Villagers work on a cooperative farm in Tongzhou district, Nantong. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

Tongzhou district, Nantong has established new cooperative farms in 12 local villages covering an area of over 6,000 mu (400 hectares) in total and receiving over 4 million yuan ($567,634) in financial support, according to the district's bureau of finance.

Since the beginning of this year, Tongzhou district has offered financial support to over 300 mu of new local cooperative farms. These farms are expected to receive 300 yuan per mu in subsidies until 2022.

Villagers are encouraged to offer up land to construct the cooperative farms and can receive a one-time subsidy of 300 yuan per mu for their land.

Villages that set up pilot cooperative farms in 2018 will be able to receive 50,000 yuan each in financial awards once their farms pass municipal inspection.

The district has invested a hefty sum into rural infrastructure construction and farmland improvement in order to boost the development of the new cooperative farms.

In addition, a series of policies have been put forward to regulate the purchase of agricultural materials. An online purchasing platform costing around 168,000 yuan to develop is expected to begin offering pesticides, seeds, fertilizers, and other agricultural materials.

The platform is meant to simplify purchasing procedures, reduce purchasing costs, and save time, providing much-needed technological support for the cooperative farms.