The city of Zhangjiagang in Jiangsu province has launched four featured agricultural projects in a move to boost ecological agriculture in the area. The four projects were launched this year and received a total investment of 120 million yuan ($19.58 million).
The highlight of the four projects is a vanilla park, which will cover an area of 180 mu (12 hectares) when complete. Costing 18 million yuan, the park will include the first seedling-raising lavender garden in Suzhou, a succulent plant cultivation center, a creative restaurant, areas of vervains, gesang flowers and coreopsis, and Holland windmills. It will also offer a variety of flowers for sale and a photography service.
The park is scheduled to be finished in August 2015 and promises to be an ideal place for locals to have barbecue and get close to nature.
In addition to the park, the other three projects also have their own features. A smart paddy planting management project is planned with an area of 200 mu and an investment of 20 million yuan. The project features intelligent agricultural technologies such as smart soil information collection, paddy field monitoring, irrigation control system and IOT (Internet of Things), with an aim to build a smart paddy plantation demonstration base. It is expected to be completed in 2016.
A chrysanthemum base has also been planned for the city and is set to receive 13.78 million yuan in funding. The base will have an area of approximately 500 mu and will open in October 2015. The base will integrate the functions of chrysanthemum planting, chrysanthemum culture promoting, floral sightseeing and sale of chrysanthemum-related products.
The final project planned for the city is an international skeet shooting club, which will span an area of 130 mu and have a received investment of 60 million yuan. The shooting club will serve as a site for professional skeet shooting competitions and offer contestants an enjoyable shooting experience. The club also plans to build a stone exhibition hall and display models of ships, airplanes and cars. The project is due to finish construction in October this year.
Aside from the four featured projects, the city will focus on planting sightseeing paddies, reeds and fruit trees in a bid to further the mutual development of agriculture and tourism.