Farmers select potatoes at a potato processing company in Guyuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Oct. 13. The fall is the potato harvest season in Guyuan. Due to recent low market prices, the municipal government advised the local leading potato processing enterprises to purchase the local potatoes at a price not less than 0.7 yuan (US$0.11) per kilogram. The local government also has assisted local farmers in promoting their potatoes in other cities and provinces of China. Statistics show that Guyuan City planted more than 1,400 hectares of potatoes in 2011, using nearly half of the city’s arable farmland. This year’s predicted potato crop output is 2.1 megatons. Potato planting brings 14 percent of the per capita net income for the region’s rural families. [Photo: Xinhua]