Nanyang farming increasingly mechanized

Nanyang, Henan province, is known for being the city with the largest population of farmers in China, and has been recognized for its contribution to national food production capacity.

The city has won recognition for its agricultural industry after showcasing its abilities at the 2016 China Agricultural Mechanization Forum, which concluded on Sept 20.

Focusing on the current situation and tendency toward mechanization in farming, the forum was held in Nanyang's Tanghe county, with more than 200 high-level representatives of mechanized farming companies from around the nation invited.

The highlight came during a presentation of agricultural machinery newly produced by 18 machinery cooperatives in Tanghe, which were recognized for their achievements and great efforts in the field of agricultural mechanization.

"The tractor I'm using was produced in Tanghe. It is very high quality. I feel so proud of my hometown," said a tractor driver from Xianghong machinery cooperative.

In addition, well-known machinery brands were introduced to the county, including Yaao, Xiangyanghong and Dahua for production projects, at a total cost of over 2 billion yuan ($300 million), and have played a vital role in promoting the local agricultural sector.

Furthermore, in order to attract more business, the Tanghe government has adapted advanced technologies from Kubota of Japan and manufacturing techniques from Germany, to develop new products and perfect a quality control system, whilst spending 500 million yuan on infrastructure construction at the local agricultural mechanization industrial park. Thanks to these measures, the county now has a healthy investment environment with significant development potential.

Following the forum, all the farming producers that attended the event toured the local area to inspect the investment environment.

"Tanghe's agricultural development is in good shape, and there are abundant business opportunities here," said Lu Qiang, vice magistrate of Huxian county, Shannxi province.

The forum was sponsored by the China Agricultural Mechanization Association, and is a high-level event in the agricultural machinery sector. The forum promotes the mechanization of production systems and the agricultural industry, in order to meet China's mounting demand for crops.

Farmers in Tanghe are now benefiting from the increased utilization of farming machinery, which has not only greatly improved the productivity of the farming sector, but has also improved rural lives and accelerated the urbanization process.

Tanghe was recognized for being a model county for mechanized crop production in August 2016. Statistics show that there are some 180 machinery cooperatives in the county, and that the rate of mechanized production has hit 86 percent.

A farmer uses a combine harvester produced in Tanghe. [Photo/Henan Daily]

A farmer in Tanghe using locally produced farming machinery. [Photo/Henan Daily]