Nanyang town, administered by Qidong, focuses on efforts to develop its soybean industry production and supply chain. [Photo/WeChat account: qidongfabu]

The ministries of agriculture and rural affairs and finance recently announced the list of towns to be developed into strong agricultural towns in 2022 and Jiangsu province in East China had eight towns on the list.

Nanyang town, administered by the county-level city of Qidong in Nantong in Jiangsu, was one of them.

Nanyang plans to invest 350 million yuan ($53.5 million) to transform itself into a town that is strong in agricultural industrialization. Its focus will be on its soybean industry's sci-tech innovative development, building support facilities for product processing and logistics, brand cultivation and promotion and e-commerce.

In 2021, the soybean planting area in the town covered 3,667 hectares, with an annual yield of 42,000 metric tons.

In recent years, in addition to planting high-quality soybeans, Nanyang has also been committed to extending its industrial supply chain.

Focusing on industry and village integrated development, Nanyang has three villages recognized as national and provincial models for "one village, one specialty", with soybean as the leading sector.

Moving forward, plans are for Nanyang to achieve breakthroughs in the improvement and application of soybean varieties and the promotion of eco-friendly technologies. It will also push to advance mechanized production and intensive processing, as well as to promote the industrial transformation and upgrading of the town and surrounding areas.