Shift to rice planting boosts Linyi city's county

Youqizhuang village in Lanling county – in Linyi city, in East China's Shandong province – is growing prosperous after introducing and planting high-end rice varieties under the leadership of Sun Jingying, Party branch secretary of the village.

The village's farmland is located on the banks of Taogou River, with low-lying terrain. Before, during the flood season, it suffered from flooding and had a low corn harvest.

Four years ago, Sun, together with some local officials, decided to leverage the low-lying terrain to conduct coordinated planting, management and sales of rice.

Meanwhile, the village registered its New Lanling rice trademark and purchased a rice mill worth over 200,000 yuan ($28,031) to help cultivate and process premium-quality Japanese rice.

The Linyi bureau of agriculture and rural affairs conducted experiments on rice film mulching and dry direct seeding cultivation technology in the base for two consecutive years, determining that this could increase the annual collective income by 100,000 yuan for the village.

"I will focus on introducing new technologies and equipment, promoting high standard large-scale rice cultivation, striving to make New Lanling rice a prestigious brand in the shortest time," Sun said. (Edited by Chen Chuxuan)

A bright and colorful selection of New Lanling rice packages. [Photo by Sun Qing for chinadaily.com.cn]

Sun Jingying proudly shows off New Lanling rice.  [Photo by Sun Qing for chinadaily.com.cn]