Liaoning Province is not only a significant industrial province of China, but also an important agricultural one. It leads China in development level of agricultural productive forces.

Liaoning has formed five major industrial sectors: special products and eco-farming in the mountainous area in the east; comprehensive farming area composed of animal husbandry, dried and fresh fruit and quality cereals production area in Liaoxi, and grain and oil-bearing crops in northern Liaoning; comparatively developed farming area in central Liaoning, composed of fine grains and farming facilities; and advanced farming development area in the coastal area, composed of garden farming, marine farming and export-oriented farming. It has built up nine industrial bases for production of grain, vegetables, fruit, livestock breeding, aquatic products, forestry, oil-bearing crops, and special products. There are 39 modern agricultural gardens throughout Liaoning, and Liaoning's protected land ranks the first place in the country. The popularization area of various fine crop strains has reached 95 percent of the sown area.

Cultivation of Crops

Major grain crops of Liaoning Province are rice, corn, wheat, Chinese sorghum, millet, soya bean, and tuber crops. The economic crops mainly include peanuts, tobaccos, cotton, sugar beets, medicinal materials and flax. Other crops include garden crops, such as vegetables, watermelons, sweet melons. In Liaoning Province, the east is rich in ginseng, medicinal materials, wild mountain vegetables and tussahs; the south is rich in rice and fruit; the west is rich in fruit and such dry crops as corn, wheat, Chinese sorghum and millets; and the central and northern parts are concentrated on developing commodity crops and vegetables, including rice, corns and soya beans. After many years of efforts, Liaoning has a stable and comprehensive ability to produce 15 million tons of grains, realizing the transformation from insufficient supply of agricultural products to a self-supporting and self-sufficient mode. Highly efficient industries, including vegetables, fruit and flowers, witnessed rapid developments. In 2004, the vegetable and fruit yields reached 20.346 million tons and 4.301 million tons.

Flower Industry

The flower industry is a newly emerging industry in Liaoning. Liaoning's flowers enjoy good sales in more than 30 provinces and cities throughout China, as well as in 13 countries and regions, including Japan, Republic of Korea and Hong Kong. The development of flower production resulted in the formation of flower markets. The North Flower City of Shenyang and the Fresh Flower Center in Dalian are famous throughout the country. Anshan City has already become the biggest production base for kaffir lily, with the area devoted to growing kaffir lily totaling 280,000 square meters.

Husbandry

Liaoning's husbandry features raising of over 300 domestic animals, mainly including pigs, cows, sheep, deer, chicken, geese and rabbits. In recent years, Liaoning's husbandry developed apace, and the production of meat, poultry, eggs and dairy has been doubled and redoubled. In 2004 the meat production upped 8.4 percent from the previous year to 3.165 million tons; the output of poultry and eggs reached 1.924 million tons, up 13.5 percent compared with last year; the dairy production reached 584,000 tons, up 36.8 percent compared with last year.

Aquatic Industry

Efforts have been made consistently to strengthen the cultivation of fishery and develop the oceanic fishing, and the production of aquatic food increased by a big margin. The productions of scallop, shrimp, prawns, sea cucumber and abalone in Dalian and river fish and river crabs in Panjin increased in folds and are exported in large amount. In 2004, the production of aquatic food of Liaoning reached 4.025 million tons, an increase of 5.4 percent from last year, among them the production of fresh-water aquatic food and marine aquatic food being 564,000 tons and 3.461 million tons.