The value of agro-product exports of Fujian province in East China reached $9.1 billion in 2017, ranking it 3rd place among all provinces and regions in the country, local agricultural authorities announced.

Huang Huakang, director of the Fujian provincial department of agriculture, made the announcement at the annual agriculture working meeting Monday.

Fujian has been actively promoting supply-side reform in agriculture and has committed to nurturing a more diversified agro-product market over recent years, an approach now paying dividends.

A modernized agro-system, highlighting seven characteristic industries including tea, fruits, vegetables and edible mushrooms, has taken shape in the province. For the past year, those seven industries alone generated roughly 1,100 billion yuan （$170.8 billion）in revenue.

2017 also witnessed further deepened cooperation between Fujian and Taiwan in agriculture, and the province still led in terms of the scale of Taiwan investment in agriculture on the mainland, Huang said.

Looking ahead, Fujian will speed up the development of new agricultural business models and plans to cultivate 500,000 skilled farmers by 2020, he pledged.

Fujian agriculture working meeting is held in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province on Jan 15. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]