China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have seen deep-going agricultural ties, with increased trade in diverse agricultural produce and promising developments in smart agriculture.
Agriculture is a cornerstone of both regions' economies and livelihoods, making it a crucial area of partnership. In recent years, China and ASEAN nations have worked closely together, leading to a significant uptick in the volume of agricultural goods from ASEAN reaching Chinese consumers.
This growing collaboration was highlighted at the four-day 2024 World Expo on Digital Agriculture, starting from Friday in Chengdu City of southwest China's Sichuan Province, drawing to it over 200 enterprises both at home and abroad to showcase the latest technologies in agricultural digitization and successful practices in rural transformation.
The event featured a dedicated forum on China-ASEAN Digital Agriculture, where participants discussed global trends in agricultural digitization and shared experiences in smart agriculture and digital rural development.
"Check out this durian pancake from Vietnam. It's been getting super popular in China over the past few years. As more and more Chinese customers start loving Vietnamese fruits like durian and dragon fruit, snacks made from these fruits are flying off the shelves and making their way to China. Right now, China is actually the biggest market for Vietnamese agricultural products," said Xiong Youcai, an exhibitor.
"We're showcasing a variety of unique agricultural products from Southeast Asia at the expo. For example, we have coconut products from Indonesia, cream puffs from the Philippines, rice noodles from Singapore, and spices from Thailand. Our company has been importing Southeast Asian products for over 10 years, and I've observed a significant increase in the number of brands from ASEAN entering the Chinese market, along with rising import volumes," noted another exhibitor.
From January to July of this year, trade between China and ASEAN countries reached a remarkable 552 billion U.S. dollars, marking a 7.7-percent-increase year on year and accounting for 15.8 percent of China's total foreign trade volume.
China has maintained its position as ASEAN's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for four consecutive years.
Notably, digital agriculture is rapidly becoming a vital pathway for agricultural collaboration between China and ASEAN.
"In terms of technology adoption, a lot of the new technologies that you can acquire, especially in terms of getting things like sensors, robotics in agriculture, drone technology, all of the things can be applied in the agri-food subsector. So, I feel that in the future, as these technologies become more accessible for a lot of people to use and the prices go lower, the adoption of these technologies can be promoted and can also be increased, so that its use, farmers across the landscape can apply this kind of technology, and from there, we can improve not only the yield, but also we can improve efficiency of the processes," said Ahmad Safuan Bujang, director of the engineering research center of the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute.
China, ASEAN write new chapter in deep-going agricultural ties
China, ASEAN write new chapter in deep-going agricultural ties
