Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province recently rolled out a guideline to promote the modernization of its agriculture and rural areas.

The city will strive to ensure the annual output of vegetable stands at above 2.2 million metric tons and increase the production of aquatic products to over 1 million tons per year, according to the guideline.

Efforts will be put in place to develop 30,000-mu (2,000 hectares) of high-standard farmland and strengthen supervision on agricultural products' quality and safety to keep maintain the qualification rate of major sampled agricultural products above 98 percent.

It also plans to cultivate six professional farmers' cooperatives, 10 leading agricultural enterprises above the municipal level and 40 model family farms.

In addition, the city will ramp up efforts to beautify its rural environment and make improvements in aspects including sewage treatment, garbage sorting and public toilet construction in its rural areas.

The document also highlighted the application of digital technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and blockchain in rural areas and agriculture.

Due to the robust growth momentum in rural areas, over 1,500 rural residents from Ningbo who used to work in cities have started up businesses in their hometown.

The city is currently home to four national rural entrepreneurship and innovation parks and 72 farms established by young entrepreneurs, official data show.