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Farmers in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region are going to be given access to 35,000 drying rooms for their produce in the next three years, boosting their income considerably.
Regional and local governments will build 3,000 drying rooms in south Xinjiang by the end of this year and the rest will be completed by the end of 2018, the Xinjiang Agricultural Industrialization Development Bureau said.
To store dehydrated goods from the drying rooms, 6,000 cold stores will be built alongside the drying rooms during the same period. In 2015, 1,000 cold stores will be put into use.
Xinjiang produces an ample supply of delicacies such as apricots, mulberries, nuts and grapes. Once dehydrated in drying rooms, these fruits can be shipped from remote Xinjiang to other places, raising sales and farmers' income.
Agricultural authorities initiated the practice in south Xinjiang last year by building 1,500 drying rooms which dehydrated over 20,000 tonnes of apricots in 13 counties. The higher priced apricots brought extra revenues of 180 million yuan (28.13 million U.S. dollars) to over 74,000 farmer households.
With more dehydrated farm goods being expected, food companies have established mills in Khotan and Kashgar in south Xinjiang. Their presence has raised demand for dehydrated goods, leading to higher prices.
Farmers in Xinjiang saw per capita annual income growing by 13.7 percent last year with the government support. Per capita net income rose to 8,296 yuan for 2014. This was the fourth year the annual income grew by around 1,000 yuan.
