By Tian Xuefei and Zhang Zhao ( China Daily )
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Green and organic food on display at the Harbin Agriculture & Food Expo last year. [Photo provided to China Daily] |
The first flagship store for green food from Heilongjiang opened in Hong Kong in February offering more than 200 specialties from the Northeast China province.
Of the 64 product providers, 27 are based in the provincial capital Harbin. The city is a national base of both industry and agriculture, widely believed to be an area to grow rice, corn and soybeans of world-class quality.
With many rivers flowing through and abundant rain, Harbin boasts rich water resources and the largest forest area of all provincial capitals nationwide. Nearly half of the city's area is forest.
More than 90 percent of the city's farmland is covered by fertile black soil, different from the yellow soil common elsewhere.
In summer, sufficient sunshine, fresh air and a large temperature difference between day and night provide ideal environment for the farm produces and animals to grow. In the winter, ice and snow eliminate pests.
Many local farms and farming cooperatives with certifications for green or organic food have established partnerships in purchasing seeds and fertilizers, processing and sales networks. Some have also developed quality tracking systems, controlling every procedure from sowing seeds to harvest and storage.
The city grows some of China's top-quality rice. It has more than 600,000 hectares of paddy field producing 3.25 million tons of rice a year as well as some 200,000 hectares of soybeans, none of it genetically engineered.
It also has annual corn output of more than 10 million tons. The hybrid breed contains three times more protein than common breeds.
In addition to farming, the city government also pays attention to livestock breeding and processing. It has nearly 500,000 cows, 3 million beef cattle and 11 million pigs, and produces 880,000 tons of meat, 365,000 tons of eggs and 1.5 million tons of milk a year.
Some of the cows were introduced from Australia.
The city has attracted many global and domestic leaders in the food industry such as Nestle, McCain Foods and COFCO.
Some 465 local companies have won certifications for pollution-free, green or organic food on more than 2,400 products that are sold in over 40 major cities in China as well as some 20 countries and regions overseas.
Eighteen products, including Wuchang rice, Bayan pork and Shangzhi black mushrooms have been registered with national geographical indications.