Joy though sunflowers

Beijing: It’s bringing joy to sunflower farmers as well as consumers in China.

The refined sunflower oil — The Westerner — produced by the Gansu Joy Agricultural Technology company claims to be the only such oil produced organically. Gansu has adopted the ‘engagement model’ of agricultural industrialisation by bringing together technology, farmers, market and brand.

The company’s headquarters are located in Minqin County, Wuwei City, in China’s Gansu province, where the desert sun ensures high quality sunflowers can be grown.

In 2010, The Westerner sunflower oil was exported to Japan.

Gansu Joy’s sunflower industrial park in Lanzhou new industrial zone covers an area of 42.3 hectares and involves an investment of 1.87 billion yuan. Wei Mingguang, chairman of Gansu Joy, told Gulf News during a recent media tour of the facility that it will produce 200,000 tonnes of refined sunflower seed oil when fully operational.

The park employs the most advanced sunflower oil production line, Mingguang said.

Under the guidance of the China Association for Science and Technology, the company has set up the Sunflower Engineering and Technology Exchange Centre at the park.