China Monday unveiled a series of new policies designed to boost
the agricultural product processing industry as part of overall
efforts to promote the rural economy and raise the income of
farmers.
According to the policies issued by the General Office of the State
Council, the development of the farm produce processing sector is
essential. Improvement in the sector will increase farmers' income,
improve the competitiveness of Chinese-made agricultural products
on the international market and create more jobs for farmers.
Meanwhile, the standards of quality control for key agricultural
products should be improved, and efforts should be made to increase
the ratio of the added value of the agricultural product processing
sector to the country's gross domestic product and to the added
value of manufacturing sectors.
It
gives priority to the refined, thorough processing of the country's
key agricultural products, such as grain, cotton, oil-producing
crops, animal products, including pork, beef, mutton, chicken and
duck, dairy products, and vegetable and aquatic products.
The policies urge regional governments to formulate their own
strategies for the agricultural product processing industry and
call for the establishment of production centers for agricultural
products as well as for the creation of a logistics support
system.
In
line with the policies, the Chinese government is expected to
encourage research, the development of technology facilitating the
processing of agricultural products and increase investment in
infrastructure projects for the farm produce processing sector,
including processing plants, related research and training
programs.
The policies urge the country's state-owned commercial banks to
provide the necessary loans for the sector, and offer, among other
things, preferential tax policies for export-oriented
thoroughly-processed agricultural products.
(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2003)