Grain output in Shandong surpasses 50 billion kilograms for 7 years in a row

The total grain output of Shandong province reached 54.47 billion kilograms this year, increasing 0.9 billion kilograms from last year, accounting for 16 percent of the national increase, the agriculture and rural affairs department of Shandong province said Sunday.

In recent years, Shandong has transformed a batch of middle and low-yielding fields into farmland that provides high and stable yields through the comprehensive treatment of water, soil, fields, forest and roads. Up to now, Shandong has built an accumulative total of 61.13 million mu of high-standard farmland and the grain sown area was more than 120 million mu this year.

According to Chu Ruiyun, deputy director-general of the province’s agriculture and rural affairs apartment, by 2019, the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress in Shandong reached 64.56 percent, 5.36 percentage points higher than the national average; the comprehensive mechanization rate of crop cultivation and harvest achieved 87.85 percent, 17 percentage points higher than the national level, and the fine seed coverage of major crops exceeded 98 percent.

The high and stable yields of grain have not only guaranteed the food safety but also increased farmers’ income. The per capita disposable income of rural residents in Shandong amounted to 17,775 yuan in 2019, up 37.5 percent from 2015, and the growth rate is higher than that of urban residents. The income gap between urban and rural residents has been narrowing, from 2.44：1 in 2015 to 2.38:1 in 2019, lower than the national average of 2.64:1.