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 5,341 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 the 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 2020, the added value of agriculture, forestry, husbandry, and fishery sectors hit 751.2 billion yuan, making a year-on-year increase of 4.1%. The added value of agriculture, forestry, husbandry, and fishery was 336.48 billion, 42.8 billion, 272.16 billion, and 47.75 billion yuan, growing by 4.1%, 8.3%, 2.5%, and 4.3% respectively.

Hunan’s sown area of grain increased by 3% to 4754.8 thousand hectares, 138.4 thousand hectares more than last year. Among them, sowing area for summer season rice grew by 3.8% to 106.3 thousand hectares, an increase of 3.9 thousand hectares; that for early season rice was up 12% to 1225.7 thousand hectares, an increase of 131.1 thousand hectares; and, that for autumn season rice increased by 0.1% to 3422.7 thousand hectares, an increase of 3.4 thousand hectares. Among the area of autumn season rice, the area of middle and late season rice declined by 7.9% to 1476.1 thousand hectares, a decrease of 126 thousand hectares; while the area of double late season rice was up by 11.5% to 1292 thousand hectares, an increase of 133.5 thousand hectares. Grain production totaled 30.151 million tons, up 1.4% and 403,000 tons more than the previous year. Among them, the output of summer and early season rice grew by 4.3% and 8.7% to 431,000 tons and 7.187 million tons, an increase of 4.3% and 8.7% respectively. The output of autumn season rice decreased by 0.8% to 22.533 million tons, 1880,0800 tons less than the previous year.

Cotton planting covered an area of 59.5 thousand hectares, a decrease of 5.6% over previous year. The planting area of sugar crops reached 7.6 thousand hectares, increasing by 2.3%. The planting area for oil-bearing crops was 1453.5 thousand hectares, a growth of 6.4%. The planting area of vegetables and edible fungi was 1355 thousand hectares, an increase of 3.2%. Cotton output declined by 9% to 74,000 tons; oil-bearing crops output grew by 9% to 2.607 million tons; flue-cured tobacco decreased by 0.1% to 183,000 tons; and, vegetables and edible fungi output rose by 3.5% to 41.101 million tons.

The total output of pork, beef, mutton, and poultry was 4.525 million tons in 2020, a decrease of 0.9% over the previous year. Among them, there are 3.377 million tons of pork, a decrease of 3.1%; 205,000 tons of beef, an increase of 7.9%; 161,000 tons of mutton, an increase of 1.3%; and, 782,000 tons, an increase of 6.5%. The number of slaughter pigs was 37.346 million, an increase of 38.4%, including 3.516 million breeding sows, an increase of 41.7%; slaughter cattle 4.381 million, an increase of 6.7%; slaughter sheep 7.612 million, an increase of 6.9%; and, poultry 376.8885 million, an increase of 3.7%. At the end of the year, the number of pig stock was 46.589 million, a decrease of 3.2%; cattle stock 1.746 million, an increase of 7.4%; sheep stock 9.833 million, an increase of 1.2%; and, poultry 544.036 million, an increase of 6.6%. The output of poultry and eggs was 1.188 million tons, growing by 3.6%; milk output was 56,000 tons, decreased by 11.1%; and, aquatic products output was 2.589 million tons, up 1.8%.

Statistics shows that, in 2021, Hunan's aquatic product output amounted to 2.661 million tons. The total output value of the fishery industry hit 94.55 billion yuan, increasing by 27% over the previous year.

Hunan is reputed as a "Land of Fish and Rice". In recent years, consolidated efforts have been made to strengthen and accelerate fishery industry development. Fourteen aquatic products are included in the national geological indications (GIs) protection, such as "Nanxian Crayfishes" and "Hanshou softshell turtles". There are 204 aquatic product processors around the province, processing 321,000 tons of products worth 5.48 billion yuan in 2021, which doubled that of 2018.

Tasks have been made to pursue high-quality development of fishery industry and maintain resource conservation. A ten-year fishing ban has been implemented at the watersheds along the Yangtze River Hunan section, Dongting Lake, and four major rivers in Hunan Province – Xiangjiang, Zijiang, Yuanshui, and Lishui. In the first half of this year, 75 fish varieties have been included in the provincial monitoring system, nearly 30 more than that of 2018. New achievements have been made in sci-tech innovations. There are 163 aquatic breeding species found out, and 10 new species such as the Hefang hybrid crucian carps were cultivated.

Data source: Statistical Communiqué on Hunan's Economic and Social Development in 2020; hunan.gov.cn
 
Updated on November 2022