The Chinese mainland encouraged its enterprises to establish purchasing centers in Taiwan for the island's farm produce, said a mainland official Wednesday.

The centers could help mainland enterprises buy the farm produce from Taiwan regularly in accordance with the Taiwan farmers' needs, said Fan Liqing, spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, or the Cabinet, at a press conference.

The Chaoda Modern Agriculture (Holdings) Limited, a leading grower of fruits and vegetables in mainland China, had its branch in West Taiwan's Yunlin county engage in farm produce trade including vegetables, fruits and flowers in May of last year.

While the company planned to set up more purchasing centers Taiwan, the mainland's Wuhan Zhongbai Group Co., Ltd. also established a Taiwan-based agency early this month and the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives plans to normalize its purchasing of farm produce in Taiwan, said Fan.

This practice would offer a stable and high-efficiency platform for Taiwan's farm produce to be sold in mainland, she noted.

Now is the right time to enhance cross-Strait economic cooperation, which was helped by the improvement of the cross-Strait relations in recent years, she said.

The 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), a blueprint for the country's development in the next five years, adopted on Monday by the National People's Congress, or China's parliament, included a special chapter elaborating on the further expansion of cross-Strait economic cooperation.

"The 12th Five-Year Plan will further benefit Taiwan's small- and medium-sized enterprises and provide more open room and stronger drive for the two sides' economic cooperation," said Fan.

Fan welcomed Taiwan's recent policy to open more sectors to mainland investment, saying that the mainland should continue to encourage its enterprises to invest in the island.

She also briefed a press conference on a program recently approved by the State Council, or China's Cabinet, to develop the region on the west side of the Taiwan Strait.

The Western Taiwan Strait Economic Zone, with an area of 270,000 square kilometers, covers nine cities in southeastern Fujian Province, including Xiamen, Fuzhou, and Quanzhou, and 11 cities in neighboring Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces.

Fan said speeding up construction of the economic zone is of great importance in expanding cross-Strait economic cooperation and promoting the peaceful development of the cross-Strait ties.