Team work to boost Pingyao animal husbandry, electric power

Pingyao county, Shanxi province, signed agreements with three businesses during a visit to Liaocheng, Shandong province, on March 24, to boost local animal husbandry and the photovoltaic power industry.

The three partners are China Resources Power Holdings (CR Power), Shanxi Qinghui Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Development and Donge Ejiao. The partnership is a further step in the local government's plan to invest 400 million yuan ($58 million) in building a donkey breeding base and developing a 24-megawatt photovoltaic power project.

According to the agreement, a breeding base which will be able to house 20,000 black donkeys will be established during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020). Pingyao will improve management in donkey breeding and feeding as well as promote advanced technologies in donkey husbandry with the help of Qinghui Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Development and Donge Ejiao to improve the strains of black donkeys and increase local farmers' incomes.

The photovoltaic power project will also be carried forward after the donkey project has been introduced to Pingyao county, said Wang Jianjun, regional director of CR Power Northwest China Region.

Founded in 1952 in East China's Shandong province, Donge Ejiao is China's largest donkey-hide gelatin producer. Its breeding center for black donkeys, costing 200 million yuan and covering 33 hectares, is a key high-tech project recognized by the National Development and Reform Commission.

The company's major products span traditional Chinese medicine, dietary supplements and biological medicine, and are exported to more than 10 countries and regions.

A Pingyao county government delegation visits a black donkey farm owned by Donge Ejiao Group in Liaocheng, East China's Shandong province, on March 24. [Photo/pingyao.gov.cn]