A promotion for the Jinci rice brand of Taiyuan city's Jinyuan district was held at Shanxi international convention center in the capital of northern Shanxi province on Jan 19, according to local officials.

The promotion aimed to showcase the achievements in the integration of agriculture with cultural tourism, health care, processing and the environment sectors and advertise the rice brands from Jinci district.

The promotion saw Jinci rice purchase and sales agreements struck with international supermarkets such as Carrefour and Wal-Mart, as well as agricultural and agri-tourism parks in Taiyuan city.

In recent years, Jinyuan district has been promoting its Jinci rice brands through preferential policies and increasing support in funding, technology, management, and equipment.

Wangguo, Beidasi, Nandasi, Chiqiao, Huata villages in local Jinci town have planted Jinci rice and received subsidies of 15,000 yuan ($2,173) per hectare for planting Jinci rice, to stimulate local farmers’ zeal.

So far, the planting area of Jinci rice in Jinyuan district has exceeded 166 hectares, with the yield per hectare reaching 7.5 metric tons.

The district plans to plant Jinci rice in local Dongzhuang, Changxiang, Suocun villages and add another 66 hectares for rice planting.