China Pours US$49m to Upgrade Dairy Sector

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, October 21, 2002

China Pours US$49m to Upgrade Dairy Sector

The Chinese government announced a national project to upgrade its dairy industry at a cost of 405 million yuan (US$48.8 million) to central and local governments and businesses.

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A further step has been taken in China's arduous agricultural reform, this time in the dairy sector.

At the weekend, the government announced a national project to upgrade its dairy industry at a cost of 405 million yuan (US$48.8 million) to central and local governments and businesses.

It is aimed at speeding up scientific innovation, the construction of milk resource bases and development of major dairy businesses.

The science, technology and agriculture ministerial departments are backing the project, which has been listed among 12 projects as essential to the nation's basic needs and people's health in the coming years.

Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology said the government and enterprises are planing to spend about 20 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion) within the next five years to sharpen China's water-saving measures for agriculture, in addition to boosting its high-tech competitive edge in software and car electronics.

In the agricultural sector, projects such as product processing and food safety, which are important for restructuring the sector, increasing the income of farmers and protecting society's health and safety, have already started.

China plans to set up eight model zones soon in major dairy bases, Science and Technology Vice-Minister Li Xueyong said at the weekend launch.

Li said about 1,000 technicians involved in the milk industry and 100,000 farmers will be trained under the project.

"In all, we will quicken the development of the sector by two or three percentage points every year through the project," Li said.

China's milk industry has enjoyed a rapid development during recent years.

On average, the annual output of the industry has increased by 12 per cent during the previous years.

However, Li said many problems remain and they are bottlenecks for further development.

He said well-bred dairy cows for milking are not enough, breeding management within the country is poor and it is urgent to complete a milk production quality control assessment.

Han Changfu, vice-minister of agriculture, said China's dairy industry has huge room to develop as an increasing number of Chinese people have become aware of the benefits of consuming milk and milk products.

He said the State should encourage farmers and companies to raise more dairy cows to produce more raw milk because an inadequate supply, to date, has restricted the development of the industry.

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