September 20, 2011 | Andrew Burger

As part of an agreement to promote sustainable agriculture projects and speed up development of the Chinese countryside, PepsiCo and China’s Ministry of Agriculture will build and run demonstration farms that make use of the most advanced irrigation, fertilization and crop management techniques, the multinational soft drinks and food products giant announced yesterday.

The company will invest in sustainable agriculture development projects in China in support of the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan. PepsiCo will work with the Ministry of Agriculture to promote best practices, improve farmers’ yields, increase income levels and raise living standards.

PepsiCo is one of the world’s largest agricultural businesses. Every year it grows and uses more than 4 million tons of potatoes for its Frito-Lay snacks, more than 600,000 tons of oats for its Quaker food products and 3 million tons of oranges, other fruits and vegetables for its Tropicana and other juice brands.

“PepsiCo takes great pride in creating tailored approaches to business investment that achieve both commercial and social objectives,” commented Tim Minges, chairman of PepsiCo’s Greater China Region. “Our success in promoting sustainable agriculture programs in China and around the world is a great example of our ability to drive PepsiCo’s performance while also improving the communities in which we do business. Our experience and expertise in modern farming enables PepsiCo to get more ‘crop per drop’ and we are excited to work with the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture to introduce many of these best practices to benefit China’s local farmers and the environment.”

Wang Ying, director general of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of International Cooperation was equally enthusiastic about the partnership’s prospects.

“The advancement of sustainable agriculture is an important component of China’s agriculture policy. The 12th Five-Year Plan adopted last year set out clear objectives for the development of sustainable agriculture in the new era, especially the need for speeding up agricultural modernization,”Wang said.

“By partnering with PepsiCo, we will be able to enlist advanced foreign technologies for the building of modern farms and promote best practices across the country. This is a substantive step in our efforts to carry out the policies and guidelines introduced in the Five-Year Plan.”

China has quickly grown to become one of PepsiCo’s largest markets. The corporation has invested more than RMB 200 million (more than $31 million) in local agricultural development there.