Northeastern Liaoning Province, an old industrial base of China, will introduce more foreign funds to develop agriculture in the 2001-2005 period, sources said.
Sources with the provincial agricultural bureau and foreign trade and economic bureau said that the province plans to use US$550 million to construct agricultural infrastructure facilities and service projects, develop quality rice, vegetables, fruits and flowers and conduct processing of farm produce.
According to the plan, the province will import 1,000 varieties of crops from foreign countries, 100 foreign advanced agricultural technologies and 150 foreign agricultural technicians annually during the five-year period.
The province will earn US$2 billion in foreign exchange from exports of farm produce and sideline products in five years time, the plan says.
Statistics show that Liaoning used US$440 million to develop its agriculture in the 1996-2000 period.
(Xinhua 08/14/2001)
