The agricultural and rural economy in North China's Shanxi province maintained steady growth in 2020, according to an economic performance report released on Jan 22 by the Shanxi Bureau of Statistics and the Survey Office of the National Bureau of Statistics in Shanxi. 

The report showed that the total grain output and yield per mu (0.07 hectare) hit a record high last year, with the growth rate and increased yield per mu both ranking first in China.

According to Gu Yong, director of the Planting Management Division of the Shanxi Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the grain planting area increased to 3.13 million ha. The total output and yield per mu reached 14.24 billion kilograms and 303.4 kg, up 4.6 percent and 4.5 percent year-on-year, respectively.

The vegetable planting area increased 4.8 percent to 189,000 ha in 2020, and the output was 8.61 billion kg, up 4 percent year-on-year. 

The province raised 5.6 million pigs and slaughtered 7.98 million pigs in the past year, up 24.1 percent and 7.8 percent year-on-year. The annual milk output was 1.17 billion kg, up 27.4 percent.

Shanxi promoted the development of the potato processing industry by introducing three special varieties of processed potatoes and planting more than 93 ha of processing potatoes in the county-level city of Huairen, with an average yield per mu of more than 4,000 kg. 

It also implemented favorable policies, technical training and targeted services to benefit farmers, cooperatives and companies in rural areas, solve their problems and advance the production of rural projects.