Sci-tech innovation promotes China's cash crop industry

BEIJING -- China has made notable achievements in boosting its cash crop industry through innovations in science and technology during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) period, said the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).

The CAAS has made efforts in optimizing crop varieties, developing green cultivation techniques, and building a crop germplasm resource pool during the period.

The total output of China's oil crops exceeded 56 million tonnes in 2019, with rapeseed breeding up to advanced world standards.

The CAAS has built the world's largest oil-crop germplasm resource pool, which preserves more than 36,000 domestic and foreign germplasm resources. It has become a strategic resource for China's oil science and technology innovation.

New cotton varieties with multiple resistance and stable yields, which the CAAS developed, have been popularized in over 5.33 million hectares, generating economic benefits of more than 15 billion yuan (about $2.29 billion).

The sown area of vegetables in China was 20.87 million hectares in 2019, an increase of 6.4 percent over 2015, and the total output was 721 million tonnes, an increase of 8.6 percent over 2015.

During the last five years, many farmers got rid of poverty by planting cash crops. Vegetable planting has become the first choice for many poverty-stricken areas since it can bring a relatively high income.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, online platforms have become a significant way for urban residents to buy vegetables, thus promoting the vegetable e-commerce industry.