The Ministry of Agriculture yesterday pledged to fully tap the potential of the agro-food processing sector to add to the fiscal coffers of the nation's farmers and improve food safety.

Conceding a weak downstream food processing industry has inhibited China's rural economic growth, Vice-Minister Liu Jian said the country will prioritize development and introduce key expertise and equipment, while improving standardization and certification systems to guarantee the quality of processed foods.

China's farm produce processing industry is still in its infancy, experts say.

The country produces the world's largest amounts of grain, oil crops, fruit, beans, meat, eggs and aquatic products. However, less than one-third of the total output is processed before reaching the marketplace, compared to the more than 70 percent processing rate in industrialized nations, according to Lu Liangshu, a senior agronomist in Beijing.

In developed nations, turnover from the agro-processing industry is usually three times as much as that from the agricultural sector. In China, the ratio of output value of processing industry to the agricultural sector is just 0.6 to 1, the Ministry of Agriculture reports.

The ministry estimates that if the agro-processing sector is expanded so that the ratio grows by 10 percent, the sector will be able to employ 2.3 million more farmers, with their income substantially improved over their farming work incomes, according to Liu.

China's agro-processing sector also has yet to take full advantage of quality standardization to assure safer food products, Liu said.

The agro-processing sector will implement food quality standardization and certification systems in line with the country's conditions and international practices, Liu added.

Chen Jianguang, an official with the ministry's Bureau of Township Enterprises, said authorities are formulating guidelines for new standards, with improvements expected this year in 100 areas in regard to the processing of wheat, corn and rice.

Internationally acknowledged standardization and certification systems, such as ISO14000 and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, will be promoted among China's processing businesses, Chen said.

Working with the Ministry of Science and Technology, agricultural authorities will encourage the importation of agro-food processing techniques by enterprises and the pursuit of their own technological innovations, Liu said.

He said the ministry will offer support for the establishment of 500 pilot farm produce processing companies.

They will be encouraged to sign contracts with farming households, which otherwise process little of their harvests and thus earn little from sales of their raw products in markets.

Output value of China's farm produce processing industry reached 3.1 trillion yuan (US$373 billion) last year. The sector employs at least 16.1 million people.

(China Daily March 2, 2004)