How should potatoes be eaten as the era of staple-ization begins?
He Jianzhong, who has grown potatoes his whole life, suffered a rare severe drought this year. "It basically never rained from planting to harvest, and the yield has dropped a lot compared with previous years." He Jianzhong is a farmer in Dalu Village, Qinglan Township, Anding District, Dingxi City, Gansu. The poor harvest reminded Old He of the blessings potatoes once brought to the people of Dingxi: "If we had encountered such a severe drought in the past, potatoes would have been life-saving grain."
Not only potato farmers, but after China launched the potato staple-ization strategy in 2015, potatoes' role as grain has attracted increasing attention across the country. Recently, at the 2016 China Dingxi Potato Conference, co-hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Gansu Provincial Government, potato staple-ization became the most important topic.
"China's potato planting area and total output are roughly 84 million mu and 96 million tonnes respectively, and both indicators rank first in the world." Zhang Hong, a researcher at the Institute of Agro-Products Processing Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, analyzed that, however, compared with the average processing rate of 50% for potatoes in developed countries, China's processing rate is about 7%, and no focus point has yet been found to achieve leapfrog industrial development.
Dingxi is the hometown of potatoes in China, with an annual planting area of more than 3 million mu, an annual potato output stable at about 5 million tonnes, an annual output of more than 1 billion virus-free pre-basic seed potatoes, and a processing capacity of more than 700,000 tonnes. At present, Dingxi has become the country's largest virus-free seed potato breeding base, an important national commercial potato production base and a potato products processing base. Therefore, the implementation of the potato staple-ization strategy is especially urgent for Dingxi, a major potato city.
"To promote potato staple-ization, it must be localized and made into foods that ordinary people love to eat, such as steamed buns, noodles and snacks." Wang Yihang, a famous potato industry expert in Gansu, believes that many people still cling to traditional dietary concepts and merely regard potatoes as vegetables.
As one of the first pilot provinces in the country for potato staple-ization processing projects, Gansu Province has made every effort to implement the pilot project for potato staple-ization processing, comprehensively driving the upgrading of the entire industrial chain of potatoes and potato products in Gansu Province.
"At present, Gansu's potato staple food development work has achieved remarkable results, and a variety of potato staple-ization products such as steamed buns, baked cakes, naan and nutritious instant drinks have been gradually developed." Han Linguang, deputy director of the Gansu Provincial Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, introduced.
The reporter learned that Dingxi currently has 12 potato staple-ization processing enterprises, with a processing capacity of more than 100,000 tonnes. In the processing industrial zone located in the Dingxi Potato Circular Park, Gansu Shuxiangyuan Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. has introduced a complete set of Dutch potato whole flour processing equipment and potato raw material storage equipment. The first phase has completed a production line with an annual output of 10,000 tonnes of potato whole flour and a 12,000-tonne controlled-atmosphere storage warehouse for potato raw materials.
"On the basis of the existing potato whole flour production line, we have reached a research project titled 'Industrialized Production of Potato Staple Foods Using Potato Whole Flour' with scientific research institutions inside and outside the province, including the College of Food Science and Engineering of Gansu Agricultural University." Yang Xinjun, general manager of Shuxiangyuan Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd., told the reporter that the company will add a total investment of 25.14 million yuan to build a potato food industrialization production line construction project, so as to enrich product varieties, extend the industrial chain and improve the level of industrialized operation.
Han Linguang said that in the coming years, Gansu will also build a potato staple-ization and deep-processing base, forming a value-added processing system, a marketing system and a virus-free seed potato supply system with reasonable layout, orderly competition, environmental friendliness, and mutual matching between processing enterprises and raw material bases.