International organizations will provide free potato provenance for Beijing's Yanqing county, where the 9th World Potato Congress (WPC) will be held in July, in order to help it become the largest potato research and development base in China.

The 100-day countdown for the WPC has commenced in Yanqing on April 18. The recruitment for 400 volunteers was also announced on the same day.

The top event by the global potato industry will be held from July 28 to 30. Zhangjiakou in Hebei province will be the co-host city.

The China Center for Asia and the Pacific of the International Potato Center (CIP) is also currently under construction in Yanqing. A total of 108 greenhouses will be used to breed potato seeds. New seeds will be provided to two main production areas in Zhangjiakou to propel regional cooperation in the potato industry.

With the help from CIP, the Asian branch will build a potato planting repository, which stores tens of thousands of kinds of potato germplasm resources. The initiative will substantially enhance the nation's ability in developing new varieties of potatoes.

Yanqing is an important potato R&D base in China. It has an annual output of 150 million grain of miniature potatoes, accounting for nearly ten percent of the nation's total output.

The National Engineering and Research Center for Potato and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Demonstration Base of Potato Industry are both based in Yanqing.