Beijing, China
March 21, 2013
The Sino-Dutch Potatoes Chain Technology and Equipment Seminar 2013 was held in Beijing from March 21 to 22. The Seminar was co-organized by the Agricultural Produce Processing Bureau of MOA and the Netherlands Embassy to China, concurrently with the on-going China Potato Expo 2013 in National Agricultural Exhibition Center.
Focusing on the development trends, storage, transportation and processing technologies and equipments of the potato industry, the Seminar provided a communication platform of exchanging the latest achievements, techniques and workmanships in this sector, and discussing the possibility of a new road to boost the bilateral cooperation with innovative targets, activities and mechanisms.
At the Seminar, Zhang Tianzuo, DG of the Agricultural Produce Processing Bureau of MOA noted that, China has the largest farming area for tuber crops. The single production of potato accounts for 28% of world total. He pointed out that the Chinese government has attached great importance to the development of potato industry, and recognized its significance for food security, poverty alleviation and farmers' income increase. In order to extend the industry chain and bring in more added value, the Government has adopted an array of guiding and supportive policies to improve potato storage and processing technologies and equipments, which have contributed a lot to the remarkable progress of China's potato industry.
However, Zhang also stressed in his speech that due to the relatively weak processing sector, China relies heavily on the import of starch and other potato products. There is a big gap between China and advanced countries in processing technologies and equipments, and China is still facing deep-rooted problems like limited varieties of product items, low utility rate and added value of processing, and increasing pressure for energy saving and emission reduction. In the end, Zhang expressed his expectation that the Seminar should play an active role in facilitating bilateral exchanges of sophisticated expertise, upgrading China's processing and management skills, and promoting the sound and sustainable development of the potato industry.
Participants to the Seminar included representatives from the Netherlands Embassy to China, Dutch Manufacturers of Machinery for Food Processing and Packaging (GMV), Dutch potato enterprises and research institutes as well as delegates from agricultural processing authorities, enterprises and academic institutions in China's 12 major potato production provinces.
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