East China's Jiangsu province has made unremitting efforts to fuel rural vitality by enhancing the quality, strengthening the chain, and empowering smart agriculture with technology.
The third Dongtai Xuhe Wax Gourd Festival and Dongtai Modern Agriculture Investment Fair were held on Saturday. Tourists and guests from all walks of life experienced the infinite charm of innovative modern characteristic agriculture by flocking to taste wax gourd cuisines and participating in interactive experiences.
"I'm surprised that there are so many different new varieties of wax gourd, big and small, weighing 60 to 70 catties. It's amazing how they can hang and grow on the shed," said a tourist.
In recent years, Dongtai has continuously amplified the brand effect of Xuhe Wax Gourd, a national geographical indication agricultural product so as to have expanded its regional scale, and formed a complete industrial chain that integrates scientific research demonstration, deep processing, and e-commerce.
The town records nearly 400 million yuan of annual output value by growing over 30000 mu of wax gourd, making wax gourd a pillar industry for strengthening the village and enriching the people.
This wax gourd festival witnessed the plate-awarding of the Yangzhou University Industry University Research Base with both sides reaching consensus on jointly building a vegetable industry university research base.
At the same time, the town signed a contract for industry university research cooperation and key agricultural leisure tourism projects in a bid to accelerate the construction of the largest winter melon production base in the northern Jiangsu region.
"We will further optimize the varieties, enhance the quality, strengthen the brand, promote the extension of the winter melon industry chain, enhance the value chain, expand the income chain, yield more prosperity fruits, and accelerate rural revitalization," said Jiang Yajun, Mayor of Xuhe Town, Dongtai City.
At a blueberry planting base in Wujin District of Changzhou, the plump and round blueberries exude a faint fruity aroma. Unlike traditional soil cultivation models, blueberries here are cultivated in intelligent greenhouses without soil, and advanced technologies such as integrated water and fertilizer sprinkler irrigation have been introduced from abroad.
"The integrated irrigation of water and fertilizer can be controlled by mobile phones to ensure automatic fertilization, temperature and humidity control. It can be operated with just one click on the phone. Accurate irrigation can ensure the quality of blueberries," said Wang Wei, a technician of the Blueberry Planting Base.
Based on such a technological intelligence system, blueberries here are not only supplied to the market earlier than regular blueberries, but also have greatly improved the yield and efficiency of blueberries per mu.
In recent years, Wujin District of Changzhou has promoted agricultural and rural modernization with the construction of digital agriculture and digital countryside, and driven agricultural intelligent, digital and automated production with demonstration sites. Recently, the district was included in the second batch of pilot areas for digital rural characteristics in Jiangsu Province.
