Coconut breezes sweep across fertile fields; openness embraces all flows of resources.
Located in the core subtropical agricultural heartland of the Leizhou Peninsula, the Mazhang Pilot Zone for Agricultural Foreign Cooperation and Exchange is driven by the dual engines of “agriculture + openness”. It breaks geographical boundaries, links to global markets, and transforms the ecological advantages of this fertile land into industrial strengths on the world stage, writing a legend of coordinated rural revitalization and opening-up in western Guangdong.
As the first agricultural foreign cooperation and exchange pilot zone in western Guangdong, it serves not only as a “global window” for distinctive subtropical agricultural products, but also as a vivid practice for the national Belt and Road Initiative and the “Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project” at the grassroots level. With the strategic layout of “One Zone, Five Centers, Ten Hubs”, it has blazed a distinctive and high-impact development path for agricultural opening-up in the new era.
Building a Foundation with Distinctive Industries to Forge Hard Power in International Competition
Mazhang takes industrial clustering as a key approach and cultivates a number of competitive agricultural products with global influence. The lucky bamboo industry stands as a model: after nearly 30 years of dedicated development, it has become China’s largest production, processing and export base for lucky bamboo. Seven out of every ten lucky bamboo stems sold worldwide come from Mazhang.
At present, the zone has 12,000 mu of lucky bamboo cultivation, with an annual output value exceeding 200 million yuan and annual foreign exchange earnings of 14 million US dollars. Exquisitely designed auspicious products such as “Wealth Tower” and “Step-by-Step Rise” are highly popular in Southeast Asian markets, becoming a vivid example of culture-enabled agricultural exports.
Meanwhile, prepared aquatic dishes such as Hengxing fresh shrimp and golden soup boiled fish with pickled mustard greens are exported to Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. Colored peppers have been recognized as national famous, special, high-quality and new agricultural products, and sakyamuni fruit is being actively applied for national-level certification. A diversified matrix of distinctive industries has laid a solid foundation for foreign cooperation.
Breaking New Ground with Innovative Models to Activate New Momentum for Two-Way Empowerment
The pilot zone has boldly explored new paths for cross-regional collaboration and innovatively launched the “reverse enclave” model. A cooperation platform integrating investment promotion, product exhibition and talent exchange has been built in Baiyun District, Guangzhou, enabling quality Mazhang products to enter the Greater Bay Area conveniently, while capital, technology and talents from the Greater Bay Area flow precisely to rural areas.
Based on this platform, two large-scale flower exhibitions were jointly held in 2024, driving more than 700 farming households and 27 villages to engage in large-scale lucky bamboo cultivation. Thirty-nine experts from 9 universities formed a think tank for the “Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Project”, providing intellectual support for the development of agricultural, cultural and tourism brands, with online participation in relevant forums reaching 600,000 visits.
Baiyun District has invested a total of 120 million yuan in assistance funds, launched 67 assistance projects and attracted 21 investment projects with a total investment of over 8.2 billion yuan. This has formed a collaborative pattern of “two-way empowerment and mutual benefit”, providing replicable experience for coordinated regional development.
Laying a People-Centered Foundation to Highlight the Warmth of Open Cooperation
The pilot zone has always upheld the philosophy of “opening-up for the people, cooperation for rural prosperity”, translating cooperation outcomes into tangible benefits for farmers and villages.
Through the campaign of “Thousands of Enterprises Assist Thousands of Towns, Ten Thousand Enterprises Revitalize Ten Thousand Villages”, 76 enterprises have paired up with 150 administrative villages, investing 177 million yuan. Twelve provincial model family farms and five specialized cooperatives have been cultivated. Leading enterprises such as Lanying Agricultural Technology have helped more than 500 farming households increase their incomes, with relevant cases selected as provincial-level models.
In coordinated improvement of ecology and people’s well-being, the “Baiyun-Mazhang Joint Forest” thrives; all 248 natural villages meet the clean and tidy village standard, with 89% covered by beautiful and livable villages. Projects such as integrated urban-rural public transport and rural water supply renovation have been steadily advanced, and the construction of “smart village finance” has become a municipal pilot, enabling the people to truly share the dividends of development.
In 2024, Mazhang received 1.75 million tourists, with tourism revenue reaching 1.74 billion yuan, up 13% and 20% year-on-year respectively. The integrated development of agriculture, culture and tourism has made villages more beautiful and farmers more prosperous.
From lucky bamboo fragrance spreading across Southeast Asia to prepared seafood winning global recognition, from the “reverse enclave” building a bridge of collaboration to rising people’s well-being, every leap of the Mazhang Pilot Zone for Agricultural Foreign Cooperation and Exchange is strong evidence of openness empowering agriculture.
Anchored to the blueprint of the Development Plan, Mazhang is empowering industrial upgrading with digitalization, safeguarding development foundations with ecological progress, and expanding cooperation dimensions with internationalization.
In the future, this vibrant fertile land will surely become a “bridgehead” for the opening-up of China’s subtropical agriculture and a “demonstration field” for rural revitalization. More “Mazhang-made” products will go global, more cooperation outcomes will benefit the people, and Mazhang will continue to contribute steady and strong “Mazhang Strength” to the national strategy of agricultural opening-up.