HAINAIN: The four-day 2024 China Seed Congress being held this week in Sanya, Hainan, is showcasing the development in China’s agriculture sector.

As reported by the Economic Daily, an indoor exhibition highlighted the construction of Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, along with agricultural development in Hainan province. Over 40 enterprises, such as China Seed Group and Longping High-tech, is taking part in the event. Visitors have the opportunity to see the newest advancements and innovations in the industry.

Meanwhile, an exhibition at the Yazhou National Modern Agricultural Industrial Park featured around 2,322 crop varieties from around the world, ranging from rice to corn, melons, vegetables and cereals.

“In 2021, China Seed Group officially settled in the ‘Nanfan Silicon Valley’, demonstrating rapid development,” said Song Weibo, General Manager of China National Seed Group Co., Ltd., the core operating platform of Syngenta Group China. He noted the group’s domestic seed industry revenu
e reached 5.2 billion yuan last year, with new varieties accounting for 20 percent and a market share of around 10.6 percent for China’s four major crops.

Vice President of Syngenta Group China Ying Minjie emphasised the need to “accelerate the cultivation of new quality productive forces” in key areas like scientific research investment, cooperation with research institutes, and applying digital agriculture and new breeding technologies to improve farmer incomes.

The event featured an opening ceremony for a new Ministry of Agriculture key laboratory as well as cooperation agreements on projects like multi-crop saline tolerance gene application and soybean variety development between Syngenta Group China and China Seed Group Co., Ltd.

Beyond domestic needs, Syngenta Group China has for many years supported countries along the Belt and Road Initiative and China’s agricultural “going global” strategy. Win-all Hi-Tech Seed Co.’s cooperative projects have taken root in developing countries, with one project in
Angola yielding over 40,000 tonnes of grain from more than 8,500 hectares. Varieties selected using molecular breeding techniques have boosted local farmers’ yields by over 30 percent in some areas.

Source: Emirates News Agency