Agriculture

Hunan lies between 25' - 30 ' N. It has a humid continental and subtropical monsoon climate. Its annual average temperature lies between 16 C- 18 C, and the annual average precipitation is between 1,200 and 1,800 mm. With sufficient sunshine, plentiful rain, distinct seasons and long frost-free periods, Hunan has incredibly favorable conditions for agricultural production. Altogether 5341 rivers and streams flow in Hunan' s territory and the area of fresh water is almost 1,350,000 hectares. Hunan’s forest coverage totaled 59.68%, which greatly exceeds the national average, making Hunan an important forest region and the timber base of the south of China. 
 
Hunan is an important food production base of China. It has enjoyed a fame of “a land of fish and rice “since ancient times. The output of major farm products, such as grain, cotton, oil-bearing plants, ramie, tobacco, and pork are all on the top-ten lists in China. Specifically, Hunan is the country' s largest grower of ramie, second largest supplier of pig meat, beef and mutton, fourth largest yielder of tobacco, and fifth largest grower of grain. Hunan' s output of rice has been leading the whole country for years.

In 2017, the added value of agriculture sector hit 238.1 billion yuan, making a year-on-year increase of 3.1%. The forestry, husbandry, and fishery sectors made added value of 24.12 billion, 78.2 billion, and 28.57 billion yuan, growing by 9%, 2.6%, and 6.5% respectively.

Hunan’s sown area of grain was 4862.4 thousand hectares, decreasing 28.2 thousand hectares over the last year. Among them, sowing area for early season rice was 1383.1 thousand hectares, a decrease of 37.4 thousand hectares; for middle season rice was 1233.1 thousand hectares, an increase of 26.9 thousand hectares; and for late season rice was 1432.6 thousand hectares, a decrease of 26.2 thousand hectares. Grain production totaled 29.84 million tons, up 1.0% over the previous year. Among them, the output of summer and autumn season rice were 615,000 and 21.14 million tons respectively, an increase of 12.6% and 2.4%. The output of early season rice decreased by 3.1% to 8.085 million tons.

Cotton planting covered an area of 92.9 thousand hectares, a decrease of 10.7 thousand hectares over previous year. The planting area of sugar crops reached 13.8 thousand hectares, increased 400 hectares. The planting area for oil-bearing crops was 1448.9 thousand hectares, growing 10.8 thousand hectares. Vegetable planting area was 1475.4 hectares, rising 55.2 thousand hectares. Cotton output declined by 13.6% to 106 thousand tons; oil-bearing crops output grew by 2% to 2.476 million tons; flue-cured tobacco decreased by 1.8% to 221 thousand tons; and, tea and vegetable output rose by 7.9% and 4.9% to 201 thousand and 44.003 million tons respectively.

The total output of pork, beef, and mutton was 4.79 million tons in 2017, an increase of 3.3% over the previous year. Among them, there are 4.496 million tons of pork, an increase of 3.4%; 170 thousand tons of beef, an increase of 0.5%; and 124 thousand tons of mutton, an increase of 3.6%. At the end of the year, the number of pig breeding stock was 39.68 million, an increase of 0.8%; the number of pig fattening stock was 61.163 million, an increase of 3.3%. The output of poultry and meat was 0.592 million tons, reduced by 1.2%; poultry and eggs was 1.032 million tons, reduced by 1.4%; the milk output was 96000 tons, decreased by 5%; and, the aquatic products was 2.72 million tons, up 0.1%. 

The newly increased effective irrigation area of farmland in 2017 reached 21000 hectares, with the water-saving irrigation area increased by 11000 hectares. A total of 91000 water conservancy projects came into operation with an investment of 36.8 billion yuan. 1.22 billion cubic meters of water conservancy earthwork was constructed. 12417 km of roads in rural areas were repaired and modernized. 

Data source: Statistical Communiqué on Hunan's Economic and Social Development in 2017

Updated on April 13, 2018