The success of poverty alleviation in many Asia-Pacific countries through the development of agro-based enterprises is to be given a boost by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

The UN body will assist all of its 62 members in working closely to develop firms in this area.

The remarks were made by Kim Hak-su, Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UNESCAP, at the ongoing Symposium on Agro-based Enterprise Development Sunday in Yantai in Shandong Province.

The secretary said that there was a great need to enhance the development of agro-based enterprises through the application of modern technology, regional cooperation and multilateral arrangements.

Shen Guofang, vice-president of Chinese Academy of Engineering, said developing agro-product processing industries stimulated rural income and employment, nurtured rural financial services, and rehabilitated the country's natural resources base.

Statistics show that China's agro-product processing industries have increased by 8.5 percent since 1995. In 2003, the added value of the industries achieved 780 billion yuan (US$94.3 billion), increasing by 11.9 percent from the previous year and 25 percent of the country's total industrial added value.

To date, the country has 56,536 such enterprises with annual sales income of over 5 million yuan (US$600,000) each, employing 15 million people, almost one-third of overall industrial staff.

Experts say new, high-technology has been widely applied in these agricultural enterprises. They include bio-engineering, freezing and molecule distillation, and they have much promoted the technical level and competitiveness of enterprises at home and abroad.

However, China's agro-based enterprises are facing new challenges, especially after China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Low technical levels, decentralized industrial belts, out-of-date production standards and structures mean that the country's agro-processing sector is lagging behind developed countries.

Take fruit, for example. Fruit processing capacity covers less than 10 percent of total output, and only 1 percent is sold after washing, waxing, sorting and packaging.

Officials say that the country is making development plans for agriculture product processing industries, supporting the processing of advantageous and characteristic products, such as organic vegetables.

(China Daily September 27, 2004)