Handan Sweet Potatoes

Handan Sweet Potatoes

　　Handan sweet potatoes are a specialty of Handan County in Zhoukou City, Henan Province. The climate of Handan County is highly suitable for developing the sweet potato industry. The county has 300,000 mu of virus-free sweet potato cultivation area, producing 520,000 tons of high-quality virus-free sweet potatoes annually, and has been designated as a national-level sweet potato production demonstration base.

　　This small county in eastern Henan, Handan, is barely visible on the national map. It has no mountains or minerals and is a vast, flat expanse. With a population of 1.3 million, 1.15 million are farmers, and there are 1.68 million mu of arable land, making it a typical major agricultural county. Relying on its strong agricultural base, Handan County has vigorously developed “agriculture-based” industries, transforming locally abundant produce such as sweet potatoes into renowned local brands through refined processing. Currently, the county has become the largest production and processing base of sweet potato products in China, ranking first nationally in production, processing, storage, transportation, and sales capabilities. It also holds the right to import and export its own products. Eighty percent of its products are exported to the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and other parts of the world, capturing 30% of the Southeast Asian market for sweet potato products.

　　The county government has taken advantage of this trend and organized the establishment of sweet potato cooperatives, mobilizing tens of thousands of local households to grow sweet potatoes. It has also collaborated with the provincial academy of agricultural sciences to develop over 20 high-quality, high-yield, and high-starch sweet potato varieties—including “Yu Shu No. 7,” “Yu Shu No. 1,” “Wan Shu No. 1,” “Mei Ying No. 1,” “Yu Shu No. 13,” Shangshu-19, and Xu Shu 25-2—enabling them to be grown virus-free. These virus-free sweet potatoes are grown without disease, pests, pesticides, or herbicides (weeding is done manually), and the resulting sweet potatoes have been certified as green products by the National Green Food Development Center. Global companies such as CJ Group from South Korea and Costco from the United States have commissioned certified enterprises to inspect Handan and have established long-term supply relationships.

　　In October 2010, a team of experts from the National Standardization Committee was dispatched to evaluate and inspect the high-quality virus-free sweet potato base in Handan County. Upon inspection, the county was found to have 100,000 households engaged in standardized sweet potato cultivation, with 300,000 mu of virus-free sweet potato planting area and an annual production of 520,000 tons of high-quality virus-free sweet potatoes. The expert team awarded a score of 93.5 on-site, designating it as a national-level sweet potato production demonstration base. In this way, Handan sweet potatoes have leapt from the pile of local produce onto the “national standard” stage. The internationally renowned “Three Flours of Handan”—sweet potato starch noodles, sweet potato sheets, and sweet potato vermicelli—won the Gold Award at the 5th Asia-Pacific International Expo and have been recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture of China and the People's Government of Henan Province as an “agricultural export and foreign exchange earning base,” among other honors.