Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 31st Subject: The beauty of painting the "Rhin" together ¨C China helps the SCO to develop modern agriculture

The New York Times reporter Chen Ñî³Â³©

In Uzbekistan's cotton fields, China's drip irrigation technology has made cotton farmer Bekmatov enjoy a bumper harvest; In rape fields in Punjab, Pakistan, new hybrid rape varieties with high yield and high quality have become the hope of farmers to increase their income; In Primorsky Krai, Russia, once abandoned paddy fields are now rolling with golden rice waves...

These are a few scenes of China and other SCO member states jointly drawing the beauty of "He He". Under the framework of the SCO, China and other countries have improved the regional agricultural technology level through fruitful agricultural cooperation, promoted food security and sustainable development, achieved significant growth in comprehensive benefits, and injected stable and strong impetus into regional agricultural modernization.

From cotton to oil, Chinese agricultural aid technology empowers

¡°Drip irrigation technology makes cotton ¡®precise drinking water¡¯, and it grows strong!¡± Uzbek cotton grower Bekmatov in Uzbekistan¡¯s Seir River State was deeply saddened. In 2020, he became one of the first local cotton farmers to introduce China¡¯s film-drip irrigation technology. Two years later, his single production of cotton has been three to fifty percent higher than that of other local farmers. In the third year, he succeeded in achieving double single production.

Uzbekistan is a big cotton producing country.Because cotton is grown mostly by irrigation, water consumption is large, and single production is difficult to raise.

How to make cotton fields in the country's arid areas both "quench their thirst" and produce high yields? The team led by China Xinjiang cotton farmer Zhang Yuxin relies on under-film drip irrigation technology to guide cotton farmers in Uzbekistan in the refined management of water, fertilizers and pesticides, and optimizes fertilization plans for alkaline soils common in Central Asia, significantly improving water and fertilizer utilization efficiency. This year, the team laid drip irrigation facilities on about 5000 acres of cotton fields in Syrdarya Prefecture, Uzbekistan alone.

Pakistan relies on imports for 90% of its edible oil, which costs about $4 billion annually, of which 94% is palm oil. In 2022, new hybrid rapeseed varieties jointly tested and screened by Chinese and Pakistani enterprises will be commercialized in Punjab Province, Pakistan, enriching the sources of edible oil in the country's market and bringing new benefits to local farmers.

According to the implementation of the project, Zhu Xiaobo, general manager of Qingdao Qingdao Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., introduced that this new varieties of oils are pressed with a low content of edible mustard oil, high content of unsaturated fatty acids, which meets the needs of modern healthy diet. At the same time, the subproduct contains low sulfur content, can be better processed as feed, and improves the comprehensive benefits. The new varieties than the local mustard oil varieties have increased production by about 7% to 8%, the purchase price is high and plantation is easy, is welcomed by local farmers, so far the cumulative promotion area has reached about 1.5 million acres.

Bashir, general manager of the Pakistani cooperative enterprise, said that the cooperative relationship with Chinese companies ensures the company's stable supply of high-quality rapeseed. This not only significantly reduces raw material and logistics costs, but also effectively increases the added value of end products. The company plans to further expand its procurement scale in the future, and work with China to cultivate local brands to jointly promote the extension and upgrading of the industrial chain.

From production areas to markets, transnational cooperation builds a strong industrial chain

In Russia's Primorsky region, farmer Nikolai still remembers the abandoned paddy fields seven years ago: "We have good land and good water, but we lack people, equipment, and technology!"

In the same year, China agricultural enterprise Jiawo Beidahuang Agricultural Holdings Co., Ltd.(referred to as Jiabei Agriculture) introduced local rice dry direct seeding technology to carry out large-scale planting and continued to expand its production area. In 2023, Jiabei Agriculture and domestic partners will jointly register improved varieties of China rice in Russia and build a technologically advanced rice processing plant in the Russian Far East. Today, in the planting base of this company, the reporter sees contiguous rice, soybeans, and corn fields.

