The city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province announced at a government conference, on June 29, that it is planning to increase its vegetable production capacity to 1,200 square kilometers, producing 5.10 million tons, by 2020, and improving supervision of local markets.

The area planted in vegetables around Harbin stands at 1.75 million mu (120,000 hectares) while production is expected to be 4.95 million tons this year, with 600,000 tons in spring, 1.4 million tons in summer, and 2.95 million tons in autumn, equal to around 318 kg per person.

To reach its goal, the city says it plans to build 15 gardens, each with greenhouses on more than 100 mu of land, and 30 production bases, each of them no less than 300 mu, since the local vegetable supply has not been meeting demand in spring and winter, and to build a 100,000-cubic-meter warehouse to bring its total storage volume to 2.32 million cu-m by year’s end.

The area planted in vegetables in winter will be increased to 5,000 mu, with hopes of being able to supply 62 percent of the vegetables in the off season locally. It will also promote organic vegetable production over the next five years and continue its certification process for organic vegetables, a major government task in ensuring food safety and authenticity. The service will cover more than 30 million mu and about 2,000 kinds of organic foodstuff.

In the next two years, it is also planning testing centers for agricultural products at the district level, for example Acheng and Shuangcheng, and county level, for example Fangzheng, Yanshou, and Bayan county.