Gaozhou city, a county-level city in Maoming, has established itself as the largest fruit and vegetable production base in Guangdong province.

With stable grain acreage and production exceeding 60,030 hectares and 400,000 metric tons, respectively, Gaozhou city has formed a litchi and longan industry cluster worth 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion).

To accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of agriculture, Gaozhou city has made explorations in crop germplasm breeding and protection, the integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy, and water-saving agriculture.

For example, the use of unmanned agricultural machinery ensures more uniform planting, which allows for better ventilation and reduces the probability of pests and diseases. In 2022, the city's pesticide usage decreased by 9.01 percent compared to the previous year.

In order to make efficient use of land resources, Gaozhou city implements a crop rotation planting model, which is a cultivation method in which different crops or combinations of crops are planted sequentially in the same field during different seasons or years. By the first half of 2023, Gaozhou had cultivated 37,525 hectares of high-standard farmland.

Various rural tourism projects have also emerged in the area, such as the camping project in Xianren Cave and the Gaozhou cuisine project in Gaoliangxu. The construction of modern agriculture industry parks, camping sites, and guesthouses is also being accelerated in rural areas.

An automated machine harvests rice. [photo/Nanfang Plus]