The sleeping "rice warehouse" was "awakened", and Nikolay's story also began a new chapter. As a partner of China companies, he not only restored production on his own farm, but also led surrounding farmers to participate in rice planting. "I didn't know how to do it before. Now with the support of China's technology and industrial chain, output and income have increased."

More importantly, through the multi-party cooperation of Chinese enterprises, local logistics enterprises and ports, a supply chain system covering professional logistics, railway transportation and warehousing networks from production areas to consumer markets has gradually taken shape. This model has also been popularized and applied to crops such as soybeans and corn, gradually forming a vertical industrial chain of "seed breeding-planting-warehousing-processing-port shipment-international trade".

The effect of continued deep farming is gradually evident ¨C the rice produced by the company has been successively awarded the Moscow International Food Show Gold Prize and the Russian Ministry of Agriculture Silver Prize, which currently grows roughly a quarter of the border area of the Russian Sea.

North Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, has a vast land, sparsely populated land and fertile soil. For a long time, relatively extensive farming methods have limited the improvement of yield stability. Xi'an Aiju Cereals and Oils Industry Group innovatively implemented the "contract farming" model in this area, and guided farmers to scientifically plan crops and implement diversified planting by signing contracts, which solved the financing problems and grain sales dilemmas generally faced by local farmers.

The park connects China's stable market demand with Kazakhstan's high-quality agricultural resources, builds several production units including oil processing, flour production, feed preparation, and equips with livestock and dedicated railway lines, forming a complete industrial chain.

The local farmer Gregory said that after working with the Chinese enterprise, the financial pressure and sales outlet problems that worried him most in the past no longer exist, and the products now planted can be sent directly to the livestock, processing, storage and sales link we need not worry anymore. "

Teach people to fish, training demonstration bases sow hope

Recently, the Ministry of Food Security of Pakistan held a farewell ceremony in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, for the second batch of nearly 300 students of the "Thousands of Agricultural Talents Training in China" project. They will go to Yangling, Shaanxi Province, known as the "Agricultural Science City" of China, for several months of technical training.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Agricultural Technology Exchange and Training Demonstration Base established under the initiative of China is located in Yangling. It undertakes the mission of serving the coordinated development of agriculture among SCO countries.

Yelmekbayev, the secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said that in just a few years, Yangon base has developed into ¡°one of the most pragmatic and effective cooperation platforms within the framework of the SCO¡±.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz said that the first batch of trainees in China have returned to China after their studies, and they will use the technology and experience from China to devote themselves to agricultural construction in their own countries. China has accumulated rich experience in the field of agricultural modernization, and expects China's advanced technology to help Pakistan complete agricultural transformation and upgrading.

As one of the second batch of students, agricultural mechanization engineer Mutasadiq Ali said: "China's advanced technology can achieve targeted and precise cultivation of crops. I hope that China's technology can be introduced into Pakistan, increase Pakistan's agricultural product output, increase farmers 'income, and drive economic development in rural areas."

The data shows that the base has trained more than 2,000 agricultural officials and technicians for SCO countries. Ten overseas agricultural science and technology demonstration parks have been built in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries, and more than 70 batches of expert teams have been sent successively. The total radiation area of agricultural technology is about 30 million mu.

In the Sino-Uzbekistan Modern Agricultural Science and Technology Demonstration Park of the SCO Agricultural Base in Uzbekistan, the words of fruit farmer Shakarbekov confirmed the effectiveness of cooperation: "The establishment of the park has created new employment opportunities and increased our income. I am very happy to cooperate with Chinese colleagues and learn new knowledge and technologies. I believe that through my own efforts, I will surely live a better life."

Pragmatic and efficient cooperation makes the farmland of the SCO countries more productive and the farmers more prosperous, and also contributes to enriching the tables of consumers in various countries and ensuring regional food security. On the vast fields of the SCO, Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions are blossoming, and we share the beauty of "Hehe" with all parties.