Anren currently has nearly 400,000 mu (26,666.67 hectares) of arable land and an annual grain output of around 280,000 tons. The county government has focused on promoting the transformation and upgrading, and high-quality development of the agricultural industry.

 

Located in the southern part of Hunan province, the unique subtropical monsoon humid climate and natural environment of Anren county create a unique growth environment for crops.

 

However, the semi-mountainous and semi-hilly terrain also poses certain challenges to the high-quality development of agriculture. 

 

“In the past, many small plots of farmlands were distributed on the hillsides, which went against agricultural mechanization. At the same time, the irrigation channels were outdated and aging, with poor ability to discharge floods and resist drought. Many farmlands just relied on the weather.” Wang Hongcan, secretary of the Anren County Committee said that farmland is an important part for agricultural production and the fundamental basis for food security. 

 

 

Therefore, in recent years, the county government has innovated methods to accelerate the construction of high standard farmland and the development of high standard dry soil.

 

By vigorously returning homestead land to farmland and transforming dry land into paddy fields, the county’s farmland has been increased. 

 

In addition, the county has guided leading enterprises and cooperatives to invest in high standard farmland industry projects with funds, technology and management experience. It has built two demonstration zones for double cropping rice covering an area of 10,000 mu (666.67 hectares), 10 demonstration areas for double cropping rice covering 1,000 mu (66.67 hectares) and over 200 demonstration areas for double cropping rice with an area of 100 mu (6.67 hectares). 

 

At the same time, Anren utilizes satellite remote sensing monitoring and tower video surveillance to to prohibit non-agricultural activities on arable land. 

 

Since 2019, Anren County has built a total of 234,400 mu (15,626.67 hectares) of high standard farmland, covering all villages.

 

 

The construction of high-standard farmland has effectively solved the problem of fragmented and decentralized land management in Anren county, which has facilitated the use of agricultural machinery, with agricultural socialized services widely used in the county. 

 

 

Yin Youzhong, a grain grower from Yongle village, Yonglejiang town, has been engaged in agriculture for his whole life. Now, he has become an all-around machine operator, proficient in agricultural machinery such as plowing machine, transplanting machine and crop protection drone. 

 

“We need to scale up to make more money. This year, my family planted over 200 mu (13.33 hectares) of rice, and we cannot do it at all without agricultural machines.”

 

Yin Youzhong also established a professional cooperative for agricultural machinery services with villagers in the village, providing agricultural machines and services to local and surrounding farmers. 

 

The cooperative can provide services at all links like plowing, seedling raising and transplanting. 

 

This year, the cooperative provided seedling throwing and transplanting services for 24,000 mu (13,600 hectares) of paddy fields. 

 

Hunan Shengping Rice Industry, a national key leading enterprise, has developed a smart agricultural machinery application system with the help of Shengping United Society.

 

It uses Beidou satellite navigation technology to input local field information and monitor the real-time location, operating area, and operating quality of agricultural machinery, building a communication platform between grain growers and agricultural machinery operators. 

 

At present, the platform has more than 600 online agricultural machinery operators.

 

At present, the county has helped build 50 modern agricultural machinery cooperatives, including 15 provincial-level modern agricultural machinery cooperatives, 4 demonstration cooperatives, 2 fully mechanized comprehensive agricultural service centers, and 3 provincial-level regional agricultural socialized service centers.

 

Basically, every administrative village has one agricultural machinery operation service station. 

 

According to incomplete statistics, in 2024, agricultural machinery services were provided for about 630,000 mu (42,000 hectares) in Anren county, with a coverage rate of 94%.

 

Producing high-quality rice not only depends on the high-quality rice seeds and growth environment, but also on processing.

 

There are intelligent rice processing production lines at Hunan Shengping Rice Industry. The newly launched Anren Rice products on December 12 includes four Bailixiang rice products of the company. 

 

Hunan Shengping Rice Industry is a national key leading enterprise of agricultural industrialization engaged in planting, purchase, processing, sales, and R&D of  high-quality rice. 

 

The company has an annual production and processing capacity of 420,000 tons of rice and a warehouse capacity of 106,000 tons. 

 

In 2023, the company invested 147 million yuan to build a 5G intelligent workshop that integrates the full process automation of rice processing, low-temperature storage, packaging and transportation.

 

He Qilong, deputy general manager of the company, introduced that reducing losses means increasing production. The intelligent production line can reduce a loss of 100 to 150 kg of rice per day. 

 

In addition, the production line can also produce rice with different tastes to meet the needs of different groups of people.

 

The company also has a standardized rice inspection room, where each bag of rice leaves the factory with a dedicated QR code. Consumers can trace the source of grain production by scanning the code with their mobile phones. 

 

To make the best of every grain, the company’s newly built rice bran oil production line is also about to be completed. The production line is expected to process 800 tons of rice bran per day, further realizing the comprehensive utilization of by-products and extending the rice processing industry chain.

 

At present, the county government has cultivated well-known brands of “Anren Rice” represented by Shengping and Xinliang. Efforts will be made to cultivate and strengthen agricultural leading enterprises, guide and support enterprises to further increase investment in sci-tech innovation, strengthen brand building and market expansion, to continuously improve product quality and market competitiveness. 

 

 

Chinese source: chinanews