Kecheng district in Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, has been ramping up efforts to develop a collective economy and help farmers increase their incomes in recent years, according to local media reports.

A cooperative in the district's Shangpu village rented a total of 173 mu (11.53 hectares) of idle land from residents to grow rice last year, harvesting 70,000 kilograms of crops.

The village still had a surplus of nearly 40,000 yuan in collective income after deducting expenses such as machinery leasing and labor costs.

Shiliang town in Kecheng district has cooperated with an agricultural technology company, which has directed farmers to grow high-quality rice and raise poultry, and helped villages to develop e-commerce, agricultural machinery, agritainment and homestays.

The district's efforts to increase the collective incomes of villages have proved successful, as eight villages in the district have distributed 2.86 million yuan ($422,452.86) in dividends to 4,783 farmers.

In the first quarter of this year, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in the district was 8,975 yuan, an increase of 9.1 percent and ranking first in the province.