Global AgriInno Challenge 2026 final pitch event concludes in Hangzhou

The Global AgriInno Challenge (GAC) 2026 final pitch event concluded in Hangzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province on Thursday.

Co-organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Zhejiang University, and Pinduoduo, GAC has established itself as one of the leading global platforms for youth-led agrifood innovation, fostering connections among emerging innovators, international experts, investors, policymakers, and technical partners.

In this year's competition, a total of 13 teams stood out from a pool of 191 applications from 49 countries around the world. The finalist teams presented their solutions before a panel of judges at the final pitch event in Hangzhou.

Uraia Koroi Kama from Fiji presented Teivaka, an innovative digital identity platform for agriculture. Farmers can use mobile phones to record the entire process of crop cultivation and livestock breeding. The platform provides technical guidance on agriculture through multilingual AI tools and helps build trusted connections among farmers, purchasers and institutions.

"Hope I can integrate these ideas back in the platform that I'm building and hopefully help the smallholders, the 84 percent of the farming population that need systems like this," he said.

The 2026 edition introduced a dedicated Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Track for the first time alongside its established Global Track, aiming to provide greater support for agricultural innovation and food security in SIDS.

"And actually the idea of integrating on having this specific track on SIDS also come from the fact that they are the most affected by climate change. So there are two ideas here. One is how do we develop innovations that are context specific, very specific to SIDS and the other one is how do we tailor these solutions to climate change challenges," said Vincent Martin, director of the Office of Innovation at FAO.

"We will also build more resources. For the winning teams, we will provide seed fund support, including introducing relevant technology partners, experts and scholars, as well as investors, to give them more opportunities to showcase themselves and secure financing," said Hou Kaidi, vice president of Pinduoduo, one of the event's co-organizers.

Global AgriInno Challenge 2026 final pitch event concludes in Hangzhou

Two political leaders from Taiwan have spoken out against recent remarks by Lai Ching-te, who claimed that United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 pertains only to China's representation at the UN and has "nothing to do with Taiwan."

Their comments came at the Sixth Cross-Strait Exchange Seminar held on Friday in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Lai, at a separate event, asserted that Taiwan is a "sovereign independent nation," drawing criticism from Taiwan's Labor Party President Wu Rongyuan and New Party Chairman Wu Cherng-dean.

"The resolution 2758 of the United Nations General Assembly fully reflects and solemnly affirms the one-China principle. Apart from that, a series of international legal documents after World War II, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, have clearly stated that China has sovereignty over Taiwan. What Lai said has distorted the legal principles and historical facts. Now, the Taiwan separatists are colluding with external forces and going against the motherland. That’s really ridiculous and will only turn out to be a chess piece of others," said Wu Rongyuan.

"Such a Taiwan separatist. Lai tries stubbornly to distort the facts, but what he says and does cannot change everything. There is no dispute that Taiwan is part of China. The compatriots on the Chinese mainland and in Taiwan all know that. So now we are not talking about whether we should reunify the country or not. We are talking about starting to study how to achieve reunification and the great rejuvenation of the nation for the people. I have full confidence that this is the trend and we should work together in this direction," said Wu Cherng-dean.

Both party leaders reiterated that there is only one China and that reunification remains an irreversible trend.

Taiwan party leaders criticize Lai Ching-te for distorting historical facts