Victoria, a southeast state of Australia, launched on Wednesday a four-year Food to Asia Action Plan, which aims to boost exports to Asia and make the state "the food bowl of Asia."
Through promoting partnerships between the state government, the food industry and the commonwealth, more Victorian food and beverages will be put on Asian tables, which will support Victoria 's food and agriculture sector into becoming a key driver of economic growth and jobs, especially in regional and rural Victoria, according to the plan.
"The food sector directly employs about 145,000 Victorians, accounting for one in six jobs in regional and rural Victoria," Victorian Premier Denis Napthine said on Wednesday.
The 100 million AU dollars (89.41 million U.S. dollars) plan, which will be backed by an initial 35 million AU dollars (31.3 million U.S. dollars) funding tranche from the Victorian government, identifies seven areas where the government wants to work with the food industry to bolster exports of food and beverage products to Asia.
Premier Napthine also said the plan is a major effort of the state to capitalize on export opportunities in Asia.
"By 2030, the number of consumers in Asia with discretionary spending will increase six-fold to around 3.5 billion people as demand for food increases exponentially," he said.
"We need to capitalize on Victoria's strong track-record in international agricultural production with food and fiber exports increasing to more than 9.4 billion AU dollars (8.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2012-13, up 5 percent on the previous year," he added.
According to the Victorian government, the plan will focus on a range of issues facing the food industry, including trade barriers, labor availability and costs, infrastructure, research and development incentives and red tape.
