Preliminary processing facilities for agricultural products received 1.6 billion yuan in subsidies over 3 years

Since benefiting from the national subsidy policy, a total of 1,500 apricot drying houses have been built in southern Xinjiang, and the price at which farmers sell dried apricots is more than double that of traditionally sun-dried apricots; the price of fresh apricots has also risen by 1-2 yuan, directly helping more than 70,000 farming households increase their income and transferring nearly 70,000 person-times of surplus rural labor.

This change is attributable to the subsidy policy for preliminary processing facilities for agricultural products, jointly launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance in 2012. The policy aims to address problems such as outdated technology, crude facilities and serious losses in the preliminary processing stages of storage, preservation and drying of agricultural products at their place of origin in China. Over 3 years, the central government has allocated a cumulative 1.6 billion yuan in subsidies, subsidizing 38,900 farming households and more than 3,600 farmers' professional cooperatives, building 65,000 new preliminary processing facilities at places of origin, adding 1.16 million tons of potato storage capacity, 1.15 million tons of fruit and vegetable storage capacity, and 800,000 tons of fruit and vegetable drying capacity, reducing losses and increasing income for farmers by a cumulative 892 million yuan, and increasing income through off-season sales by 4.23 billion yuan.

⟦NL> The reporter learned that the new storage cellars and cold storage warehouses help improve the storage conditions of potatoes, fruits and vegetables. Potatoes can be stored for more than half a year without sprouting or shrinking, and fruits and vegetables such as apples and carrots can be stored for 5-6 months without rotting or wilting, maintaining the quality and appearance they had when put into storage (the cellar). The improvement of preliminary processing facilities for agricultural products has directly promoted the improvement of quality and efficiency of agricultural products. Preliminary estimates show that after the subsidized standardized facilities are completed and put into use, the post-production loss rate of potatoes, fruits and vegetables has dropped from above 15% to below 6%, equivalent to a cumulative increase in output of 660,000 tons over 3 years. The new drying facilities have solved the problems of excessive residues, substandard hygiene and quality and safety hazards associated with traditional drying methods, reducing environmental pollution, shortening the drying cycle, and improving product quality and sales prices.

This subsidy policy has the characteristics of high precision and strong orientation, effectively solving the problems of large post-production losses, prominent quality and safety hazards, and difficulties in selling and low prices for agricultural products in the implementation areas, enhancing farmers' market expectations and raising their enthusiasm for developing specialty planting industries. For example, the new storage and drying facilities have extended the storage period and processing period of agricultural products, achieving balanced supply of processing raw materials. Potato processing enterprises have extended from producing only 4-5 months a year in the past to 8-9 months now, lengthening the production cycle of enterprises, enhancing their economic benefits, and promoting the organic integration of planting, storage, processing and sales.

After the construction of the new storage facilities, the sales period of agricultural products has also been extended, not only achieving off-season sales and balanced supply, but also, through the concentrated construction of facilities, driving the development of specialized markets and the construction of market information service systems, playing a positive role in increasing supply and stabilizing the market.