Robust sales of potatoes will help farmers in a mountain-locked city in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region gain an additional 20 percent in per capita income this year, a local official has said.

Potato growers in Guyuan, dubbed China's No. 1 potato production base, are expected to make an additional 300 yuan (US$37) each this year, said Du Zhengbin, deputy secretary of the municipal committee of the Chinese Communist Party, at an ongoing "potato festival" in Xiji county.

Guyuan, with its arid climate and little access to traffic, belongs to the Xihaigu area, one of the world's least habitable regions listed by the United Nations. Eighty-nine percent of its 1.52 million residents are farmers and 116,000 are living in absolute poverty, said Du.

"But our disadvantages become advantages in the potato industry," he said, adding the city has planted 100,000 hectares of potatoes this year and annual output is to reach 2 million tons.

Potatoes grown as vegetables are sold at 12 US cents per kilogram and those for starch processing at 6 US cents.

Ma Quanhu, a Muslim national in Wangmin village of Xiji county, said his 0.2-hectare field will harvest 6,000 kilograms of potatoes this year, which will bring him at least 3,000 yuan (US$360). "It's unbelievable that potatoes are sold at the same price as apples," said Ma.

Guyuan presently has more than 2,000 potato processing companies, a number of wholesale markets and a potato shipping association to ensure timely delivery of fresh potatoes to 17 provinces and municipalities as well as Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and some European countries.

By 2010, the city aims to increase its potato acreage and output to 200,000 hectares and 4.5 million tons respectively. "By then the potato industry will yield more than 2 billion yuan (US$247 million) a year and will increase the farmer's per capita annual income by 600 yuan (US$74)," said vice mayor Ma Xuexiang.

Potatoes, which were grown in the past as poverty-relief products to the needy people, have gained popularity in China as nutritionists say potatoes are rich in carbohydrate, vitamins, amino acid, carotene and minerals.

Agronomists also believe China needs to plant more potatoes to increase agricultural output, ensure food security and increase farmers' income.

At present, 60 percent of China's farmlands are arid and farmers will earn a higher profit from growing potatoes than from wheat, corn, paddy rice and beans, said Qu Dongyu, director of the China Potato Committee.

Many leading potato producers are located in border and poor areas or regions inhabited by ethnic people. If the central government increases investment in the potato industry, people in these regions will benefit a lot from potato cultivation, said Chen Yili, professor of the Northeast China Agricultural University.

China is currently the world's second largest potato producer and it is estimated that the potato consumption can grow by at least five percent in the following years since the government has been investing more in the domestic potato industry, said Hubert Zandstra, director general of the Peru-based International Potato Center, at a world potato congress last year.

(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2005)