(Yicai Global) April 20 -- China’s rural areas may require CNY15 trillion (USD2.2 trillion) in investment in the next five to ten years to realize their promise as giant consumption and factor markets, said an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

There is a lot of room for rural residents to increase their spending, Zeng Yande, chief agronomist at MARA, said today. In 2022, the per capita consumption of rural residents was CNY16,600 (USD2,411), only two-thirds of the national average.

There is also still plenty of space for the development of basic infrastructure in China’s rural areas, Zeng said. For every mu of agricultural land, which is equivalent to 666.6 square meters, around two metric tons of steel and 0.5 metric tons of cement will be used.

Nearly 20 percent of China’s spring planting has already been completed, slightly ahead of schedule, Zeng said. And 60 percent of this is early rice, or rice that is harvested before the usual season.

This year’s grain planting area will expand for the fourth consecutive year to 118 million square kilometers, he added.

And local governments are rolling out more supportive policies to mobilize farmers to plant more soybeans, Zeng said. For the first time, soybean production has been included in the food security assessment indicators of local governments.

Editor: Kim Taylor