President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits a vegetable farm in Panjiawan town of Jiayu county in Xianning, Central China's Hubei province. Xi inspected the cities of Xiaogan and Xianning, Central China's Hubei province, from Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning. [Photo/Xinhua]

　　BEIJING -- In Jiayu county, Central China's Hubei province, vast expanses of vegetable fields stretch as far as the eye can see, infusing the air with a sense of freshness and vitality.

　　Jiayu, one of Hubei's major vegetable production areas, received a special visitor on Tuesday -- President Xi Jinping, who was on an inspection tour to Hubei.

　　Walking in the vegetable field, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, checked the growth of vegetables and inquired in detail about the variety, planting techniques and sales.

　　In Xi's view, vegetable farming is an “industry that enriches the people,“ and it needs further development to help more people increase their income through technological empowerment, quality improvement and brand building.

　　In Jiayu, vegetable cultivation began as early as in the 1980s. With favorable climate and soil conditions, Jiayu has become a leading vegetable producer in the province, generating an impressive annual output of 1.27 million tonnes that is sold across the country and overseas.

　　Thanks to the vegetable industry, the county's per-capita disposable income of rural residents nearly doubled over the past decade to more than 24,000 yuan (about $3,360) in 2023.