New potato research institute established in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

A potato research institute has been established in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The institute, co-founded by research agencies and companies from China and Kazakhstan, aims to increase regional exchanges for the development of the potato industry.

Members of the institute will try to cultivate high-quality potatoes that better adapt to different environment and meet market demand in Central Asia.

They will also cooperate in cultivation technology and potato processing.

Central Asian countries have rich agricultural resources but lack technology and capital, while China has rising demand for land resources to grow potatoes, according to Xinjiang's regional academy of agricultural sciences.

By 2020, China will have more than 6.67 million hectares of potato planting areas, 30 percent of which can be processed into staple food, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

China is the world's largest potato producer with planting area of around 5.6 million hectares.