The remarks came from a senior legislation official at the recent and first ever national alfalfa conference, held in Beijing, sponsored by the China Association of Grassland under the Ministry of Agriculture.

It was held to spur on the country's alfalfa industry.

"Alfalfa, considered the 'queen' of forages, will play an important role in the country's agricultural restructuring and reorganization and ecological and environmental health," said Buhe, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

The crop first came to Asia before 700 BC and is thought to have been cultivated first in Iran.

It is a herbaceous perennial that can produce large amounts of nutritious forage material.

The energy and protein yield per acre of alfalfa rivals that of a corn crop used for silage purposes and the alfalfa crop can be used as a pasture, hay, or silage crop. It can also be cut and dehydrated to make protein-rich meal or pellets for livestock, Buhe said.

While effectively protecting cultivated land and stabilizing grain production capacities, the country needs to restructure patterns of farming, focusing on improving strains, quality and economic returns, Buhe said.

He added that China can achieve those goals by planting alfalfa, which is a high value-added crop.

However, attendants of the conference said there is a great gap between China and other developed countries in the processing of alfalfa.

"If we don't have advanced technology and can't process leaves and stalks, we cannot make good use of the nutritious content," said Hao Bo, the president of Jiangsu Province-based Zhengchang Group.

(China Daily 05/28/2001)