Grain-producing technology bolstered in Shandong

With the country's "No 1 central document" for 2025, released on Feb 23, calling for bolstering the coordination of agricultural research resources and developing agricultural new quality productive forces to help enrich farmers' income, the growers are being encouraged to up their tech caliber in cultivation.

In East China's Shandong province, agricultural technology experts are being sent to visit the fields, offering technical help and advice, and helping farmers for a bountiful harvest.

In Yanshi town in Juancheng county, major grain grower Yang Zongling listened attentively on March 18 to an expert's lecture near the wheat fields, focusing on such key issues as water and fertilizer management, as well as pest control.

As the temperature gradually warms up, farmers in Yanshi town are ushering in a critical period of spring plowing and field management.

"These experts came to us with practical agricultural technological advice on wheat management, water irrigation, fertilizer use and insect prevention. These are quite useful to me, and I think they will be of great help to my wheat harvest this year," he said.

Chen Ximin, deputy Party secretary of Yanshi, said farmers in the town cultivate a total of 4,133 hectares of winter wheat this year, with wheat crops growing well, which lays a solid foundation for an expected bumper harvest.

"Technical training for the farmers has been strengthened, helping to improve their technological caliber and planting skills," he said.

This "field classroom" activity for rural vitalization is one of the town's practices aimed at effectively connecting volunteer services with farmers' needs, Chen added.

It has been learned that as a farming area, Juancheng has a cultivation land of over 65,884.35 hectares and a plantation land of more than 12,967.3 hectares.

Meng Jun, deputy director of Shandong Provincial Grain and Material Reserve Bureau, said on March 13 that the total grain output in Shandong in 2024 reached 57.1 billion kilograms, with a total grain purchase and sales volume of 165 million metric tons.

Among the 31 provincial-level regions on the mainland, Shandong ranked third in terms of grain production area and output.

Please contact the writer at hanjingyan@chinadaily.com.cn