potato, sweet potato, etc.

" Sweet potato is one of the important crops in China, its growing area and yield rank the first in the world. providing about 80％ of the world's supply, which totaled 130 million tons in 1990 (about half that of common potatoes). Sichuan Province has the largest growing area of sweet potatoes in China which amounted to 873,000 ha with total yield of 3,314,000 tons in 2000. Therefore, production of sweet potatoes is of great importance to agricultural production and increase of farmers’ income in this province. The whole process of production of sweet potatoes can be divided into three periodic stages: fast increase, stagnation and fast growing again in which post-harvest technology has played an important role. Post-harvest technology of sweet potatoes dominated by instant vermicelli and straight vermicelli processing came into being in early 1990s and this technology has been improved in practice ever since. And up to now, quite sophisticated technology and complete sets of equipment have been developed because such technology and equipment are suitable for current production conditions, and by utilizing this technology people have explored and tapped the potential of the market. Now this technology has been disseminated positively."