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China's comprehensive agricultural development (CAD) has generated 500 billion yuan (US$62.5 billion) in added-value and benefited more than 400 million farmers in the last five years, a senior Chinese official said in Beijing Tuesday.
Wang Zheng, deputy director of the Office for the State Comprehensive Agricultural Development of China, said some 97.8 billion yuan had been invested in the project in the period. Over 70 percent of the money had been used in improving agricultural production conditions, enhancing production efficiency and raising farmers' incomes.
So far, more than 1.34 million hectares of farmland had been used as bases producing quality farm produce, fruits, flowers and pharmaceutical herbs, Wang said.
China adopted the CAD strategy in 1988 to solve problems created by food shortages and fast population growth. It aims to improve low-yielding farmland, boost agricultural efficiency and exploit new agricultural resources.
(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2003)
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