Zhanjiang pushes for tropical crops deep processing

A Tropical Crops Deep-Processing Industrial Park will be set up in Zhanjiang to help local agricultural enterprises go through a technical transformation,  improve processing techniques, and solve the problem of overstocking. 

The industrial park will be operated under a cooperative agreement signed between the Zhanjiang government and the Agricultural Products Processing Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Science on July 9.

Xuwen county, which has a pineapple plantation area of more than 300,000 mu (2,000 hectares), is the country's largest pineapple production center.

However, local enterprises have long been held back by a unitary product line and low-level processing, making it difficult to elevate the value of the products and resulting in frequent overstocking.

In response, the industrial park will focus on the promotion of mechanized harvesting and intelligent sorting among agricultural companies to save on labor and reduce losses during transfers, according to Li Jihua, director of the Agricultural Products Processing Research Institute.

Meanwhile, it will commit itself to diversifying its product portfolio, which includes pineapple juice, powders, balls and jams. This not only can preserve the pineapple longer, but also make it more valuable. More pineapple deep-processing enterprises may be attracted to the industry and form a mature industrial chain.