An aerial view of vast paddy fields in Qidong, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Qidong in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, recently entered rice harvest season.

In 2022, Qidong's total grain area exceeded 1.2 million mu (80,000 hectares), an increase of more than 100,000 mu over 10 years ago. The city's rice planting area reached 86,000 mu, a record high.

In the first half of this year, the city's grain output totaled 328,000 metric tons, an increase of 24.3 percent over the past 10 years, and it was named an "outstanding contribution unit for the summer grain harvest" in Jiangsu province.

In the past 10 years, a total of 1,600 large farms, family farms and cooperatives and 52 collective cooperative farms have emerged in Qidong. Four industrialization alliances and 32 leading agricultural enterprises above the municipal level have been established.

Harvesters harvest rice on a farm in Qidong, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/Nantong Daily]