HAIKOU/China/, October 14. /TASS/. The Chinese city of Sanya on the southern coast of Hainan Province has announced the commissioning of an international scientific and innovation center for the seed industry, the leadership of Yazhouvan Science City reported.
“This center stimulates international cooperation and will lay the foundation for the creation of a breeding Silicon Valley in Hainan,” says the notice released on the webpage of the Hainan Free Trade Port on the WeChat social network. It stresses that the new project should become “a platform that will consolidate efforts aimed at promoting cooperation and attracting investment.”
The center’s opening ceremony took place on the soil of Yazhouvan Science City where this facility will be situated. At the same time, Science City announced the beginning of the activities of the International Association of Seed Growers of the People's Republic of China and preparations for a major conference with the participation of scientists from different countries dedicated to discussing key problems in the field of crop production.
“We also plan to create an innovative investment fund to finance international crop projects,” the information material specified.
According to the statement, the International Association of Seed Growers of China already has 138 members, among them - the Mexican non-profit Research Institute International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Asian Crop Science Association (ACSA), the Chinese National Seed Association, the Chinese Agricultural University (CAU), leading agricultural universities in several regions of China, the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, several institutes at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences dealing with crop production, cotton and fruit studies. In addition, the French company “Limagrain Group”, the Chinese representative office of the German Bayer (“Bayer”) and the Swiss Syngenta (“The Syngenta Group”) joined the merger.
Chinese leading center of plant breeding
Hainan plays a key role in the Chinese seed program. Breeding projects carried out in the province annually attract the attention of several hundred research organizations, leading universities and enterprises. Thousands of specialists from different regions of China, as well as from other countries, take part in them. The fate of the leading Chinese breeder, the “founding father of hybrid rice” Yuan Longping (1930-2021), who has been coming there regularly in winter for the past more than 50 years, is closely connected with the developments in Sanya.
According to the plans of the Chinese government, the advanced research and production complex should be established on the island in the coming years, capable of stimulating the intensive development of agriculture throughout the country. It is expected that thanks to the facilities located on the territory of the Yazhouvan innovation zone, the authorities will be able to significantly strengthen China's food security.
