Computers, software and the Internet are no longer novelties for many Chinese farmers, as technology spreads from the cities and brings agricultural modernization to areas such as the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

More than 100 agriculture information officials and specialists watched the success of information technology in agriculture at a branch of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in the southern part of the autonomous region, near the Taklimakan Desert.

The corporation has employed state-of-the-art information technology in seeding, irrigation and data collection for soil property analysis.

Gao Zuoyu, an official in charge of information with the Ministry of Agriculture, praised the corporation as "exemplary" in its IT application in agricultural production.

He said information technology has become a new driving force in the allocation of agricultural resources, upgrading traditional agriculture and improving productivity since China first proposed "information agriculture" 10 years ago.

In 1995, the Ministry of Agriculture began building a national database and application systems for macro-regulation and control, as well as forecasting systems for natural disasters, plant diseases, pests, the sales of farm produce and market demands.

The "computerized agriculture," an information project launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 1996, has covered more than 3 million hectares of farmland from 14 provinces and cities in the underdeveloped western region.

Rural communication is on top of the agenda at State Council, China's cabinet this year.

A conference on agricultural IT in May heard China had decided to build five systems dedicated to agricultural monitoring and early-warning.

The country will also extend a national agricultural information service network into rural counties and villages.

The government has established agricultural information service departments to collect data on agricultural production, pricing, natural calamities, plant diseases, pests and farmers' incomes.

An official Website at www.agri.gov.cn has integrated more than 20 other professional sites and opened an online exposition in June 2004 for domestic growers and processors to sell their products online.

The virtual fair has drawn more than 1,400 agricultural firms to date.

"Promotion and application of information technology is the first step toward agricultural modernization," said Gao, who saw hope for China's agricultural sector to prosper with modern means of production.

But he said regional disparity still exists in agricultural information development.

(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2004)