China boosts banana growing in Lancang-Mekong region

Academy based in Hainan province aims to help lift people out of poverty

China plans to help countries in the Lancang-Mekong region tap their banana-growing potential, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences said.

Academy vice-president Xie Jianghui said the banana industry has played a bigger role in recent years in countries along the river, which is known as the Lancang in China and the Mekong outside its borders, and China has begun seeking cooperation in the area and helping to lift local people out of poverty through related businesses.

China is the world's second-biggest producer and consumer of bananas and was estimated to have produced 9.9 million metric tons last year and to have imported 3 million tons from countries including the Philippines and Ecuador, Xie, also chief scientist of the National Banana Industry Technology Systems, said.