoguan has 11 provincial-level modern agricultural industrial parks, with a layout of one county one agricultural industrial park or more, namely: Wengyuan County Orchid Industrial Park, Xinfeng County Tea Industrial Park, Lechang Taro Industrial Park, Ruyuan Yao Autonomous County Vegetable Industry Park, Nanxiong Simiao Rice Industrial Park, Qujiang District Edible Fungus Industrial Park, Guangdong Academy of Sciences (Shaoguan) Edible Fungus Industrial Park, Wengyuan County Sericulture Industrial Park, Zhenjiang District Camellia Oil Industrial Park, Renhua County Citrus Industrial Park, Shixing County Waxberry Industrial Park, among which the Wengyuan County Orchid Industrial Park has been selected into the management system of the National Modern Agricultural Industrial Park.
