A specialized agricultural base in northwest China's Shaanxi Province is transforming farming across Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states through hands-on training and cutting-edge technology exchange.
These efforts have produced tangible cooperation outcomes ahead of the SCO Summit scheduled for Aug 31-Sept 1 in north China's Tianjin Municipality.
The SCO Agricultural Technology Exchange and Training Demonstration Base, established in 2019 in Yangling, represents the organization's first dedicated facility for advancing modern agriculture.
"The SCO base focuses on countries in arid and semi-arid regions, promoting water-saving irrigation and improved farming practices. Agricultural collaboration with SCO members is a two-way street and since the base opened, trade and production cooperation has grown by over 70 percent," said Ma Jing, executive deputy director of the base's office.
The base's impact extends beyond technology transfer to human capacity building.
Mukhaddi Balym, a Kazakh PhD student at Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University in Yangling, represents the next generation of agricultural experts bridging nations.
Her professor, Dr. Wei Yahong, emphasizes collaborative learning.
"I always teach them, you need to learn from each other in my lab with my Chinese students. We are all friends," said Wei.
"I want to act like a bridge between my country and also China. PhD, I think it demands not only technical skills but also communication skills for global dialogs," said Mukhaddi Balym.
The Yangling base exemplifies how agricultural cooperation is sowing seeds of shared prosperity among SCO members, cultivating both crops and cross-border relationships through practical training and technological exchange.
China’s SCO agricultural base drives global innovation in arid-region farming
