Nanxin village is located in Zhangjiagang, Suzhou, Jiangsu province. [Photo/Yangtze Evening News]
Nanxin village in Zhangjiagang, a county-level city in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province is aiming to bolster the integrated development of its agriculture and tourism sectors and bring prosperity to its residents.
The village currently has over 4,000 mu (266.67 hectares) of farmland and the area of its high-yield fields is probably the largest in the city, said Zhang Cong, the head of the village and the person responsible for promoting integrated industrial development and project management at the Zhangjiagang bureau of agriculture and rural affairs.
To bolster the development of the agricultural sector, a machinery services center has been set up in the village to provide equipment including harvesters, unmanned rice transplanting machine, and unmanned plant protection equipment.
According to Zhang, such technology has reduced labor requirements and significantly improved efficiency. He pointed out that the unmanned plant protection equipment can apply pesticides to 300 mu of farmland, 20 times more compared to a human performing the same task within the same time frame.
Nanxin village is currently also making efforts to develop other industries such as agricultural products processing, sightseeing, and guesthouses, according to Zhang.
Visitors to the No 1 Farm in the village can do fishing, sample tea, and pick fruits including dragon fruit, oranges, passion fruits, grapes, pears, and sugarcane, said Liu Ling, owner of the farm.
A number of houses near the farm will be transformed into guest houses to promote tourism and increase incomes for local villagers, said Zhang.