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TOKYO, Feb 28 (AFP): With rich Chinese city dwellers discovering a taste for the finer food in life, a group of big Japanese companies plan to start a farming business there using organic methods, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Asahi Breweries, Japan's top brewer, is to team up with trading company Itochu Corp and Sumitomo Chemical to lease 100 hectares (247 acres) of land in Shandong, one of China's 'breadbasket' provinces on the east coast.
Vegetables and fruits such as lettuces, sweet corn and strawberries will be cultivated under the guidance of Japanese agriculture experts.
The farm will also rear dairy cattle for milk and use manure for crop cultivation. Wind and solar power will also be employed as part of the environmentally friendly approach.
"With the improvement in Chinese living standards, particularly in cities, demand for better-tasting and safer food has been increasing," said Yasuhiro Nakahara, a spokesman for Asahi Breweries.
"We would like to propose a new business model to meet their demands. It would also be ideal if we could contribute to the improvement of Chinese agriculture, eventually," he said.
The new corporation aims to grow annual sales to 700-800 million yen within a few years once the operations are up and running properly. It is believed to be the first operation of its kind by foreign firms in China.
The venture will start from April with funds of 1.5 billion yen (13 million dollars), of which 1.1 billion yen will be provided by Asahi Breweries, 250 million yen by Sumitomo Chemical and 150 million yen by Itochu.
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