During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), there were a total of 500 scientific and technological innovation bases in the province, 70 percent of which were established in enterprises.

Since 2018, the province has recognized and registered 10,618 technology contracts, with a turnover of 58.8 billion yuan.

Heilongjiang is also striving to make new breakthroughs in agricultural modernization, according to Zhang.

Known as China's grain barn, Heilongjiang boasts the country's largest plantations of rice, corn and soybeans.

The province produced over 75 million metric tons of grain last year, accounting for 11 percent of the nation's total.

"The seed industry is the core of agriculture, and Heilongjiang has developed a series of high-quality grain seeds," said Wang Jinhui, deputy director of the Agriculture and Forestry Committee of the Heilongjiang Provincial People's Congress. "During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, we mainly focused on three tasks and have made remarkable headway."

With the application of advanced technology, the province has strengthened independent seed research and development.

It is China's top breeder of conventional japonica rice, soybean and potato seeds.

All the soybean, rice and wheat planted in the province are independently developed varieties.

With a planting area of 23 million hectares, the annual output of grain seed in the province has reached over 1.4 million tons.

The province has established 16 national-level high-quality seed breeding bases, and there are 430 grain seed enterprises across the province.

"In the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we will continue to strengthen the development of seed breeding research platforms and the application of new breeding techniques, and we will look to draw more seed industry talent," he said. "Furthermore, we will intensify innovation in agricultural science and technology and make breakthroughs in key agricultural technologies, setting a national example in scientific farming."

"We will build a modern industrial system and promote the development of agricultural industry chain fusion," he said. "By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we expect to see an investment of 650 billion yuan in agricultural projects."

The province will establish the large-scale industrial cluster of deeply processed agricultural produce such as high-quality rice and realize the optimization of the agricultural industry, driving the development of the rural economy and promoting the farmers' incomes.