Since adopting a new monitoring instrument, Wang Juying has been able easily identify ripe tomatoes from her greenhouse that are ready for the market. Pointing at the instrument, the 44-year-old said, “The greenhouse is highly demanding in temperature and humidity, and this helps me a lot.”

The instrument shows the present temperature at different heights between 5 cm to 1.5 m, the humidity, radiation and ground temperature in the greenhouse.

“This is a weather monitor measuring the temperature and humidity in the greenhouse and sends data to the observation system of the weather bureau,” Wang explained.

There are about 120 greenhouses in Dongsizhuang Village with crop vegetables. The crops, including tomatoes, eggplants, capsicums and cucumbers have received Green Food Certifications from the agriculture department.

The village has set six “Multifactor Heliogreenhouse Climate Monitors” in recent two years. The monitors supply accurate data and climate service to help the village receive weather forecasts and take preventive measures.

“We can avoid at least 2 million yuan pecuniary loss with the monitors,” said Bai Shuangui, the Party Branch Secretary of Dongsizhuang Village. “After we had the monitors last year, the annual income of tomatoes has increased from 10,000 yuan to 25,000 yuan and the annual output of the cucumbers in one greenhouse has increased from 8000 kilograms to 23,000 kilograms. The climate service made a difference for us. The newly built greenhouses with monitors are really welcome among growers.”

In recent years, Wu’an has developed an agricultural climate service system and prevention of rural meteorological disasters, and established a widely covered early climate warning web. The government has installed warning loudspeakers in more than 60 villages, and set 26 climate service spots and 31 warning screens, which ensures a 100 per cent coverage rate. Wu’an climate bureau has also cooperated with the agriculture and forestry department to form an alliance concerning climate services for agriculture.