With the aim of improving China's agricultural competitiveness,
increasing the scale of agricultural industrialization and
promoting the all-round modernization of agriculture have been
important issues for China's government in recent
years.???
Now a pattern has been formed, spearheaded by some 600 key
national enterprises and over 2,000 key provincial enterprises, and
multifarious agencies connecting farmers with the production base.
Some products and leading enterprises in certain sectors, e.g.,
corn processing, dairy industry and chicken production, account for
a major share of the market and play an increasingly important role
in the development and pricing of their industries.
Since 2003, the state has set up six types of demonstration
project for the industrialization of modern agro-technology, so as
to boost the use of advanced technology for agricultural
production, and increase foreign earnings from exports of farm
products. These projects include industrialization of breeding and
cultivation of excellent new varieties and fine strains, of
high-efficiency, eco-friendly planting and breeding technology, of
water-saving and precision technologies, of pollution-free inputs
(e.g., fertilizer and fodder) and the establishment of an
agricultural information platform. The "downstream processing of
main agricultural products project" launched by the Ministry of
Science and Technology, was listed as an important sci-tech project
during the 2000-2005 Five-Year Plan period. This is directed
towards research into key technologies and equipment for the
downstream processing of staple agricultural products such as grain
and oil, fruit and vegetable, livestock and forestry products, into
integrated quality control systems and into technology and
equipment for quick testing agro-products. By the end of 2005, the
project established and perfected the standard for downstream
processing of staple agricultural products and integrated quality
control systems; it made breakthroughs in high-speed agro-product
testing technology and equipment, on the construction of a pillar
system for technology innovation in agro-product processing
products, etc. It also developed many famous products including
chilled meat, soybean protein extract, and concentrated apple
juice; built a batch of technological innovation bases and
demonstration production lines; and, nurtured many notably
innovative enterprises for downstream processing of
agro-products.
