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Chinese Farmers Aim at Overseas Market
Lin Shuiying, a 49-year-old woman, whose family has been engaged in farming for generations in the city of Putian in east China's Fujian Province, almost has no idea of the big theories about globalization.
However, this does not keep her from performing actively on the stage of economic globalization.
Lin rented 200 hectares of land near Aoshan Village, growing various vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, most of which have been sold to foreign countries like Russia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, as well as to Beijing, Shenyang, Harbin and other northern Chinese cities.
Three Russian companies have become Lin's regular clients, and last year more than 10,000 tons of Lin's vegetables were sold to Russia.
Trucks to transport export vegetables often wait in long lines by Lin's fields, something eye-catching in the neighborhood.
Lin had grown rice on only two hectares of rented land before the early 1980s, when the local grain market became unprecedentedly saturated.
Lin then started to specialize in growing vegetables and sold them to the northern part of China where fresh vegetables are scarce during the winter.
Before long, Lin came to shift her focus to the "vegetable baskets" of foreigners, striving to tap the broad overseas market.
To better satisfy the overseas market's increasing demand for green food, Lin recently invested 500,000 yuan��about US$60,000�� to grow an additional 10,000 square meters of high- quality vegetables using soilless culture technology.
"I grow whatever foreigners like to eat," Lin said. "My vegetables have never been overstocked." Since China adopted the policy of reform and opening up two decades ago, Chinese farmers have been granted the right to decide on their own what and how much they should plant and market.
This in turn has fundamentally improved the performance of China's agricultural sector, making the rural economy assume a completely new look.
Years of harvest have completely eliminated food shortages that used to threaten the country for centuries, resulting in an equilibrium between the supply and demand of agricultural products in the home market.
Therefore, more and more Chinese farmers, just like Lin, have come to gear their production to the demands of the overseas market.
Endowed with a semitropical climate, Fujian enjoys exceptionally abundant agricultural resources, and farmers there have established trade ties with more than 100 countries and regions, with their annual agricultural exports exceeding US$3 billion.
Nationwide, China's agricultural exports surpassed US$11.5 billion last year, representing an increase of 15 percent over 1999, according to figures released by the Chinese General Administration of Customs.
The Chinese Government has recently initiated a new plan for agricultural development, which aims to further encourage export- oriented production, with the focus on boosting the export of vegetables, fruit, flowers, and livestock products.
An official with the Ministry of Agriculture said farmers' increased awareness of market competition will undoubtedly help facilitate the further opening of China's agricultural sector to the outside world.
China's expected entry into the World Trade Organization will not only bring about new opportunities for farmers, but will also subject them to increasing international competition, noted the official.
"Chinese farmers should try to adapt their production to the overseas market as early as possible, and only by doing this could they possibly survive the heated competition that will soon arrive, " he said.
In eastern coastal areas, farmers have already felt great pressure from such competition and are responding positively so as to get the upper hand in the overseas market.
In order to improve the quality and competitiveness of their products, farmers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong, all economic powerhouses in the country, invite a certain number of foreign experts to teach them advanced agro-techniques every year, while introducing improved strains of crops from abroad.
Thus far, a variety of alien vegetables such as Japanese cabbage, American tomato, and European cucumber, have been widely planted in those provinces.
From American, Japanese, Dutch (Netherlands) and Canadian experts, farmers in Zhejiang, which borders Fujian, have learned a series of practical techniques ranging from cultivating oranges to raising milk cows.
In addition, farmers there have imported over 400 strains of high-quality grains, fruit, vegetables, and livestock, which has dramatically optimized their agricultural structure.
Official statistics show Zhejiang's major agricultural areas such as Ningbo and Hangzhou have exported more than half of their farm produce in recent years.
This April, an international vegetable fair is scheduled for Shouguang, China's largest vegetable distribution center, where various domestic and foreign varieties of vegetables will be on display and a series of trade talks will be staged to create more opportunities for vegetable export.
Beyond the sponsors' expectation, an exceptionally large number of farmers have so far registered to participate in the fair.
Chinese farmers' growing international competitiveness has drawn an increasing number of overseas investors.
Novartis Group, the world-famous Swiss seeds giant, established its first China-based subsidiary Shouguang Novartis Seeds Co., Ltd in Shouguang in 1999, and has seen booming business thereafter.
"Chinese farmers have shown a strong appetite for advanced agro- techniques and managing expertise, and are eager to import more new varieties of crops. All this indicates China's agriculture has great potential," said Stethen Scoones, general manager of Novartis in China.
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