Changsha county in Hunan province started to develop itself in 2013 into a national-level quality safety demonstration area for export foods and agricultural products.

Experts from China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine arrived in the county on Sept 23 to assess the development work.

Zhang Qinghong, the vice secretary of the Party committee and head of the county, made a report about the development work.

The establishment of the demonstration area for food security can improve agricultural technology and boost the local economy. Changsha county has met the fundamental requirements to apply to become a demonstration area.

The demonstration area in the county is mainly oriented to the exports of tea and edible fungus products. At present, there are 15 tea enterprises in the area, five of which have export qualifications.

The county exported 3,737 tons of tea from January to August this year, an increase of 109 percent compared to the same period last year. The export trade value totaled $8.79 million over the same period, a year-on-year growth of 66 percent.

Changsha county also has a cultivated area of edible fungus of 2.2 million square meters (220 hectares), and four of its 17 edible fungus producing and processing enterprises have export qualifications.

The total value of imports and exports in Changsha county reached $1.9 billion in the first eight months, with a year-on-year growth of 5.6 percent. The 269 agricultural products processing enterprises in the county have earned $55.4 million through exports with a year-on-year growth of 10.8 percent. Products such as tea, edible fungus and vegetables are exported to regions such as Europe, America, the Middle East and Russia.

The expert team on Tuesday visited an agricultural business department in Chunhua town and Hunan Xiangfeng Tea Industry in Jinjing town, gave credit for the demonstration area development work in the county and offered suggestions for further improvement.