Fujian province witnessed a significant growth in cross-Straits cooperation on agriculture in 2014, according to the provincial Agriculture Department on Jan 7.

The volume of farm product trades between Fujian and Taiwan is estimated to exceed 1.5 billion US dollars, which is an 18 percent increase from the previous year.

Fujian approved 35 Taiwanese agricultural projects last year, attracting 110 million US dollars.

The total number of those projects amounted to 2,509, with accrued investment of up to 3.5 billion US dollars, nearly 2 billion of which has been paid. The numbers helped Fujian to retain the first place on the Chinese mainland in terms of cross-Straits agricultural cooperation.

The thriving cooperation is due to Fujian’s proximity to Taiwan and similar natural and climatic conditions, which provide a sound growing environment for crops, said an official from the agriculture department.

The central authorities on the Chinese mainland also made a number of preferential policies promoting the cross-Straits agricultural and forestry cooperation in Fujian.

To date, Fujian boasts six of the 29 national Taiwan Farmers’ Entrepreneur Parks, the most on the Chinese mainland.

Last year, Fujian brought in 45 new farm varieties from Taiwan including fruit trees, edible mushrooms, vegetables and medicinal herbs. It opened more than 60,000 mu (4,000 hectares) of planting bases and promoted Taiwan’s advanced agricultural technology on more than 1.2 million mu of lands.