Tropical Agricultural Science and Technology Takes Projects as a Bridge to Accelerate the Pace of Going Global
Recently, Peng Zhengqiang, an expert in invasive pest prevention and control at the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, has been extremely busy. With the construction of the coconut leaf beetle natural enemy factory and insect-rearing room in the Maldives imminent, as the project leader, he is stepping up preparations for the materials needed for the factory construction.
Since last year, the coconut tree, the “national tree” of the Maldives, has suffered from an invasion of the coconut leaf beetle. This has not only caused severe reductions in yield but also threatened the ecosystems of the Maldives' tropical islands, prompting the Maldives to urgently request assistance from our government. With the support of the “China-Maldives Joint Research Center for Coconut Pests” foreign aid project, in March of this year, researcher Peng Zhengqiang led members of his research group to the Maldives, carrying 1.5 million parasitic wasps, the natural enemies of the coconut leaf beetle, along with urgently needed medicines, to use world-advanced technology to eliminate the coconut leaf beetle.
In recent years, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences has seized the opportunities of China's strategic cooperation with ASEAN, Africa, South America and the South Pacific region, leveraged its advantage of holding more than 1,000 tropical agricultural science and technology achievements in reserve, and used projects as a bridge to sow the seeds of science and technology in more than 90 countries. These seeds of science and technology have not only taken root and sprouted locally, but have also borne abundant fruit.
The China-aided Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center in Congo (Brazzaville), undertaken by the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, is a living calling card for tropical agricultural science and technology going to Africa. The project was launched in 2008. From preparatory site selection to the completion and commissioning of the center, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences dispatched more than 40 experts to stay in Congo over 6 years, carrying out trials and demonstrations of vegetable, cassava and maize cultivation as well as laying hen and broiler chicken breeding, and held 12 training sessions on cassava and maize production technology and laying hen breeding technology, training 330 trainees. Walking into the demonstration center, one finds the fragrance of melons and fruits everywhere and abundant vitality. It has already become Congo's agricultural demonstration and training base, tourist destination and science education base.
The pace of tropical agricultural science and technology “going global” has continued to accelerate. The Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences has successively sent experts to Myanmar to guide the construction of rubber production bases, to Mozambique to guide cashew cultivation and pest and disease prevention and control technology, and to Vanuatu to guide oil palm cultivation technology…… Whether in ASEAN Asia, the South Asia region, or Africa and South Pacific island countries, the figures of experts from the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences are active throughout the tropical regions. Some experts, due to long-term overseas assignments on foreign aid missions, fell ill from overwork and even sacrificed their lives. Cashew expert researcher Liang Lihong went to Mozambique and Tanzania over 5 years to carry out cashew technology foreign aid projects, providing hands-on guidance on cashew cultivation and pest and disease prevention and control technology, and established joint cashew research centers in Mozambique and Tanzania respectively, making outstanding contributions to the development of the cashew industries in these two countries. Because foreign aid projects have long cycles, with one project lasting 2-3 years, researcher Liang Lihong lived abroad for a long time, could not adapt to the climate and fell ill from overwork, suffering from severe gastrointestinal disease. He unfortunately passed away in November of this year at the age of only 51.
The blossoming and fruiting of tropical agricultural science and technology across the world's tropical regions is also due to the strong support of numerous international cooperation platforms. The Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences has successively established academic exchange and cooperative research relationships with 16 international scientific and technological organizations and more than 30 countries and regions, and signed 40 memorandums of understanding or agreements on cooperation. It has 11 international cooperation platforms, including the FAO Reference Center for Tropical Agricultural Research and Training, the International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of the Ministry of Science and Technology, international joint laboratories, and the CATAS-CIAT Cooperation Office, and undertakes more than 100 international cooperation projects.
The going global of tropical agricultural science and technology has further broadened the exchange fields and development space of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences. President Wang Qinghuang of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences said that the world's tropical regions are vast and have an urgent demand for tropical agricultural science and technology. In the next step, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences will continue to strengthen the construction of international cooperation platforms and strive to establish overseas experimental stations and joint research centers focused on important tropical crops in countries such as Cambodia, Costa Rica and Ecuador.