CONTRACT fees of farmland in Jimo City, Qingdao, have increased sharply this year. At present, the rent of land in Liujiazhuang Town is about 1.7 yuan per square meter, much more expensive than before. The farmland here is all installed with advanced electrical systems. Due to these infrastructural investments, the town has attracted many modern agricultural projects and the value of land has increased steadily this year. Advanced investment In the past, the farmland was mainly irrigated by diesel engines. “The rent is about 0.02 yuan per square meter, and it is very inconvenient. The engine pumped water and we had to build a water pipe to transport water to the greenhouse. However, with the new electrical system, we can save 60 percent of the cost and it is very convenient,” said Chen Weiben, director of the agricultural bureau of Jimo. The project started two years ago as the related department found that traditional farming methods cost too much and stifled the development of agriculture. However, the project itself has never been profitable since it started construction. “There are a lot of land and few people in villages and profit of the project is very low, so it is not a very good business for the power department. But we think the land construction is more important than departments’ profit,” said Chen. Jimo has spent more than 12 million yuan in agricultural electrical system projects over the past two years. “There are a lot of public constructions in urban areas, such as city parks, squares and roads, so it makes sense that we invest large amount of money in the infrastructure construction in rural areas,” said Chen. Valuable land Some 1,733 hectares of farmland, 23 hectares of animal farms and 266 hectares of aquatic farms have standard electrical equipment. “Many farmers have started working in the sales, logistics and processing industries,” said Yu Kesong, an official from Liujiazhuang Town. The local government built an 8-kilometer “agricultural electrical corridor” and encouraged more than 3,000 farmers to join in the project. Roads and other water projects with total investment of 20 million yuan were also introduced to the area, making the area a model agricultural center in the neighboring areas. The advanced vegetable planting base can help farmers save about 4 million yuan a year. The two greenhouses in Tiangongyuan Village have also installed the system. “In the past, we had big problem in power supplies. But now it is very convenient as we have a transformer right next to the greenhouse. I built another three greenhouses this year to increase farming areas,” said Ge Bingqian, a farmer in the village. Key projects introduced Due to the electrical system, many key agricultural projects have been set up in Jimo. The upgrading of infrastructural facilities has helped increase the value of farmland in the area. “We don’t have to do anything and can receive 1,000 yuan per mu on renting out lands,” said farmer Wang Zhenjun. Wang rented out his land to Jifa Modern Agricultural Park and also worked for the park. “I can make 15,000 yuan more than before now,” he said. The Jifa Group built advanced agricultural parks covering an area of 100 hectares for vegetable and flower planting and aquatic product breeding. “In the past, the farmlandwas inaccessible from the road. But we invested about 10 million yuan on building a road and several modern agricultural projects were built here along the road,” said Song Renchang, project manager of the Jifa Group. The group has invested more than 22 million yuan in the park and total investment for the project will be 100 million yuan. (Wang Yuanyuan, Qian Zhuo) | 