HAIKOU /China/, May 26. /TASS/. Authorities of the South Chinese province of Hainan defined six main directions for the development of tropical agriculture, which will become the hallmark of the island, the Hainan Daily newspaper reported.

Regional breeding projects are the priority, according to the newspaper. The government has granted more than 17.8 thousand hectares of land to scientific organizations in Hainan for their implementation. In addition, clusters are being established in the western and southern parts of the province to introduce inventions and new agricultural products into the production process. Thousands of specialists from about 800 research centers of the PRC are working on their creation.

The second key area of tropical agriculture is the cold-season vegetable industry. For this purpose, Hainan annually allocates about 200 thousand hectares in winter and autumn, which allows to get a crop of 4.5 million tons in total. Its average value is about 20 billion yuan (about $3 billion). The island supplies these goods to consumers from more than 170 cities in China.

The third important issue is the development of fruit plantations. According to official statistics, in 2021 China's southernmost province grew more than 3.5 million tons of relevant products, which were worth 16.5 billion yuan (about $2.5 billion).

Three other promising developments in the agricultural sector listed by the newspaper are tropical crop farming, modern fish and seafood farming, and poultry and livestock breeding - breeding special species that are found only or mostly in Hainan.

Authorities' efforts to promote sustainable development

As Huang Zheng, chief agronomist at the Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, commented, the provincial administration is actively promoting the development of all the above-mentioned areas. To this end, Hainan's competent institutions promote the scale of tropical agricultural production, its environmental friendliness, and the development of popular brands with Hainan-specific characteristics.

According to official statistics, the gross volume of tropical agricultural products grown by Hainan households and specialized enterprises in 2021 exceeded 96.2 billion yuan ($14.4 billion at current exchange rates), an increase of 14.1%. The dynamic was much higher than that of the traditional agricultural sector (4.1%). The production of special goods grown in southern latitudes is expected to play an important role in shaping the province's new model of intensive economic growth.