A farmer drives a combine harvester in Zuoshugang village in Tonghe county, Harbin on Aug 28. [Photo/MY399.COM]

Tonghe county in Harbin started its rice harvest on Aug 28, about one month earlier than for other varieties of rice planted in the Northeast China region.

The harvested rice, known as “Suijing 18”, is a new variety of hybrid rice with a 132-day growing period. With excellent rice variety and advanced field management technology, the rice planting industry in Tonghe county has a good reputation across China due to its time to market and high quality.

Fu Pengfei, a local farmer in charge of the rice harvest, told journalists from Harbin Daily that the first stage of the rice harvest involves a total of four hectares, and that this is expected to achieve a yield of about 8,000 kilograms per hectare.

All the harvested rice has already been ordered by a businessman from Beijing at a price of 19.6 yuan ($2.98) per kilogram; and the net income of rice per hectare is 80,000 yuan, Fu said.

Tonghe county, which has the Songhua River running through its territory, has fertile land and abundant water resources, providing an excellent planting environment for rice.

In recent years, Tonghe county has been making efforts to expand its rice planting area to drive economic development. Currently, the rice planting area in the county is 1.10 million mu.

Tonghe Rice, as a brand name, was recognized as having a market value of 8.32 billion yuan at the China Brand Name Value Assessment Press Conference held on Dec 12, 2016.