By WU JIANHUA

A wide variety of crops are planted in Fujian.

Since implementation of the reform and opening policy, Fujian Province has seen rapid economic growth. Located on China’s southeast coast across the Taiwan Straits from Taiwan, Fujian is this island province’s nearest neighbor and has benefited greatly from their cooperation, particularly in the agricultural field. In the early 1980s, Fujian’s total economic volume was only 1/40 that of Taiwan. By the early 1990s, this ratio had narrowed to 1/13, and in 2003 its GDP stood at more than US $60 billion -- about 1/5 of Taiwan’s, with an average per capita GDP of US $1,800, equivalent to 1/7 that of Taiwan. The cross-straits agricultural cooperation experimental zones set up in Fuzhou and Zhangzhou have attracted large numbers of Taiwanese investors. Inland mountainous counties and villages also seek means of utilizing Taiwan investment capital. To date, Fujian Province has approved over 1,600 agricultural cooperation projects with Taiwan, with contracted investment of US $1.9 billion, and utilized investment of US $1.15 billion.

Fujian has the second longest coastline of all Chinese provinces and is a key fishery and agricultural development region. Its average fishery product per capita is the highest in the country. The cultivation area and output of many of its agricultural products, such as longan, litchi, bananas, pineapples, loquat oranges and olives, are among the highest in the country. Its tea output is the national number one. Fujian is also noted for its mushrooms and cut flowers.

Development of Fujian Taiwan Agricultural Cooperation

Fujian’s rapid economic progress owes a great deal to its agricultural cooperation with Taiwan. About 80 percent of Taiwan people’s hometowns are in Fujian. There are consequently strong links between the two provinces. Their climates and natural conditions being similar, the two provinces’ methods of cultivation, farming technology and crops also have a great deal in common.

Wu Jianhua, director of Agriculture Office of Fujian Province.

It was in the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou areas of southern Fujian, where many Taiwan investors’ ancestral homes are located, that these businessmen first entered the Chinese market in search of new development space. After paying homage to their ancestors, they introduced capital and technology to their hometowns, the emphasis being on reforming traditional agriculture through advanced technology. Anxi County comes under the administration of Quanzhou and is one of China’s main oolong tea production bases. Over the past decade, Taiwan businessmen have invested in Anxi’s tea production and processing, establishing 24 tea-processing enterprises and having contracted for some 430 hectares of tea gardens. Funds, advanced technology and management methods from Taiwan have greatly stimulated oolong tea plantation in the area, making Anxi Tea more competitive within the domestic and international markets.

Agricultural cooperation between Fujian and Taiwan has an historical background. Three waves of relocation from Fujian to Taiwan occurred during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, when Fujian grains, tea, mulberry trees and sugar cane planting skills, as well as advanced water conservancy technology, helped Taiwan’s early agricultural exploitation and development.

Since implementation of the reform and opening policy, cross-straits cooperation has advanced in three stages. From 1980 to 1990, there were frequent folk exchange activities that increased friendship and communications. Investment activities on the part of Taiwan merchants and their Fujianese relatives laid the foundation for later cooperation. From 1991 to 1996, academic, scientific and technological exchanges occurred, and stable agricultural cooperation relationships took shape. As improved varieties were introduced from Taiwan, more Taiwan people came to Fujian to invest in agriculture. Since 1997, cross-straits agricultural cooperation experimental zones have been set up in Fuzhou and Zhangzhou, with emphasis on introducing capital, improved varieties and technological cooperation. Exchanges and cooperation between the two sides have now reached a new stage. Apart from Fujian, other provinces have also joined cross-straits agricultural cooperation and established experimental zones. They include Hainan, Shandong, Heilongjiang and Shaanxi, but Fujian still remains first choice because of its convenient locality.

In the early 1980s, Taiwan investors first began trial investments in Fujian that led to establishment of two cross-straits agricultural experiment zones in Fuzhou and Zhangzhou. Fujian has continued to introduce investment from Taiwan that has both stimulated and improved its agricultural development. Since 1990, there have been still more agricultural economic and technological exchanges in various fields. In the past two decades, 300 groups of visiting agricultural officials, experts, professors and entrepreneurs from Taiwan have gone to Fujian to assess its agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery development. In 1991, when the Dongshan Comprehensive Agriculture Experiment Zone was set up, the Taiwan side sent out three groups to experiment with asparagus planting and abalone farming in Dongshan and Zhangpu. The latter two are now Fujian’s main agricultural and aquatic products.

Fujian has also sent more than 80 agricultural groups to Taiwan to conduct broad research and cooperation. This has brought about implementation of technological projects such as the Yongchun orange and Zhangzhou banana refinement projects. A Fujian-Taiwan Agricultural Cooperation Expert Consultative Committee was subsequently formed to promote more exchanges and cooperation. Having begun as sporadic academic exchanges and seminars, there are now more concrete cooperation projects aimed at improving market competitiveness. Over the past two decades, Fujian has introduced large quantities of improved varieties, advanced technology and equipment and management skills from Taiwan. In the early 1990s, many Taiwan-invested development zones and science parks were established in Fujian. Since the founding of cross-straits agricultural cooperation experimental zones there has been proliferation of Taiwan invested projects -- 554 Taiwan-invested agricultural projects in the past seven years with contracted investment of over US $1 billion. These experimental zones provide a good platform for agricultural cooperation between the two sides of the straits.

Mutual Benefits

Fujian Province abounds in tropical fruits.

Taiwan-invested agricultural enterprises have brought capital and technology to Fujian, and also new managerial concepts that have accelerated its agricultural modernization process. Introduction of improved varieties and new technology has changed the product structure of Fujian and gathered together its pillar industries and enterprises. Between 1980 and 2003, animal husbandry and fishery has taken off in Fujian, increasing its share in Fujian’s agricultural income from 24 to 51 percent.

Most Taiwan invested enterprises in Fujian have solid assets, advanced equipment and complete sales networks. They have become Fujian’s leading enterprises and stimulated related industries, such as tinned food processing, packaging, refrigeration, and transportation. The resultantly large industrial chain has boosted the local economy.

Taiwanese invested enterprises in Fujian are, in addition, export-oriented, and have helped bring Fujian’s agricultural products to the international market, earning substantial foreign exchange. In 2003, exported agricultural and processed products passing through Zhangzhou Customs earned US $349 million, 56.7 percent of which emanated from Taiwan invested enterprises.

Taiwan is a small island with limited resources, and is prone to natural disasters; its agriculture production costs are high. Setting up enterprises in Fujian has helped Taiwan merchants to lower their market risks. Most Taiwan invested enterprises in Fujian show healthy economic returns, and many are increasing their investment by building more plants. Taiwan entrepreneur Weng Qijing established his first aquatic products plant in Dongshan, Fujian Province in 1993 and rapidly prospered. He now plans to build a modern comprehensive aquatic product processing area equipped with a 50,000-ton cold storage plant, and a fishing port with a fleet of fishing boats in the next three years.

Agricultural cooperation with Taiwan has enabled Fujian to develop lucrative products for the domestic market, such as the asparagus and abalone of Dongshan, oolong tea of Anxi and orchids of Nanjing. Longhai’s agriculture product processing and Fuqing’s eel processing also enjoy high prestige throughout the country. Rural laborers have greatly benefited from the employment opportunities these enterprises have generated. In 2003, the average annual income per capita of Fujian farmers stood at 3,734 yuan – a 5-fold increase over 1990, and seventh in China’s mainland.