Guangzhou's Nansha District is poised to become a pilot zone for agricultural opening-up and cooperation, with the aim of building a pivotal hub for agricultural cooperation under the RCEP framework, a global testing area for agricultural institutional innovations, and a highland for integrating advanced agricultural technologies, according to a document released by the Guangzhou Government on August 8.

Emphasis will be placed on expanding import channels for high-end fruits such as durians and cherries from RCEP member countries. Also, international exchange and cooperation platforms will be built to introduce Norwegian salmon breeding techniques and advanced agricultural facilities. 

Nansha Mingzhu Agricultural Park 

The pilot zone will expand the sources of raw materials for agricultural product processing and establish an industrial inventory catalogue for primary agricultural products such as crops, fruits, flowers, livestock, and poultry products, aquatic products, and tropical economic crops. It will also accelerate the construction of Guangzhou's flower import and export bases and an imported fruit distribution center.

The establishment of agricultural product processing clusters is prioritized, with a focus on developing a prefabricated food import-export trade zone. A green channel for agricultural product imports and exports will be set up, helping Nansha Port's international cold chain become a designated supervision site for imported fruits, meats, and seedlings.

Guangzhou Port 

In terms of policy and institutional pilot projects, the zone will explore the establishment of a comprehensive offshore trade service platform in Nansha and leverage the Guangzhou Data Exchange to develop the agricultural data economy.

Regarding agricultural technological innovation, the priority will be the promotion of factory-style agricultural production integrating ecological design, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, biotechnology, and intelligent equipment technology. Support will be given to the construction of a center for cooperation and innovation center with foreign countries for seeds.

Nansha aims to take the lead in the modern marine ranching sector by leveraging marine ranching equipment manufacturing, deep processing of marine products, and the aquatic product cold chain logistics center.

"Since the official launch of the Nansha pilot zone in 2024, Nansha District has sent delegations to countries like Norway and Iceland to learn from their advanced experiences and conduct investment promotion," said an official from the Nansha Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

He added that Nansha will strive to build a pivotal platform for linking the agricultural economy with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Nansha is the only approved pilot zone nationwide after a six-year hiatus in applications, following the approval of the first batch of ten national agricultural foreign cooperation pilot zones in 2017.