With an estimated output of 31,700 tons, the rice paddy in Conghua district in Guangzhou, the capital city of South China's Guangdong province, is embracing its summer harvest in July.

This year in the district, the planting area of early season rice is 89,320 mu (5,955 hectares), 4,436 mu more than last year.

Early start in spring farming

On March 3, an onsite mobilization meeting initiated the spring ploughing and sowing of the district. 

This year, by integrating a campaign to retrieve as much cultivated land as possible, the district has broken down tasks to townships, villages and households to retrieve cultivated land. Multiple measures were taken to maximize rice planting area. The action retrieved about 700 mu of rice paddy fields. 

On-site technical guidance

In late March, a spring crop production technology training event was held in Conghua. Experts from Guangdong agricultural colleges gave training on fragrant rice cultivation technology, as well as on green technology on vegetable disease and pest prevention and control. Brochures were distributed to provide guidance on the timing of key actions. Seven technical teams were also assembled to provide onsite technical support. 

In response to the continuous drought in April, eight steering groups were established to supervise the drought relief work. An emergency fund of 210,000 yuan ($32, 460) was spent to purchase 47 diesel pumps. A total of 330 pumps and 787,500 yuan were used in the fight against the drought. 

Publicizing supporting policies for agricultural subsidies

The implementation of subsidy policies will greatly relieve grain farmers' economic burdens. During the spring farming period, the district publicized new policies regarding agricultural subsidies through the distribution of brochures and Wechat account pushing, making sure that farmers were duly updated with the latest subsidy policies. 

This year saw the number of  large-scale grain production households increased by 41 to 138, with a farming area of approximately 15,000 mu. 

Scale expansion

Starting this year, an industrialized model covering enterprises, cooperatives, planting bases and farming households was applied to help boost the industrialization of agriculture in the district. Till now, the planting area of fragrant rice has increased to 6,300 mu, 2,800 mu more than last year.  

Thanks to modern agricultural technologies, rice production efficiency and output have been greatly elevated.