A woman takes care of selenium-rich fruilt trees in rural Yangquan. [Photo/Yangquan Daily]

The city of Yangquan in North China's Shanxi province is relying on the development of the selenium industry to boost the high-quality development of agriculture and rural vitalization. 

Survey data in 2022 shows that the source of selenium in the soil of local farmland is stable, which is conducive to long-term development of the industry. 

The average selenium content of farmland in the city is 0.476 micrograms per gram of soil, which is 70 percent higher than the average selenium content of farmland soil in Shanxi; of the city's 720 sq kilometers of arable land, more than 425 sq km can be turned into selenium-rich arable land.

"The municipal authority has put forward a so-called '1+10+100' selenium-rich agricultural industry development goal," said Guo Jianwen, executive vice-mayor of Yangquan. 

According to Yan Libiao, director of the Yangquan bureau of agriculture and rural affairs, "1" refers to the selenium-rich industry research institute jointly established by the Yangquan municipal government and Shanxi Agricultural University; "10" to the construction of 10 selenium-rich agricultural industry experimental demonstration bases in the city's townships; and "100" refers to the cultivation of more than 100 selenium-rich agricultural industry operators and creation of an industrial cluster for the intensive processing of selenium food.

To transform the advantages of selenium-rich resources into industrial and economic advantages, the Yangquan municipal finance department has set up a selenium-rich agricultural development fund worth 10 million yuan ($1.44 million) for the overall planning of the development of selenium-rich industries. 

In June this year, the Yangquan Selenium-rich Industry Research Institute of Shanxi Agricultural University was established in Guanshan town of Pingding county, providing comprehensive scientific and technological innovation and promotion services for the development of the selenium-rich agricultural industry. 

Ten selenium-rich agricultural bases have been established in Yangquan, and complete industrial chains for selenium-rich products in 10 categories, such as selenium-rich grains, fruits, poultry eggs, vinegar and wine, have also taken shape.