China's Standardization of Agricultural Operations Going Well

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 04, 2002

China's Standardization of Agricultural Operations Going Well

In tandem with its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), a new round of agricultural reformis going well in China - the standardization of agricultural operations.

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In tandem with its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), a new round of agricultural reformis going well in China - the standardization of agricultural operations.

In some production and export bases for farm produce in easterncoastal areas, many business owners declare they need the "green card" of agricultural standardization to compete on both domestic and international markets.

They say that standardization is a crucial tool to give China'sfarm produce an edge on the international market.

China's export-oriented farm produce has encountered serious challenges since its entry to the WTO, due to "green" or technicalbarriers imposed by major importing countries and the fact that many importers have adopted stricter measures for examining China's farm exports.

The European Union stopped importing China's animal products early this year, causing a loss of 300 million U.S. dollars in foreign exchange for Shandong Province alone.

To counter, many Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanning have adopted a market access system for farm produce, saying "no" to seafood fed drugs, animal and poultry products fed hormones and crops contaminated by fertilizers and banned pesticides.

Shouguang City in east China's Shandong Province is a famous vegetable growing and production base and an agricultural high-tech region in China.

To guarantee that all vegetables produced there have access to foreign markets, its government has spelled out strict production standards for animal husbandry, forestry, and fruit and vegetablesthat match international standards.

The city also sends its 180,000 farmer households books on standardizing agricultural operations and a public letter to all its citizens.

It invested 10 million yuan (1.2 million U.S. dollars) in importing testing equipment from Japan and set up a testing centerfor farm goods and byproducts. Shouguang has also established 19 testing stations in townships.

With these facilities, the city can test more than 200 kinds offarm produce each month.

Farm produce processors and marketers have also joined efforts to promote the standardization of agricultural operations. Many have benefited from the campaign.

Hangzhou Qimentang Vegetable and Foods Co., Ltd. is one of the winners.

Company chairman Shen Jiakui said that this year, his company imported vegetable processing equipment from Germany and asked managerial personnel from Japan and the Republic of Korea to improve quality control.

As a result, one ton of the company's primary products now soldfor 6,000 yuan compared with 2,000 yuan in the past, said the chairman.

Some insiders stay calm over agricultural standardization, saying it is a systematic attempt to improve the quality of farm produce.

Some business owners have suggested that the government sets upa system for supporting and protecting agricultural development and invests more in building agricultural infrastructure, scientific research and agricultural education and the spread of agricultural technologies.

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