BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- A government-funded website on agricultural product processing, www. app.gov.cn., opened here Friday.

Sponsored by the Township Enterprises Administration under the Ministry of Agriculture, the website will provide information on product processing to producers and consumers.

Designed and maintained by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Engineering, the website has 12 pages, focusing on policies, news and technology.

"Making full use of the information industry has become an effective way to promote the development of the agricultural processing industry and the priority of our work," said Gan Shiming, director in charge of the Township Enterprises Administration, at the opening ceremony of the website.

In the past ten years, China's agricultural processing industry registered a rapid annual growth rate of 8.6 percent. In 2003, the output value of the industry reached 3.1 trillion yuan.