China's first Cotton Science Academy officially established
The "Cotton Science Academy", jointly built by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Tarim University, was unveiled and established on August 24 in Aral City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. This is China's first specialized science academy integrating cotton discipline development, talent cultivation and scientific research services. The academy will "take southern Xinjiang as its base and face Central Asia" to explore a resource-efficient utilization model for the sustainable and prosperous development of cotton, and to build an all-round innovation platform for cotton development.
Cotton is an important cash crop and textile raw material in China. The cotton industry involves the income of over 100 million cotton farmers and the employment of more than 20 million textile workers, holding a pivotal position in the development of China's national economy. As China's largest cotton-producing region, Xinjiang has for 20 consecutive years ranked first among all cotton-producing provinces nationwide in cotton planting area, per-unit yield and total output. Xinjiang's total cotton output has exceeded 50% of the national total, and about 50% of farming households across the region are engaged in cotton production. The level of the cotton industry plays a decisive role in increasing local farmers' incomes and adjusting the structure of the planting industry. According to introductions, establishing the Cotton Science Academy is a major scientific and technological need for the national cotton development strategy of structural adjustment and mode transformation, and also a major industrial need for developing the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and realizing "technology going out and raw cotton coming in". The academy will be built into a cotton industry highland, a discipline research center and a scientific and technological innovation center.
⟦NL> The Cotton Science Academy combines the scientific and technological strengths and talent advantages of the Cotton Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences with the geographical and resource advantages of Tarim University to form five cotton scientific and technological innovation teams and set up three major discipline areas, including cotton germplasm resource innovation and new variety breeding, simplified and labor-saving cotton planting technology, and cotton field ecosystem protection. It will focus on breeding and promoting superior cotton varieties suitable for planting in southern Xinjiang, and build demonstration bases for introduction trials, improved seed cultivation and high-yield cultivation; demonstrate new cotton varieties, new technologies, new equipment and new concepts to lay the foundation for promoting the development of the cotton industry in southern Xinjiang; cultivate a group of cotton scientific and technological talents as well as management and technical personnel for southern Xinjiang and even the whole of Xinjiang and Central Asia, and build a platform for cotton technology demonstration, training and promotion; accelerate the breeding process, strengthen demonstration and promotion, promote the rapid and sustainable development of the cotton industry in southern Xinjiang, and improve the overall cotton production capacity of Xinjiang and even China.