An unmanned harvester works in paddy fields in Hongwei farm, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Oct. 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

The following facts and figures offer a glimpse into what the country has achieved in advancing agriculture, rural development and poverty alleviation in 2020.

BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- China has made notable progress in agricultural development this year despite challenges posed by COVID-19, plant pests and natural disasters, ensuring a bumper harvest and steady growth in farmers' income.

The following facts and figures offer a glimpse into what the country has achieved in advancing agriculture, rural development and poverty alleviation in 2020.

A farmer harvests rice at Shanghua Village, Gaoniang Township, Tianzhu County of southwest China's Guizhou Province, Sept. 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

-- Agriculture continued to serve as the prop of the Chinese economy, with the value-added output of the primary industry rising 2.3 percent year on year to 4.81 trillion yuan (about 734.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters, and farmers' income up 1.6 percent year on year to 12,297 yuan.

-- Overcoming pests and natural disasters, China saw its 17th consecutive bumper year in 2020, with grain output up 0.9 percent year on year to nearly 670 billion kg in 2020. This marks the sixth consecutive year the country's total grain production has exceeded 650 billion kg.

-- The country saw a 704,000-hectare increase in sown area in 2020, reversing the downward trend from the previous four consecutive years, and has vowed to maintain its sown area above 116.67 million hectares in 2021.

-- With multiple measures to increase breeding capacity and prevent African swine fever, China's hog production has recovered rapidly this year, with the inventory of live pigs and breeding sows reaching over 90 percent of the levels seen in normal years as of the end of November.

Photo taken on April 27, 2020 shows fishing boats berthing at a river basin in Zigui County of Yichang, central China's Hubei Province. (Photo by Wang Jiaman/Xinhua)

-- The fishing ban in key waters of China's Yangtze River basin, a move to protect biodiversity and promote green agricultural development, has seen notable results this year, with 231,000 fishermen on 111,000 boats having relinquished their nets so far in ten provincial regions along the river.

-- Rural industries have fully rebounded from early lows, with the farm produce processing sector seeing its business revenue exceed 10 trillion yuan in the January-September period. Online retail sales of agricultural products maintained double-digit growth to exceed 300 billion yuan in the period.

-- In the January-November period, the country's fixed-asset investment in the primary industry expanded 18.2 percent year on year to 1.23 trillion yuan, registering a growth for six consecutive months. The pace of growth was 18.3 percentage points faster from the same period last year.

-- China announced in November that all registered impoverished counties in the world's most populous country have shaken off poverty. Over the past 40-plus years of reform and opening-up, more than 700 million people in China have been lifted out of poverty, contributing more than 70 percent of the global reduction in poverty. ■