First goji berry industry research institute opens in Yinchuan

China's first goji berry industry research institute opened in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, on Monday.

The institute aims to carry out research into goji berry quality innovation, new variety cultivation, new medicine research, and functional food and healthcare product development. It will build a platform for gathering, opening and sharing, combining education and research with production, thus turning Ningxia into a highland for technological innovation in the goji berry industry.

Ningxia is the hometown of the goji berry. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

The goji berry is the "business card" and "regional symbol" of Ningxia, with a planting history going back more than 600 years.

After years of effort, Ningxia's goji berry industry has made a number of significant achievements in scientific and technological innovation, especially in planting, variety breeding, pollution-free pest control, standardized cultivation and so on.

However, due to the extension of the industrial chain, Ningxia's shortcomings in terms of deep processing, the development of functional foods and the purification of functional substances have become increasingly prominent. 

Ningxia decided to build "three centers", including the National Goji Berry Engineering Technology Research Center, and develop a national scientific and technological innovation platform in order to attract experts to participate in research and development, solving scientific and technological bottlenecks and other problems.

The opening ceremony of Ningxia's goji berry culture center. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]