Food security is in the spotlight

Within the framework of the Alliance of Agricultural Universities of the Silk Road Countries, the annual International Forum on Agriculture will be held on October 22-26, 2021 in Yangling, Shanxi Province. The theme of the Forum is "Seed production and food security." Scientists of the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy are invited to participate in the Forum online by colleagues from the Northwestern University of Forestry and Agriculture.

Reference: In China, both central and regional authorities are actively promoting the initiative of entrepreneurs to create special agricultural land zones, the main and oldest of which is "Yangling". The cradle of Chinese agriculture, or China's "green silicon valley", is located in the heart of the inner-continental Shanxi province. In 1997, Yangling acquired the status of a demonstration zone, here about 5 thousand agronomists in 70 disciplines work in 2 universities, 5 research institutions and 3 colleges. Yangling in the full sense turned into an "agronomic city"."Yangling" became the first free trade zone in the agricultural sector. Two universities are considered as a guarantee of a pool of necessary specialists, because today more than seven thousand students study there in various agronomic specialties. The Academy has been cooperating with one of them, namely, with the Northwestern University of Forestry and Agriculture for the third year. It was the presence of educational institutions that once played a significant role in the placement of the agricultural zone directly in the area. A number of developments of local researchers related to wheat selection, water-saving methods of agriculture, elimination of the consequences of soil erosion, etc., are at the level of world standards.

The uniqueness of the Yangling zone lies primarily in the fact that it is managed by the Shanxi Provincial Business Farmers Association, which now includes more than 1,300 members. Of these, 1,115 are so-called VIP participants, who are mainly engaged in establishing cooperation at the international level, as well as organizing various master classes, mainly in countries that actively support the "One Belt, One Road" initiative.

S.A.Noskova
Head of International Cooperation Department