Ningbo enjoys a long agricultural history. According to the textual research on the relics of "Neolithic Hemudu Culture" in Yuyao, our ancestors began to be engaged mianly in hunting and farming as early as 7,000 years ago, and cotton was first planted here 700 years ago. With a great variety of agricultural side-line products, Ningbo has become an important base of production and export of agricultural products.

With plentiful resources, Ningbo has an arable land area of 216,000 ha, a forest area of 420,000 ha, an area of 49,000 ha of rivers and lakes, a sea area of 433,000 ha and a cultivable tidal land area of 96,000 ha. As its climate featuring mild temperature, moderate humidity and plenty rainfall, Ningbo is an suitable agricultural economic area.

In recent years, Ningbo have been accelerating the construction of infrastructures including water conservancy works and implementing the strategy --- "To flourish agriculture based on science and education.", so as to promote the stable development of agricultural production. In 2000, the city had a total sowed area of 256,700 ha of grain with the total output reaching 1.325 million tons, a percentage of forest cover of 48.9% and a forest storage of 8.65 million cubic meters.With the further speed-up of agricultural industrialization, ten leading industries have come into being, such as vegetable, igusa, fruit, tea, aquatic products, poultry & eggs, pig-breeding, bamboo shoots and flowers. Main famous specialties which enjoy great fame include Yuyao red bayberry, Fenghua honey peach and taro, Cixi pear, Zhedong white goose and Ninghai oyster, etc.

As Ningbo borders on the East Sea, there exists a favorable condition for developing fishery. Besides Xiangshan Port, Sanmen Bay and Hangzhou Bay, it pocessese a vast area of such fresh water resouces as rivers and reservoirs. The city has a fishing industry specializing in sea water cultivation, fresh water cultivation and marine fishing. The cultivation of famous sea water and freshwater specialties has reached a considerable scale. In 2000, the cultivation area of seawater and freshwater specialties was up to 62447 ha.

2000 Output of Staple and Non-staple Agricultural Produce (Unit: 10,000 tons)