Farmers in Rugao, Nantong show the rice seedlings to be planted. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Farmers in Rugao, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, recently started planting rice seedlings as the months of June and July are the prime planting periods in the year. The city currently has over 500,000 mu (33,333 hectares) of rice fields capable of yielding about 500 kg of rice per mu.

A rice seedling planter operates on farmland in Rugao, Nantong. [Photo provided to nantong.gov.cn]

Farming machines plough the farmland in Rugao, Nantong. [Photo provided to nantong.gov.cn]

Farmers in Rugao, Nantong load rice seedlings to a planting machine. [Photo provided to nantong.gov.cn]