Heze villages find ways to prosper

Heze, a city located in East China's Shandong province, has helped vitalize its rural areas by prioritizing modern agriculture, integrating culture and tourism, and promoting e-commerce.

In early spring, Liu Wenzheng, a grain farmer in Yuncheng county of Heze, waters wheat using a rotary sprayer. He only needs to connect the machine to a well and switch it on.

"Now, we not only have built high-quality farmlands, but also have agricultural technicians guiding us on how to manage our wheat fields," Liu said.

During the wheat growing period, agricultural technicians often arrive in the wheat fields to check on wheat growth and help farmers with management techniques.

Yuncheng is a major grain production county in Shandong and has an annual grain planting area of 2.6 million mu (173,333.33 hectares).

With the application of modern agricultural technologies and the improvement of seeds, the output of grain has increased, and has helped increase local farmers' incomes.

The county has built an agricultural science and technology demonstration park with the support of the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Science to popularize advanced agricultural technologies.

Heze has made great efforts to advance the agriculture industry. In 2021, the city's comprehensive mechanization rate of crop cultivation and harvesting reached 90.43 percent. From 2019 to 2021, 148,333.33 hectares of high-standard farmlands were built.

For villagers in Sunzhuang village in Caoxian county, e-commerce provides a new way to improve their living standards. With local government's support, the village began using an e-commerce business model that integrates online shops with clothing processing and sales in 2013.

Now, more than 70 percent of the villagers are engaged in the e-commerce industry, and the annual sales from e-commerce business in the village has exceeded 300 million yuan ($43.48 million), and college graduates and migrant workers have returned to the area to start their own businesses.

To vitalize rural areas, developing industries that enrich farmers according to local conditions is the key, local officials said.

Hetaoyan town relies on its unique ancient village culture and natural environment and has developed rural tourism and integrated it into local industries. During this year's Spring Festival holiday, the town received more than 100,000 visitors per day.